The Portrait chapter 11
The best example of achieving a likeness can be considered
in this way: You are walking outside at dusk, and it’s slightly
foggy. Someone you know is walking toward you, and you
are able to recognize this person based on a bare minimum
of information. What you’re registering and recalling about
this person is the overall shape of his head, the placement of
his features, and his posture. When you think about it in this
way, it does seem remarkable that someone could be recog-
nizable based on such a small amount of information....
In this stage, the artist mapped out the shape of the model’s
head, the width and length of the neck, and the width of the
shoulders using the measuring methods in Chapter 4. It is
crucial to establish the correct width of the head versus its
height because this is another very important aspect of
achieving a likeness. At this all-important stage, failing to
draw the shape of the head correctly can adversely affect the
placement of all of the smaller components and features.
After this was done, the artist found the line of the eyes,
placement of the nose, and the line of the mouth and hair-
line using the measuring methods. Feel free to draw these
lines in your drawings to use as guides. As long as you draw
them lightly, you’ll be able to eliminate them later.
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