Periodically I get so tired of my careful, precise drawings. And I suspect this portrait above happened after I had overworked the last one. So I reached for my Pentel Brush Pen and just went for it. No subtlety here. Just the deeply grooved face of an elderly man who knows the meltdown of facial muscle tone has already occurred, and thinks, So who cares!?
And another one, all bristly white hair and determined scowl, or is it simply compassionate concern? Sometimes older folks have a scowl on their faces, but it’s really because they’re struggling a bit to see with failing vision. I should know.
This guy’s younger, and an experiment in color value. Find the shadow shape and flood it with color! Two colors here: quinacridone burnt orange and pthalo blue, and some white gouache.
What’s my favorite facial feature? Why noses of course and the bigger the better. More drawing with the Pentel Brush Pen, though I think I must have done a quick pencil sketch first? I can’t remember. The paper is good watercolor paper and white, so there’s no need to finish with white gouache for the highlights. The white of the paper does that best.
I wanted the subject, Katarina, to speak in that throaty Baltic/Russian voice. Can you imagine it? The gel pens at the end helped to convey a kind of glamour she seemed to have. That, and oh those lips!!
There’s more to catch up on. Stay tuned.
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