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Nathan

Graphite on Bristol smooth

    I learned a lot  from drawing Nathan and I’m glad that I stuck with this portrait to its completion.  What I have learned is that there’s a fine line between drawing a button (nose) Benjamin and a Benjamin Button.  Drawing this little guy took four attempts and to be honest I didn’t think I would ever get him drawn right.  When rendering  portraits  I do not like any of the paper showing through on a face.  And though it may seem funny,  I draw as though I am applying make up.   It just makes it easier for me to break down the shading elements. The only white   (color of the paper) I have is the white of the eyes.   I really don’t know how I would draw a man considering the few portraits that I completed were women, but I know this does not work for children, because it ages them too much.  In my earlier attempts,  I had an elderly man’s head sitting on top of a toddler’s body. GROSS!   So, I didn’t know what to do…I knew that I couldn’t shade a whole lot, but I still felt that not filling in the space with graphite was just wrong because unless you were a zombie or a vampire a person’s face is not stark white.  So, after much thought I shaded the entire face in a fine layer of graphite and used a tissue to wipe the graphite off  the paper leaving  a slight stain.  Then, I  used an old blending tortillian to do the rest of the shading on the face.  Now he has a more youthful appearance.  That’s what I love about drawing…it is never what you expect, you always find little surprises and you’re never bored.