Whenever I tell a stranger I’m an illustrator, most of the time I get asked if I can A.) illustrate their children’s book or B.) draw the person’s dog and/or family. Smiling and nodding while making strained eye contact has gotten me far in this life. As I’ve developed my portfolio, portraits are always something that I avoided. It’s a true passion and specialty for illustrators who can nail the likeness of a celebrity or politician. I mostly avoid taking on portrait commissions all together because my skills don’t always meet the expectations of the client. Flash forward to the present. It’s the time of year where I pull out my most profitable party trick, live event portraits! I’m often commissioned to create 5-minute watercolor portraits of guests at fabulous soirées and fashion parties in Paris and beyond. I think of it more as a performance. I have a limited amount of time to collect as much visual information as possible. The stakes aren’t terribly high; if the guest isn’t happy with their portrait, they have to have grace that they only lost 5 minutes of their time. It’s an intense marathon being so observant and even looking dozens of people in the eye for hours on end. This all made me ask, how can I nail a 5-minute portrait but not a proper watercolor rendering of a person?
I recently purchased a fascinating read, Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. McCloud breaks down the history and codes of comics and sequential art from cave paintings to the present. I’d love to write a graphic novel someday, but when I start sketching I instantly fall into a realism trap. Realism isn’t the ultimate goal; it can actually hinder the potential for a visual narrative. McCloud shares a fascinating example. If you compare a face that is drawn with photographic realism to a rendering of just a head and a few features, it’s much easier to project and relate with the simplified form. Think of it as a visual Everyman. Nonetheless, if you aim for realism, you’re going to fail! The secret is suggesting the face instead of over explaining. This all made perfect sense.
How can you snap out of the realism trap and start really drawing what you see?
Draw from life. Believe me on this one. It’s easier to capture the essence of someone without comparing your rendering to a photo. Even if the person moves around, you have to make executive decisions about what you can include in your sketch.
Give yourself a limited amount of time. This forces you to draw only what you see. Start with a few 1-minute poses to warm up and work your way up to 5-minutes.
3 steps. Do a quick 10-second gestural sketch with an HB pencil. Use a darker pencil or marker to clarify the features on top of the sketch. I like using a medium-grey Kuretake ZIG Art & Graphic Twin marker to define essential elements. Then study the lightest and darkest portions of the face and build with tone.
Lather rinse repeat. Draw people as much as you can. People at a park, people at work. The more you can really see in the moment, the stronger your portraits will become.
Give it a shot and share your portraits with me. I’d love to take a look.
Take care, dear friends. And don’t drink the watercolor water.
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