Head and portrait: tasks of the month
The construction of the skull, how the head sits, the features of the face and a long portrait. From the first proportions to a head that stands in space and looks like a particular person.
Tasks
1–7 February
Head construction from three points
Draw the same head from three angles: front, three-quarter and profile. No details — construction only: the cranium, the face, the jaw. Keep one scale and one eye line across all three. If the head is a different person in each of the three, you are building from the features and not from the form. Any reference — a photo or a person sitting across from you.
8–14 February
Features of the face, close up
Take one element — an eye, the nose or the lips — and draw it large, filling the sheet, from two angles: straight on and three-quarter. Look for the form, not the pattern: the eye sits in the socket and is wrapped by the lids, and the lids have thickness. The nose is a prism with planes. The most common mistake is drawing a symbol from memory instead of what you see. Any medium.
15–21 February
Value portrait: the big form
A portrait with one light source. You stop at the stage of the big form: light, shadow, cast shadow — and that’s all. No eyelashes, no single hairs. The check is simple: squint and look at the piece. If the head reads as volume, the task is done and details will add nothing. An hour to an hour and a half, no more.
22–28 February
The skull and how the head sits
Draw the head together with the neck and part of the shoulders. The main thing here is how the skull sits on the neck and how the neck goes into the shoulder girdle. Look for the tilt: the head almost never stands upright, and the line of the shoulders is almost never horizontal. It is the tilt that gives you a living person instead of a mannequin. A reference with the neck clearly visible.