Haven't checked this thread in a good while for whatever reason, but because I think you have definite potential, ali, I'm going to provide some constructive criticism for that image.
Alright, so first thing's first. Construction! We construct when we draw. Heads are one of the most construct-able things in the world-- faces can have so much variation, allowing us to create any sort of character or feeling through utilizing facial features! One of the most important things to realize about the face is that it is very, very complex, and has so many layers.
When I draw heads and faces, I like to look at the face as a series of complex plains. You'd probably hear that from any art teacher, too-- looking at the face in such a manner helps us to visualize where on a face features are located and how the underlying structure (in this case, the bones in the skull) creates the outer form.
When first drawing heads, people usually see them as ovals-- this isn't really true to form, however. The head is very much akin to a cube, actually-- George Bridgman in his books on constructive anatomy speaks on how the planes of the face attribute more to being cube-like rather than similar to any sort of sphere. Each piece of the face is essentially on a different plane, and this allows dynamic form and three-dimensional space to be implied when drawing. While we can construct the cranium in almost an oval-shape, the rest of the head is much more like a cube.
You can see in these two attached images the basic planes of the face. The obvious planes of the face are as follows:
1) The nose. It sticks out much more than anything. In your image, I feel as though the nose has been shaped in such a way as so it seems like it's receding in rather than protruding out. Try to think of the nose as a long, rectangular shape with a sphere at the end of it. I would recommend an actual reference of a nose to create a convincing nose in this case, as, as it stands, practice does usually make perfect, and working from life and from reference WILL get you the results you want if you stick at it!
This tutorial helps out a lot with noses, and explains them in more detail than I currently have, too!
https://www.stanprokopenko.com/blog/2012/09/video-draw-nose-anatomy-structure/2) The forehead. Don't be afraid to let its planes show as well. In the skull, where the sphenoid bone recedes in, the frontal bone and the temporal bone of the skull protrude out, giving the forehead its distinctive shape-- it curves back into the cranium. We can't see much of the forehead of your character, but before working on any of the finer details perhaps draw some structural lines on a different layer in order to give yourself some ground to work upon and some reference points as to how light will fall across the various planes of the face once you've determined a lightsource.
3) The last main thing that protrudes out is the chin. The jaw/cheek bones come out as well, and are apparent upon the face, but the chin is something that is distinguishable on most people, and also helps to add character.
So from here, what else can we learn? The face is fairly predictable in terms of measurements. Scientists have studied the exact proportions of the face, and though they vary occasionally, the usual proportions remain the same. Here are those proportions:
"The eyes are halfway between the top of the head and the chin.
The bottom of the nose is halfway between the eyes and the chin.
The mouth is halfway between the nose and the chin.
The corners of the mouth line up with the centers of the eyes.
The top of the ears line up above the eyes, on the eyebrows.
The bottom of the ears line up with the bottom of the nose."
Check this page for more on the rules:
https://www.portrait-artist.org/face/structure4.htmlUtilizing these measurements will help you convey an interesting and realistic face.
I feel as though the weakest point of your image is the lips-- they're basically the go-to version of lips people draw when not actually visualizing a human and how their lips are constructed.
Let's examine these lips for a minute! In the first image, you can see how lips are no more than just continuations of our skin. They're not suddenly some invention placed upon the face-- they're just skin, essentially! They're very intricate, too-- lips can make or break a drawing of someone, especially if you're going for a certain likeness. Everyone's lips are different. So, when inventing lips, like you're doing in your image, it's harder to imagine exactly what you're going for-- here again, references, references, references! Real life creates what we perceive and emulate when we draw, so return to the source when you're stumped!
The second image is a bit of a step-by-step, obviously, but it shows that lips are more intricate than sometimes seen.
The third image also shows this well-- lips are also angular in some instances.
This also shows how lips alternate light and dark-- lipstick changes this, of course, and you may have been going for that, but this still offers an interesting and helpful viewpoint on lips.
I think this drawing here shows a lot of what I've been discussing well. It establishes form, it locates the planes of the face, and most of all, it's very, very convincing!
I don't have a tablet pen at the moment and thus can't do a redline of your drawing, but I'm getting one in the mail in the next week or so and so if you'd like me to demonstrate what I'm talking about overtop of your drawing I'd be happy to!
I think you can take this work a lot further than you currently have, and I definitely believe you have the inspiration, willpower, and talent. It just takes practice and dedication, and also lots of drawing. My advice would be to get out your sketchbook and do lots of sketches of things-- they don't even have to be faces! They can be anything. Learning to see what you are drawing allows your hand to become trained to see as well, and after a good bout of drawing I believe you'll come back to this WIP and see the issues that you need to tackle.
If you have any other questions or would like me to go in-depth more, I would love to help! Hope to see more from you.
Topic: The Creativity Thread v. we need more artists! [NSFW] (Read 103480 times)
