Portraits #3

Part of the reason I signed-up for the Expressive Charcoal course, recently, was because I started working in mixed media. Which basically means, working in different mediums, in the same picture. I had a thing for working with collage, paint and charcoal.

If it wasn't for the love affair with mixed media, I wouldn't have signed-up for the course, this year. But I'm glad I did, because I'm learning so much about charcoal. It's uncanny however, that all roads lead back to Rome - as you'll see in my next portrait, in the series.

First layer

This wasn't going to be a reverse portrait, this time. I would apply the charcoal straight to white paper. As I was determined to use the stick, more on it's side, than on it's tip. It was great for filling in blocks of colour, without getting hung up on details.

Then things changed. Experimentation, soon evolved into a horrible, dark and unappealing mess. Major frustration! Rather than quit on my picture or give myself a hard time, I turned to my former muse of mixed media. Because collage, immediately covers a multitude of sins!

Finished

I finally got the chance to use my new Liquitex, matte medium, to paste on the newsprint. And because it's charcoal, the medium turned grey and stained the newsprint too. Effectively blending it to the rest of the picture, and making the charcoal less intense, overall.

Dark, muddy mess - be gone! Okay, maybe not completely, so I used a touch of white charcoal, under the chin, and in his hair, for highlights.

Unintentionally, looks like, Australian bush-ranger ~

Ned Kelly

In this close-up, you can see the original white paper, black charcoal, collage and matte medium. Which is actually the brush strokes, caused by the medium, moving the charcoal around. I like this effect. It tones down the charcoal - as my eraser, wasn't real good at cutting into the charcoal.

It was a fun experiment, but not strictly charcoal. Which is okay. Because all roads still lead back to Rome eventually! I'm going to return to charcoal. I'm debating whether I'll do another portrait, or just move on to the next exercise though. I'll see where my muse, takes me, tomorrow!

PS: I used the racing guide as newspaper, for this particular collage. Pieces were randomly torn and put down. After blowing up the picture, I find one of the names: "LOVE OR GOLD" on his cheek. Which kind of matches the Ned Kelly theme. Weird, huh?

Portrait #2

Yesterday, I wrote about attempting a reverse portrait of my husband. As much as I enjoyed the exercise, I made two rookie mistakes. Firstly, I went too hard with the initial charcoal layer - making it difficult to erase any white highlights, afterwards. Secondly, I needed a closer view of his face, to manipulate the details better, with the charcoal.

So another portrait was attempted, utilising the same picture - just a closer view.

First layer

This time I went lighter on the initial charcoal layer. Then gradually cut away highlights. Willow charcoal, was better than the compressed charcoal for erasing too.

Second layer

Sketching the outline, made it look very cartoony. I've gotten into the habit of drawing lines around everything! Although, it has a rather abstract appearance about it, also. If I was aiming for abstract, this portrait would be done. But I wanted to see more charcoal.

Finished

There was a squinty expression, which made one of his eyes appear smaller than the other. It was more him, than the former attempt, yesterday. But still not entirely him. One thing was glaringly obvious, afterwards though. Where was my "expressive" charcoal? I achieved some character, but I used the charcoal like a pencil - rather than using it like charcoal!

So bear with me, I'm going to attempt another portrait (same picture) without aiming for "likeness" and proficient drawing skills. I want to tackle it very differently. Wish me luck! 

A portrait of sorts

I was looking forward to this particular exercise, in my Expressive Charcoal course. I watched the video on Friday, but couldn't get started until after the weekend - when the kids returned to school.

The concept of working in reverse to form our picture, was intriguing. We had to select an image (the suggestion in the example, was a self portrait) but I chose the one of my husband, dressing up as Wolverine. I wasn't intending to do the whole claws thing, just draw his face.

As much as I loved the ghostly effect of cutting into the charcoal with an eraser, I quickly realised the paper I was using, wasn't compatible. As I couldn't remove all of the charcoal, to reveal the white paper, underneath. It was quite frustrating, but I had to press on!

While I think I obtained a "likeness" of my husband, in some aspects - the portrait kind of morphed into someone completely different. Which was okay, as the exercise wasn't about achieving a picture-perfect likeness. It was more about exploring the different values between light and dark.

One of my favourite things (it seems) is cutting into the charcoal with an eraser. As it added a textural element to the background. One of the most challenging aspects however, was achieving finer details, such as the eyes.

Even my thinnest stick of charcoal, was 6mm wide. With such a bulky implement on such fine detail, the eyes were too misshaped for my liking. As well as too cartoony, with an outline. I really struggled with variation, in those limited spaces though.

On the whole, it was still an enjoyable exercise.

Expressive charcoal

I'm doing an expressive charcoal drawing class at the moment. I didn't intend to sign-up until next year, but the recent intake happened to coincide with my experimentation with charcoal in mixed media.

Here are some examples from a recent exercise...

 Stretching with umbrella

 Yoga pose

Twirling

Dog running with Frisbee

Skipping-walking

The idea was to work quickly, with time restrictions on how long you could observe the subject. Which is why I drew such basic figures. Yet clearly, they do possess movement.

While some of the exercises feel uncomfortable, as I'm not used to working within some of the limitations, I'm still enjoying the class. Some pennies are dropping for me, in areas I've always wondered - how do I incorporate energy, without making it look unnatural?