Tuesday, February 9, 2010

More imaginary people...

I remember the very first realistic face I ever drew. I was quite young and my peers were still drawing circles with smiley faces. I liked loved to draw and would spend hours lost in my own little creative world. But this first face was done quite by accident. My parents told me to clean my closet, and well, you remember the story about the parrot, right? My locker was bad, but my closet was a disaster! And though I always hated having to do it, I often found myself flung into this imaginary world as things forgotten suddenly were rediscovered. On this particular day I saw a piece of paper with a squiggly line on it, just a scribble really; it looked like a profile. So I added the mouth, eyes, ears, etc., and I ended up with a very realistic profile sketch. I worked on this for hours. Putting down some pencil marks, rubbing it to get shading. Looking in the mirror the best I could, to see how it looked from the side. It was a new discovery to me, and I remember that feeling of joy.

And so began my fascination with drawing people. When I doodle, it is almost always faces. All kinds of faces. I try doodling shapes and zentangles, try to be random, but always I see the slightest inkling of a face in there and unable to help myself, I push it to become a face. I once told a friend of mine that I could make a face out of any line. She challenged me and I did it. My proportions may not always be correct and sometimes they come out a bit bizarre (e.g. the lady with the tree arms), but they are always there, found scattered about my pages.

19 comments:

  1. For some reason when my eyes fell on the woman, my first thought was Hillary Clinton (in her younger days). Both drawings are really good. The man looks to me like you had a model in front of you. Well done! nancy

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have always been shaky when it comes to sketching people. But I like your idea of sketching imaginary faces, starting with just a line. You are doing such a fatastic job on this.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your drawings are *GREAT*! I wish I can draw faces like you :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. And your faces have such character and personality! You have a real gift- I'm glad you share it here.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I can so relate to this post. I've done the same thing. I love the first one. Those lips are awesome! Great work!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I just love her smile, and the look in her eyes... like she is thinking of something that makes her feel very happy, maybe the man of her dreams just gave her a kiss.

    great drawing

    Mari

    ReplyDelete
  7. Both drawings are so expressive!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Don't insult the lady with the tree arms - I think she's great! Then again, I like the wicked witch of the west too. Anyway, I love the story of you in the closet - I can really picture that. And need I say it? I always default to drawing and sketching faces too. Everything else always seems extra to me. When I am sketching people in public I have to resist jumping straight to the face. I second those that say that these two faces have a lot of character!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thank you all so much!

    Nancy: My husband said that too!

    Mari: I see you're a dreamer also?

    Dan: If only all artists had our approach, the face being most important, I don't think it would be necessary to have anything more than a stick body, if they had one at all!

    Pthalo: If it takes all day to do a two hour job...then you've definitely been there! ;D

    ReplyDelete
  10. Valentina: And I wish I could draw with as much creativity and imagination as you do! You have an excellent style!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Lovely faces - and that lady reminds me of a character in Mad Men!

    ReplyDelete
  12. They are wonderful. Great imaginary expression on the imaginary lady's face :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Your imagination is awesome, and it's great that you use it in such a beautiful way!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Love the imaginary faces! I have given your blog an award! Check it out here and pass it along: http://drawn2life.wordpress.com/2010/02/12/me-really/

    ReplyDelete
  15. I agree, the lady has a Hillary touch and the man remind me of an actor (sorry no name/bad memory)
    wonderful portraits.
    I have been looking at Matthew Archambault on youtube, thanks for the link,
    is there a specific one you were thinking for live drawing?

    ReplyDelete
  16. I have been struggling with drawing barely remembered people for a painting I'm working on. You make it look so easy!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Great story, Raena! Let me guess, not a lot of closet cleaning got done that day? LOL

    Funny you mention drawing people from lines. My husband and son do that for fun while waiting in restaurants. They don't do people, just use their imagination where one person draws a line and the other person has to draw a picture out of it.

    And yes, she DOES look like Hilary Clinton!

    ReplyDelete