Portraits
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Blue Man
I have mentioned before (and will no doubt mention again!) the jeopardy inherent in producing a portrait, in that the face not only has to look normal, it also has to resemble the portrait’s subject. This particular example is kind of middling in that respect. It looks somewhat like the real face, but is probably…
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Toque Macaque
These monkeys are quite common in Sri Lanka, particularly near Sigiriya where the original photo of this character was taken. These creatures look very sweet and endearing when you first see them, particularly with their quirky hairstyles, but there is a good reason why monkeys have a reputation for mischief. Just a few minutes before…
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Smile
As I have noted before, I feel that portraits always carry an element of risk for the artist. Even a pleasing picture can fail because of a lack of “likeness”, particularly if the subject is well known to the general public. The risk in this case is slightly different, as this particular smile belongs to…
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Selfie
Somewhat to my surprise (and also somewhat to my regret!) this drawing has a passing resemblance to yours truly. So no, my skin is not quite that blotchy – that is an artefact of the style I have tried to draw in. Also yes, I do have that many wrinkles (or perhaps a few more…
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A Fresh Face
I always feel that drawing a face presents a type of double jeapody. Not only is there an expectation that the face will look real, there is often an equally strong requirement that the drawing actually looks like the person being drawn! This desire for a convincing likeness makes drawing well know personalities particularly challenging,…




