I really liked the look of the reference photo that I used for this – the wide eyed stare was rather different from a lot of the expressions available in the Sktchy/Museum app and I wanted to try a portrait with an expression that I haven’t attempted before.
I found this one really demanding between the hair and the t-shirt. The t-shirt’s dark areas were accomplished through lots of parallel hatching and honestly, that felt like it took forever! I seem to remember the hair in my last portrait taking a lot less time to render.
Now that I’ve got this one complete, I feel that I need a break from portraits. I’m going to draw a couple of traditional pieces so that I don’t get too hooked on doing everything digitally. To be honest, nothing beats the flow of a fountain pen.
I’m thinking of tackling some gestural drawings, perhaps of some animals next but who knows if inspiration will take me down a different path.
Progress within a year
Comparing this portrait to what I was drawing a year ago was a pleasant surprise.
It’s easy to be overly-critical of your own work, and I certainly am but even I can see that I’ve improved over the last twelve months!
Although I’ve been learning a lot about facial structure and anatomy, I’ve also been learning to slow down. Instead of rushing a drawing, I’m trying to enjoy each step in its creation, allowing it to take as long as it takes. I think that has actually helped my drawing more than any amount of studying portraiture!
Seeing these side by side, I’m tempted to redraw the portrait from 2021 just to see how different it looks.
About this drawing
This is another drawing based on a photograph found on the Sktchy/Museum app. I was more relaxed about which brushes I allowed myself to use but even then, I just used a pencil brush for the initial sketch and a fineliner brush for the actual line art. I quickly used a simple grid brush to add a little interest in the background.
The whole drawing took between three and four hours to complete. The t-shirt felt like it took forever to hatch in the shading between the white stripes and then I had to spend some time balancing the shadows on the face as they looked washed out after shading the hair and top.
Summary
| Application | Procreate v5 |
| Tools / Hardware | Apple Pencil 2 on an 2021 iPad |
| Time Taken | ~ 3 – 4 hours |
| Dimensions (@300dpi) | 300mm x 300mm (3550 x 3550 pixels) |