Procedures For Pencil Portrait Sketching - The Slanted Head Pose

To craft interesting fluid portraits that breathe life you must appreciate the effect of the spine on the skull and shoulders.

To create a relaxed feeling in your portraits quite often you will need to render the skull slanted. Most people when they are at ease will pose with their skull slightly slanted. In this article we will point out what to look for and how to tackle the slanted skull.

In the slanted skull pose the subject will show a clear change of direction from the action of the torso to the slant of the skull. Also take note of where the shoulders are. The subject's shoulders will approximately be aligned with the base of the nose.

With this information in mind, the first step is to gauge the angle of the skull's slant (from the base of the chin to the top of the skull) before drawing the arabesque. To do this hold your pencil (or a knitting needle) at arm's length, closing one eye, and adjust the angle of the held pencil so that it corresponds to the angle of the slant. Keeping your arm straight and locked you can now transpose this angle onto the sketch. 

Now that the angle of the slant is found you can draw the arabesque and validate the height/width proportion.

The axis of the features is vertical to the slanted facial angle. A common trend while drawing is to straighten out the features so that they are horizontal to the paper. Be on the lookout for this and ever on-guard because this trend is delicate and is constantly trying to sneak into the sketch.

It is not a recommended practice to establish all of the features at this time. It is actually more correct to first fix the brow line and the base of the nose and work from there.

When the skull is slanted you should also be aware of the effect that gravity has on the face. The flesh, in particular on the underside of the jaw, will be a bit pulled down. This effect is quite faint but for those of you who are advanced portraitists you should capture this in your initial arabesque. If you are a beginner just put this information away for future reference.

Take note, also, of the neck. The critical visible neck muscle is extended. Its companion is compressed. This opposing muscle action is referred to as abduction/adduction. This action of the neck always renders a striking effect.

Once the arabesque is positioned and you are satisfied with its accuracy relative to proportion and form you can draw the features and hatch-in the main big darks and lights. Keep the tone simple. The more complex the lighting arrangement, the more this applies.

The tonal arrangements are worked further, but are still a bit crude and unresolved. The main concern is the overall light effect. 

There are a few items to keep in mind as you prepare to finalize the sketch:

1. Ask yourself how far you want to carry the sketch. You can get a real nice effect if you give the shoulders and upper torso an unresolved quality. Remember, drawings are not meant to resemble photographs.

2. As you gain a better understanding of the facial structure the trend exists to render what you know rather than what is actually there. So make sure you always pause to observe the life model or the subject in the photo.

In conclusion, the slanted skull pose is special in that the features will be centered on a slanted axis and that the stress in the shoulders will be different from one side to the other. Also the transition from the torso and shoulders to the skull should be carefully inspected.

By: Roberto Bell

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com