Tips on Pencil Portrait Drawing - The Problem with Seeing
For inexperienced artists the trouble with seeing lies in the conflict that exists between the concrete visual reality of an item
and the way the mind tries to characterize our perception of this reality on the sketching paper. This trial invariably involves the propensity to draw our symbolic preconception instead of the concrete reality.
Iconic preconceptions are part of a subconscious visual lingo that uses icons to characterize known items. This lingo of icons evolved as a mechanism to help us endure as a species. These icons help us, for instance, to instantly recognize food sources or treacherous predators.
When we note an unknown item our subconscious mind instantantly tries to form a new icon to characterize and store the item in memory. Often novice artists will more accurately draw unknown items than familiar ones because they are not yet wedded to the new icons.
However, when they try to draw the same item a second time, it is likely that a more symbolic image will emerge because ready to use icons have already been stored in the mind.
Consider, for instance, the word "head". Immediately an image comes to mind which is symbolic for the head. Unfortunately, this symbol is only a symbolic image of a head and is invariably a gross simplification of a actual head. Nevertheless, there is a strong subconscious pull to draw the schematic instead of what we actually see.
It is this inconsistency that artists must learn to overcome. This is particularly a problem for pencil portrait artists. When sketching a portrait the artist must resolve numerous layers of icons to achieve a realistic effect.
We now will illustrate a very good exercise to learn to overcome the problem of schematic sketching.
We will be sketching from an upside-down picture. This way our symbolic preconception of the head is interrupted. We will be forced to draw without our schematics. The result will be a purer sketching experience unfettered by a tainted observation.
As you draw the lines and block-in the tones you will feel quite awkward in your sketching. This is a good thing. Do not be concerned with the quality of your work. This is an exercise in seeing.
When working with line and value this way, novice artists often get better results than from the right-side up way. Trust yourself and throughout the exercise only look at your photograph in the upside-down position even though it may feel quite uncomfortable.
You will learn to see and draw value as shapes and will be able to break down hard edges into short, straight lines instead of the common schematics your mind will assign to the nose, the ears, etc.
Thinking of and naming perceived items will lead you down the garden path of almond shaped eyes, two circles for nostrils, a bunch of lines for hair, cauliflower ears and something that looks like the letter M perched on a bowl for a mouth instead of what is actually there.
Artists will never be free of symbolic preconceptions. The schematics actually change and become more refined. It is only by constantly analyzing and abstracting form that we are able to draw realistically.
and the way the mind tries to characterize our perception of this reality on the sketching paper. This trial invariably involves the propensity to draw our symbolic preconception instead of the concrete reality.
Iconic preconceptions are part of a subconscious visual lingo that uses icons to characterize known items. This lingo of icons evolved as a mechanism to help us endure as a species. These icons help us, for instance, to instantly recognize food sources or treacherous predators.
When we note an unknown item our subconscious mind instantantly tries to form a new icon to characterize and store the item in memory. Often novice artists will more accurately draw unknown items than familiar ones because they are not yet wedded to the new icons.
However, when they try to draw the same item a second time, it is likely that a more symbolic image will emerge because ready to use icons have already been stored in the mind.
Consider, for instance, the word "head". Immediately an image comes to mind which is symbolic for the head. Unfortunately, this symbol is only a symbolic image of a head and is invariably a gross simplification of a actual head. Nevertheless, there is a strong subconscious pull to draw the schematic instead of what we actually see.
It is this inconsistency that artists must learn to overcome. This is particularly a problem for pencil portrait artists. When sketching a portrait the artist must resolve numerous layers of icons to achieve a realistic effect.
We now will illustrate a very good exercise to learn to overcome the problem of schematic sketching.
We will be sketching from an upside-down picture. This way our symbolic preconception of the head is interrupted. We will be forced to draw without our schematics. The result will be a purer sketching experience unfettered by a tainted observation.
As you draw the lines and block-in the tones you will feel quite awkward in your sketching. This is a good thing. Do not be concerned with the quality of your work. This is an exercise in seeing.
When working with line and value this way, novice artists often get better results than from the right-side up way. Trust yourself and throughout the exercise only look at your photograph in the upside-down position even though it may feel quite uncomfortable.
You will learn to see and draw value as shapes and will be able to break down hard edges into short, straight lines instead of the common schematics your mind will assign to the nose, the ears, etc.
Thinking of and naming perceived items will lead you down the garden path of almond shaped eyes, two circles for nostrils, a bunch of lines for hair, cauliflower ears and something that looks like the letter M perched on a bowl for a mouth instead of what is actually there.
Artists will never be free of symbolic preconceptions. The schematics actually change and become more refined. It is only by constantly analyzing and abstracting form that we are able to draw realistically.
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