Art-ology

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

To craft a relaxed feeling in your portraits quite often you will need to draw the skull slanted. Most people when they are at ease will view 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 view the model will show a clear change of bearing from the action of the torso to the tilt of the skull. Also take note of where the shoulders are. The model’s shoulders will almost be aligned with the bottom of the nose.

With this information in mind, the first step is to gauge the angle of the skull’s tilt (from the bottom 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, looking through one eye, and adjust the angle of the held pencil so that it corresponds to the angle of the tilt. Keeping your arm straight and locked you can now transpose this angle onto the sketch.

Now that the angle of the tilt is established you can sketch the arabesque and validate the height/width proportion.

The axis of the features is vertical to the slanted facial angle. A common trend while sketching 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 subtle and is constantly trying to sneak into the sketch.

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

When the skull is slanted you should also be conscious of the effect that gravity has on the face. The flesh, particularly on the underside of the jaw, will be slightly pulled down. This effect is quite fine but for those of you who are expert portraitists you should capture this in your original arabesque. If you are a novice just file this information away for future reference.

Take note, also, of the neck. The essential visible neck muscle is stretched out. Its companion is shortened. This opposite 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 size and form you can draw the features and block-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 draw what you know rather than what is actually there. So make sure you always pause to observe the life model or the model in the photo.

In conclusion, the slanted skull view is special in that the features will be centered on a slanted axis and that the tension in the shoulders will be different from one side to the other. Also the changeover from the torso and shoulders to the skull should be carefully observed.

Do you want to learn the secrets of pencil portrait drawing? Download my brand new free pencil portrait drawing course here: pencil portrait course.

Remi Engels is a pencil portrait artist and oil painter and skilled drawing teacher. See his work at pencil portraits.

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