A Sketch Blog Recording my Attempts to Render Pretty Feminine Faces in Pencil with Occasional Use of Charcoal, Crayon, and other Artistic Media

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Short on time for sketch viewing? See the first 272 (or so) sketches I've posted in a 34 second music video!

Sketch #105

Some of women in my drawings tend to have a bit of a "zoned out" expression, but I think this one looks like she's intelligent and alert.

I do think I messed up a bit with the base of the nose - It should probably curve more to the left side of the page and over up more of the area near that eye.

Ted

Sketch #104

I thought this sketch turned out fairly well, though I think the angle of the nose is a little off. I'm thinking I might want to use a clay or playdough "head model" to make it a little easier to get proportions and angles right.

Ted

Sketch #103

For this portrait I went back to my old favorite "straight ahead look/open tooth smile combination". It's the viewpoint I'm most comfortable with and as I had not drawn for a few days, I thought it would be a good way to ease back into it.

Ted

Sketch #102

I think I did better drawing the upper part of the face than the lower this time. I may do a tracing/redraw at some point.

Ted

Sketch #101: A Profile

This is the first "profile" sketch I've posted. As I have not had nearly as much practice drawing this angle I found it somewhat challenging and I certainly see some aspects I could have drawn better. Still, I don't think it turned out too bad for a first try :)

Ted

Sketch #100

Two thoughts occur to me as I make this, my hundredth post on Pretty Face Sketches. First, I think that I am improving with practice. I won't go so far as to say that each sketch is better than the one before, but I do feel that in general the quality, consistancy, and variety of what I've drawn recently exceeds that of the first few months of this year.

That being said, my second observation is that I still have lots of room for improvement. I still produce plenty of sketches that I don't feel are good enough to post, and even my best sketches fall short of what I eventually hope to be able to achieve. I'm very persistant, however, and Lord willing, I hope to get in a lot more practice over the coming weeks, months, and years. And I'm still having fun :)

Ted

Sketch #99

I do think the woman in this sketch looks rather attractive, but I think her expression is a bit "goofy looking", probably because I drew the irises of the eyes too high and a little assymetrical.

Ted

Sketch #98: Third Try

This sketch is a second tracing of the one I posted Monday (and thus my third try). I thought I'd go with short hair this time.

I used the "Pro Art" line of tracing paper this time, whereas for the previous post's sketch I used plain old No. 86, 20 lb heavyweight erasable bond (25% cotton) by Schmidtman Co. of Manitowoc Wisconsin. The "Pro Art" paper was somewhat more transparent, but I think overall I prefer the feel and results from the Schmidtman paper. Now that I look at the packaging on the Schmidtman paper, I think it's typing paper I got *way* back when I was still using a typewriter. I'm not even sure I'll be able to obtain it anymore. Oh well :)

Ted

Sketch #97: "Closeup 2.0"

Think this sketch has a distinct simularity to the one I posted Monday? There's a good reason - I did it as a tracing of the earlier drawing, making a few modifications where I felt it was appropriate.

The tracing paper was interesting to work with, quite different from the Strathmore Sketch 45 lb. paper I've been using. The graphite does not stick to the tracing paper nearly as much, a trait which has both good and bad aspects. On the plus side, erasing is *very* easy. On the minus side, there is more of a tendency to smear (onto my hand, onto other parts of the paper, etc.) The drawing ended up somewhat dark and messy, so I lightened it a lot once I got it into digital form. I think the finished sketch is better than the original in some ways, but worse in others. I will definitely have to try some more "tracing experiments".

Ted

Sketch #96: A Closeup

Drawing the "3/4" view is still somewhat challenging for me, but it's getting easier. I think I have the general facial contours about right, but I have a ways to go with the little details of just how the eyes/mouth/nose look at that angle. I look forward to a lot of practice :)

Ted

Sketch #95

I like the way her nose turned out in this sketch (which I can't always truthfully say). I had to do a fair amount of erasing and redrawing, as I am still much more comfortable drawing the more or less "straight ahead" view.

Ted

Sketch #94

And here's another woman with long locks of hair. I think she may have gone a bit heavy on the eye-shadow. (Then again, it was probably my fault since I drew her that way :)

Ted

Sketch #93

This was a fun sketch. I like drawing long meandering waves of hair :)

Ted

Sketch #92: "Pretty Lady on a Sunny Day"

The "sunny day lighting" seemed to suit this drawing best, so that's what I went with in the computer editing phase. I believe this is the sketch I've posted where the woman is wearing an earring.

Ted