Paul Berryman provided our first Zoom Demonstration of the new calendar year (although the Group’s year ends in March!)
Paul has done workshops and demos with us before, and they are always excellent. This was no exception. He took us through the construction of a monochrome portrait drawn from a picture, lettings into the secrets of his ‘process’ on the way.
First some tips on your subject.
The Subject: what makes a good photo to work from?
If you can, select a photo that does not look face on. It gives you problems with matching two (probably actually asymmetrical) sides. Ideally, a three quarter shot, so the tip of the nose is more or less ‘touching’ the line of the cheek behind, give you a good composition.
If possible, get a photo with a single point light source, so that you have strong shadows.
If you’ve got a colour photo, then use your phone or computer to give you a monochrome version.
Paul’s Process
SHAPES
TAKE YOUR TIME over the shapes. You want to make light marks to get the diagram of the face down, but just drawing lines of main features, lines not sketches. The minimum amount possible to get the shape described. You want to aim to block all the main features so you do not have to change them later. Getting them in the right place at this stage saves so much time later.
At every stage of this drawing, check whether what is down is right. It’s easy to change it. AVOID DETAIL. If you aren’t at a drawing board at an appropriate angle you can get a lot of distortion. Your eyeline should be direct to your board.
Don’t chase the desire to make it human: concentrate on shapes and shadows. Chase the moment where it suddenly becomes a human (followed by, does it look like the human in from of me!)
Neck and height of shoulders are key in matching what people are in real life. Again, gentle indication, concentrate on shadows first and anatomy second, indicators that something goes in that position. AIM FOR ACCURACY
You don’t want to be changing things once you move into shading. You need to be really satisfied that all the marks you’ve made are in the right place.
All this detail is the equivalent of weighing your ingredients before you make your cake.
SHADES
Blocking = Identify shadow shapes and block them in. Very straightforward – is it shadow or is it not.
a Value scale of shading; if you have toned paper, do a scale up on it with white pencil too.
At this stage you have to pay attention to background. Shades are relative to the bacground.
Add shades in the simplest way possible, the more care you put in at this stage, the better chance of achieving what you want.
Where there are highlights, you may want to use white pencil. Adding white over black is not good, you need to leave clear paper for the highlights
EDGES
Paul showed what he meant by edges with a piece of paper; curved and folded.
Sharp shadows versus transitions = edges.
Blending is good in moderation. It also needs sharpness. If using a stump/torchon for blending, you can also tidy up by using some of your drawing charcoal on the stump to draw with.
Paul is in favour of letting the portrait fade away if the golden triangle (the face – outside edges of the eyes down to the mouth/chin) works. Draw the viewer where you want to look, sharpest, deepest contrast… should be in the golden triangle. Ignore or fade ears! We choose where the viewer looks. Underdraw things elsewhere rather than overdraw.
TEXTURE
Shouldn’t be a thing, but it exists in portraiture. Treat texture as the thing you do at the end. Hair, lizard skin, all texture to be done last if needed.
The human brain can add in all the gaps if you give some wellchosen sections.
The temptation when you finally get the white pencil is to go in on the obvious highlights. First off though, think about where you have the lightest values. It may not be where you think. Use your shade chart!
Paul was using:
- Strathmore Tonal paper
- Tombow Mono eraser (3mm round tip, he never uses the square tip one)
- White and Black Charcoal pencil (General)
Takeaways:
slow start; put down what you want, build the scaffolding, take your time and everything else is colouring in.
Instagram @117sticksofcharcoal
Thank you, Paul, for a fascinating and very informative demonstration.
The video link that Members will receive if they’d like to review Paul’s demo will last till 13 Feb.
Photos are screen shots; all work (c) Paul Berryman
