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Friday, September 21, 2018

Art Journal Series: Week 2, Drawing faces

Art Journal Prompt: 5 People Who Make You Smile MOST.

     I don't know about you but, wow, is it not a challenge to pick only FIVE people who make you smile. I have lots of smiles in my life and am grateful for every one of them. I chose the people who really give me peace and unconditional happiness. People who I don' have to do anything to please. Isn't funny how those become the people you want to do the most for? Sadly, we don't always put them first. We tend to put our efforts in to the relationships that demand the most from us such as our boss, our kid's coaches or teachers, our discontented peers or that family member or friend who seems to always slip their critical spirit into your life.
     It is time to refocus our time and efforts on those who we love to love.  Relationships don't always have to be hard. Sometimes they are gut level. You just know when they walk into the room that you are safe with them. They simply make you smile. Always remember Philippians 4:8 when you are anxious or busy.  Life is all about your focus.

     My first three were easy, my husband and kids. These three have seen the worst of me and inexplicably they still love me. Not in an I-live-with-you-so-I-have-to-love-you-way but in a wonderful filling the air around us way. I am so BLESSED by them.
     The next two were harder to narrow down. I thought about my parents who I love so much I moved in across the street from or  my two best friends who have stuck with me forever. I also have a couple brothers and sister-in-laws whom I would love to devote more time to. But it was the pure unconditional love of two teenagers that my heart rested on, my niece and my friend's daughter.  They have become bright shining places in my life that I cherish. Every time I see them I get a hug. Yes! from teenage girls! I thought they would grow out of this and leave me behind but I am still blessed by their love even while they are giving their own mothers the typical growing pains. These are the five people I want to focus my efforts on most in the busy season to come.

So here is my journal page:
 Art Journal Prompt 2 by Earthshaper Arts: 5 people that make you simile

Week 2 Art Technique:

 Drawing Step by Step Face

    Now before you get all self critical about your drawing skills, I want you to breathe and relax. Remember this art journal is just yours. I thought long and hard about what technique to demo this week (exactly why this week is being published late). There are many ways you could do this page that doesn't require drawing. Such as a photos collage, going back to last week's technique. Or silhouettes which is just cutting out a profile photo and tracing around it on colored paper and cutting that out. But I wanted to draw my 5 people and after seeing my niece this weekend I thought I would create this demo for her. So this is dedicated to her. 

      I am going to break it down real simple and teach you some of the tricks I learned in art school to help you get the basics of drawing the human face. The human face and body are surprisingly geometric and symmetrical.  Check out Leonardo DaVinci's Vitruvian Man. It shows how perfectly mathematical the human form is. The things that make us each look unique is how our proportions deviate from perfection. Isn't that poetic? So your little flaws are what make you beautiful YOU!

So let's begin....

 How to draw faces in 9 steps by Earthshaper arts

     I will break this down into less than 10 steps with illustrations. I will be using a few stencils to get you past fear factor. You can buy the stencils on Amazon or at a Craft Store but if you look around your house it is likely you can find objects to trace around for consistency. The alternative to this is Practice Practice Practice. Practice drawing general shapes first straight lines, circles, ovals, and cubes which are the essential shapes in drawing people and most things for that matter.

Drawing Easy Faces: Step 1

The Oval. 

Ovals can be tricky and intimidating but they are essential to drawing faces.It is the basic shape you start with. So when you are starting out, it is fine to start with stencils or tracing. An Easter egg that opens length wise is great or a cardboard tube that you squeeze in the middle slightly can work. You can always print your shapes on card stock and cut them out to trace around if you want to be really precise. However, precision is not that important at this stage. Ideally you will grow in confidence and hand eye coordination and will soon be free handing. 


Drawing Easy Faces: Step 2

Basic Proportions

 Drawing Faces: Basic proportions
The fun thing about the face is there are easy to remember measurements for laying the different parts out. First you divide the face in Half from top to bottom. This line helps you make the two side of the face symmetrical. That means they are mirror images of themselves. Similar to how you fold a piece of paper in half to cut out a valentine heart. 

Then draw a light line across the face HALF way down. All these guide lines need to be very light so you can erase them later. Now this line is the eye line believe it or not. We do not have monkey or bird brains. We have large brains on the top of our heads so leave plenty of room for it or your faces with not look very smart. 

Then divide the lower half of the face in HALF again. This is the nose line. 

Then divide that bottom fourth in HALF AGAIN!  Ha. That is where the mouth with open. It doesn't seem like much room but trust me.

 Drawing Easy Faces: Eye Placement & SizeDrawing Easy Faces: Step 3

The Eye Placement

When placing the eyes is good to imagine a third  eye between them. I used this stencil to demonstrate. You don't really need the stencil but a ruler or small round object might be nice just to help you in making both eyes the same size. Matching eyes is one of the most common  trouble spot for new artists. So much so that I have noticed many using a simple black dot for eyes on Etsy and in comics. Those are options too but I like to simply measure for accuracy.  
      You will see below that I generally use a simple circle to draw the edges of the iris. The bottom of the iris usually shows as well unless the person is smiling big or squinting. But the top almost never shows. 

 Easy eyes
Place the iris directly on the eye line and then draw the lids around it. Extend the ends of the top lid arch just beyond the bottom lid to indicate the tear duct and the corner crease. 

The pupil is just a smaller circle inside the iris. Color the pupil in black but leave a tiny moon shape along the edge of it as shown below. 

A quick note of variations. In General, the masculine face and features are more angular and contain more straight lines than the curved feminine lines. This includes the eyes. Their eyelashes are usually not as long and the lips not as full.
A few very small changes can make a huge difference. 

Drawing Easy Faces: Step 5

Nose Placement and size

The nose is placed where the second horizontal line and the vertical line meet. The most simple nose shape is just a slight curve. If you want to get more specific than that you can add the edges of the nostrils something like this င◡၁ 

How large or pointed the middle curve is can really add personality to the face. 

The general rule about the width of the nose is that the nostrils should line up with the inside corners of the eyes. 

 Drawing Faces Nose And Mouth AlignmentDrawing Easy Faces: Step 6

Mouth placement & size

The mouth rests on the final horizontal guide line you  drew. A vertical line drawn straight down from the center of the eyes indicates where the edges of the mouth should stop. 

The curved line drawn here is actually the inner edge of the top lip. 
A slightly more curved line above and below that curve will form the lips. 

Often the outer edge of the top lip is poorly defined or completely missing when drawing a masculine face because their lips are thinner than their estrogen filled counter parts. 


Drawing Easy Faces: Step 7

Ear Attachment & Placement

Ears are a very complicated body part. But given that few people pay much attention to them and the are often obscured by hair or shadows, the short hand is quite easy. 

The attach to the side of the face where you already have guide lines. The top curve extends just above the eye line and the bottom curve hangs just below the nose line. The bottom lobe sits closer to the face given that it is softer. 

Drawing Easy Faces: Step 8

Eyebrows

The rule for eyebrows is to line the inner edge up with the nostrils. The outer edge should fall in a diagonal line from the outer corners of the mouth and eyes. To form the arch correctly, the highest point in the arch should be above the pupil. 

Drawing Easy Faces: Step 9

VARIATION!!

 Drawing Faces with Variation

Now that you know all the rules BREAK THEM!

The things that makes faces so interesting to look at and draw is the never ending combinations of variations that make everyone look so different.  You can see it just in this very limited sketch of faces for my journal. In drawing this five people, most of whom are related, I learned that my husband always seems happy because his eyes squint more than the generalized version of an eye. My daughter's mouth is closer to her nose than usual. Which explains we her smile is so big and how she can touch her nose with her tongue. Ha! My niece has adorable dimples which are the tiniest marks on a page but make all the difference in the world in making her look unique. 

Drawing your favorite people can become a kind of meditation in which you grow closer to that person and learn more about them. It really is a practice anyone can pick up and benefit from. Good luck with your Journal. And please comment here or on my Facebook page about what you learned today or questions you have. 


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