A Different Way of Drawing with Different Mediums

For years, I have been learning about the measurements of the face; 1/2 down is the eyes, 1/2 down from the eyes and chin is the nose etc. Those measurements have to be practiced and almost memorized for a person like me. The edges of the nose meets the corner part of the inner eye...and so on.
Then there is the practice of the eyes separate, the nose, the lips especially because they are all shadows and pigment colors of the skin.
When I watch Willowing, Suzi Blue, Milliande, or Monica from Hands and Heart, I love watching them place all of the face parts down in their drawings, and then their build up of shadows and color with pencil and paint. "I want to draw like them or paint like them" I think. Well the word is "practice, practice, practice".
And then, the new way I have been doing, make a copy of masters faces, and take that pencil, charcoal or marker and trace and copy on top of their eyes and noses, and lips and ears, hair and shape of face. Believe me, this is so helpful. You are not pliagerizing. I find this tracy affect is so helpful, it seems to make an imprint inn the brain on how the line qualities, shadows and shapes really make up the face. Another way is to lay tracing paper on top of the photo copy and trace and retrace. I am sure that if you practice this different way of drawing-tracing-it will help you with the placement of these things in your own drawing whether you enjoy realism, folk art style faces, cartoon, pen and ink, painting, or whatever, the whole face will be solidified in your mind.
Remember, this is just drawing exercise like when you are working out on the weight bench, and you do and redo curls, this becomes a repetitive pattern, you may go up with the weight, but you are doing the repeat over and over to build up muscle and tonality. This is what you are doing in drawing. Appreciation of art is a wonderful thing, and if you do this type of exercise, you will come to enjoy the masters and begin to see their differences in techniques.
The Mona Lisa that I have in a previous post is a good one to practice on first. I even wanted to check to see if the measurements were right and if the eyes were in the middle of the head. They are!
Have fun and if you want, just throw the tissue paper or copies away later, it is just exercise to make you a master!

Inchies and Twinchies Will Be Coming Soon

Yes, who came up with "inchies" and "twinchies"? They are the smallest piece of art. I actually think I will use tweezers for the placement of pieces next time. Inchies definetely creates an artistic challenge to me. So I am making myself do them by joining a swap at Roses on the Table.
Check her blog out. Lot's to do there and for a low yearly membership because NING changed some things, she has videos and short classes. That is my next purchase real soon I hope. I have been working with herj trading groups and am saddened about the fee, but she is worth it.

Last year, I made two twinchies for Milliande another great woman that you should check out. She does not charge for any of her videos and you can watch them on YouTube. The music she plays in the background is fun and soothing too! She was collecting twinchies and was going to do a huge project with them.

So, off tomorrow, my inchies will go into the mail; all six of them. The theme was on butterflies. I also am participating in a vintage tag swap and only three needed to be made this round. I got those almost done for September and then Marie Antoinette ATC's are up on the agenda.