Jack sparrow portrait

[Spaceinvad3r]

Crit please, I did this in pencil and used an electric eraser for highlights.

[devans]

Your pencil work is good mate, but his face is wrong IMO.

[Spaceinvad3r]

Thanks, I love pencil stuff. What strikes you as wrong about it tho? I think it has a look of Gary oldman or whatever his name is. The fella who was in Leon and fifth element lol.

[vito]

It looks great. Face is slightly long. It looks awesome though, take it from me, I have been an award winning pen and pencil artist since i was 16

[Spaceinvad3r]

Cheers vito, I draw all my portraits from scratch so I guess that's where the fault lies with his face length. I should probably trace the outline for perfect sizing but I kinda enjoy getting it as near as by eye.

Have you any tips on achieving better results?

[casey]

I like it mate, shows some nice depth and a great understanding of the medium. If you dont want to trace you can use the grid method , i find this the best way to maintain proportions. That said a lightbox is a great tool to have

[Spaceinvad3r]

Many thanks casey. I'll try the grid method for my next portrait I think. We have a light box at the shop but at home I use my glass table and put a lamp under it. It works, kind of lol. I've been dabbling with watercolours a lot recently, now that's somewhere I need lots of improvement

[CajunDave]

i really like to be able to say i didnt trace anything when i do pieces like this. i can nail the likeness of someone everytime but i dont do it without assistance, although i dont trace either. what i do is i blow the image up on my computer screen the size i want to draw it at. then i bust out my ruler. place your center line on the face on the pc, imaginery or u can use a program, and then put the same line on your paper. i then measure from that line the important shit. like face length and width, eyes, nose tip and width, eyebrows , mouth height and width etc, and transfer those measurements onto my paper as little tiny dots or marks. i then freehand draw all the shapes from there and make a very light line drawing from these measurements . if something looks off you just have to figure out what shape is off. then shading then the removal of highlights etc.

if im using a face just as reference and i dont need the likeness i will just freehand without the measurement marks , but it really helps if ur trying to nail the likeness of someone.

this is the first drawing ever i used this method with and was really happy with the results. angelina jolie 18x24". couldnt fit the whole paper on the scanner so some is cropped off.
15695_1331349854216_467388_n.jpg

[pinkfro]

I think the mustache is off to the right too much along w the elongated face but still a nice job

[devans]

That's her top lip pinkfro .... She got slug lips en a.