How To Draw A Self-Portrait
Rembrant Self-Portrait
Painting or drawing a self-portrait is very rewarding and a window to your creativity located in the right side of your brain. The seventeenth-century genius Rembrandt Van Rijn was the best when it came to exploring the expression of human emotions through self-portraiture.
Self-portraiture needs you to combine all component skills of drawing: perception of edges, spaces and shapes, relationships to angels and proportions, lights and shadows, the gestalt of the thing drawn, and the skills of cross-hatching and continuous tone. Betty Edwards in 1979 wrote an amazing book called Drawing on the right Side of the brain that explains all these skills and guides you through drawing the perfect self-portrait.
This process is the key to getting into the creative zone that makes painting and drawing so liberating and connects you to your innermost being. I can really recommend taking a risk to believe that drawing is not just a talent but also skills that anyone can tap into and enjoy if they are interested.
The tricky part of drawing or painting a self-portrait is that your have to concentrate on seeing yourself in a mirror or on a picture and simultaneously apply your right brain drawing skills to overcome the visual distortions that occur when you look at yourself or a picture from a two-dimensional angel. Many suggest that starting with a picture is not as authentic but for some this might be easier before attempting to use a mirror. Start with what suits your best and go for it.
Before you begin get comfortable and allow for at least an hour to finish your drawing. If your want to use paint straight away start with at least an hour and then build on what your have! Oil painting is the most difficult and needs a lot of preparation and patience.
My instructions are for a self-portrait drawing with graphite pencil using a plastic eraser as your tool for shading and creating light and shadows. However these right brain visual skills can be applied to all modes of painting or drawing, e.g. oil, acrylic, pastels, oil pastels etc.
It is best to use a picture that has the same format as your paper. Format is very important, and will make the process of getting the right dimensions easier.
Place your paper tightly on a smooth surface and tone the ground a continuous middle-value-tone. Scrape graphite off your pencil and then use your index finger or a paper towel to rub the graphite into the paper with an elliptical rubbing motion. Get ready to get very dirty but its fun and I believe calms the nerves.
Sharpen the eraser by cutting a wedge shape so that there is a triangular end to work with. It is important to first erase out the shapes of the lights. Each shadow is a specific shape and you must look for the negative lighted shapes. A good way to see negative lighted shapes is to turn your picture upside-down. This is a great tip. It really helps to focus your attention on what is there, rather than seeing the whole picture and not the detail.
Initially there will not be much detail, but nuances of light and dark shapes. Erase the lightest areas of the negative spaces, and be always aware of relationships of angles relative to edges of the format; check the relationship of size and proportions relative to one another.
After this, use your pencil to work in the dark areas, eyes, hair, shoulder etc. Now the picture will start emerging. Keep your tones smooth, using cross-hatching or a continuous tone or even both. Feel your way to what is best as your likeness emerges. Check this is happening by turning both the picture and your drawing upside-down to see if your picture is evolving and your are not putting too much detail into it.
By now you will feel yourself really drawing and experiencing the gestalt of what you are drawing. Gestalt is the German word for form and is defined as an organised whole in experience.
Applying this exciting right brain visual skill when drawing yourself or another person from life will draw your attention to how beautiful we are when we notice the beauty of our eyes or the distinct shape of our noses
Self-portraiture needs you to combine all component skills of drawing: perception of edges, spaces and shapes, relationships to angels and proportions, lights and shadows, the gestalt of the thing drawn, and the skills of cross-hatching and continuous tone. Betty Edwards in 1979 wrote an amazing book called Drawing on the right Side of the brain that explains all these skills and guides you through drawing the perfect self-portrait.
This process is the key to getting into the creative zone that makes painting and drawing so liberating and connects you to your innermost being. I can really recommend taking a risk to believe that drawing is not just a talent but also skills that anyone can tap into and enjoy if they are interested.
The tricky part of drawing or painting a self-portrait is that your have to concentrate on seeing yourself in a mirror or on a picture and simultaneously apply your right brain drawing skills to overcome the visual distortions that occur when you look at yourself or a picture from a two-dimensional angel. Many suggest that starting with a picture is not as authentic but for some this might be easier before attempting to use a mirror. Start with what suits your best and go for it.
Before you begin get comfortable and allow for at least an hour to finish your drawing. If your want to use paint straight away start with at least an hour and then build on what your have! Oil painting is the most difficult and needs a lot of preparation and patience.
My instructions are for a self-portrait drawing with graphite pencil using a plastic eraser as your tool for shading and creating light and shadows. However these right brain visual skills can be applied to all modes of painting or drawing, e.g. oil, acrylic, pastels, oil pastels etc.
It is best to use a picture that has the same format as your paper. Format is very important, and will make the process of getting the right dimensions easier.
Place your paper tightly on a smooth surface and tone the ground a continuous middle-value-tone. Scrape graphite off your pencil and then use your index finger or a paper towel to rub the graphite into the paper with an elliptical rubbing motion. Get ready to get very dirty but its fun and I believe calms the nerves.
Sharpen the eraser by cutting a wedge shape so that there is a triangular end to work with. It is important to first erase out the shapes of the lights. Each shadow is a specific shape and you must look for the negative lighted shapes. A good way to see negative lighted shapes is to turn your picture upside-down. This is a great tip. It really helps to focus your attention on what is there, rather than seeing the whole picture and not the detail.
Initially there will not be much detail, but nuances of light and dark shapes. Erase the lightest areas of the negative spaces, and be always aware of relationships of angles relative to edges of the format; check the relationship of size and proportions relative to one another.
After this, use your pencil to work in the dark areas, eyes, hair, shoulder etc. Now the picture will start emerging. Keep your tones smooth, using cross-hatching or a continuous tone or even both. Feel your way to what is best as your likeness emerges. Check this is happening by turning both the picture and your drawing upside-down to see if your picture is evolving and your are not putting too much detail into it.
By now you will feel yourself really drawing and experiencing the gestalt of what you are drawing. Gestalt is the German word for form and is defined as an organised whole in experience.
Applying this exciting right brain visual skill when drawing yourself or another person from life will draw your attention to how beautiful we are when we notice the beauty of our eyes or the distinct shape of our noses