Today I am writing about a commission I received from the gentleman pictured, who has agreed to let me write about his picture for this blog. As soon as I saw the photo, I thought I had discovered a relative of Humphrey Bogart! Take a look at those eyes and those lips... but apparently any resemblance is purely coincidental (or so he tells me).
This was a great picture to draw, and not only because of the distinctive eyes, nose and mouth (the royal flush of an interesting face!). The light falls almost exclusively on the left side of the face, meaning that almost no shading was required there. On the other hand (or cheek) the right side is completely in shadow. Obviously being a pencil drawing, a good contrast is essential so I deliberately darkened that side whilst letting the white colour of the paper do the work of the highlights on the other side. The result was very satisfactory.
The other intersting point about this picture, which makes it different from anything I have done recently (click here to see the gallery) is the very short hair and beard. For this I shaded the area to the required darkness level then used a retractable pencil with a B lead to draw the very short hairs. I think the results are effective but please leave any comments below.
The subject was pleased with the result, so much so that he says he is taking it to the Louvre...
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