Slow down, breathe easy, make a poem of your life. Don't let life rush by; reflect. Look for beauty and rejuvenate your soul.

Tuesday 22 March 2011

Sketching Men

Since I started drawing and painting faces, I have wanted to try my hand at a male face. I think I first felt the urge when I painted a female angel, for although we all paint beautiful female angels all the time, the traditional biblical angel is portrayed as male. As soon as I painted the female I knew I wanted to paint the male. I haven't got there yet (watch this space!), but I've made a start by sketching a couple of male faces in my sketchbook.

The first still looked very female, but I kept adjusting (thickening eyebrows, squaring the jaw) until I got this which I think could just about pass for a man, although I think he/she could be suffering from some gender confusion still:


Not yet satisfied I immediately embarked on a second, this time in profile, which I think is more successfully male:


Do you draw men as well as women? What adjustments do you make to the features to emphasise the gender of your portraits?

Louise

4 comments:

  1. any attempt i make at drawing males and they always have a feminity about them! tried thickening the eyebrows and jaw..just wondering about the neck now..often thicker in a man, much different shaped neck and shoulders...hmmn maybe get the other half naked so i can practice :0)

    love the sketches..the first one does look male but more boylike than manlike..softer.

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  2. Dear Louise-thank for sharing your sketches with us...I just LOVE drawings! There is something so elemental about them! Are you taking the BYW class with Holly? If so...how are you liking it? thanks so much for visiting my blog...and the very kind comment you left.-Soraya

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  3. Hi,
    Thanks for stopping by my art blog!

    I struggle with life like human drawings, always have. I've never gotten the forhead/ nose/ chin ratio correct. When ever I draw humans in now, it's usually with their backs toward the viewer, leaving imagination to paint the face. Cheating... maybe!

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  4. Hi Louise, I have never tried to draw a man, I don't think I coud do it. I'm just too into the feminine thing. I might have to try - we'll see. Yours are definatly masculine - no gender bending there, lol! Good job!

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