Faces in the Crowd

(C) 2017 Drawing Dale DiMauro

When the World Series was on a few weeks ago I started drawing this portrait from a magazine photograph. The magazine has since been recycled so I do not know who took the photograph as to give credit where it is due. Nevertheless, the games ended up becoming such a lengthy affair that I completed this drawing in one sitting.

If I get the facial features relatively accurate in proportion, I feel like some quality about that individual has been captured which are not tangible. More specifically, an element of someone's spirit comes forth. To capture that quality or at least attempt to, with a single pencil and paper for me is exciting.

In drawing you can get straight to the point as it expresses the structural qualities of the face. I consider drawing my dry media as there is no clean-up required.

The Benefactor

(C) 2015 Dale DiMauro

As a break from posting watercolor paintings and to offer variety, I figured it would be best to publish a portrait drawing. In late winter, as I was recovering from a broken wrist, I was eager to try out these new charcoal pencils purchased from Jerry's Artorama. While charcoal pencils traditionally make a mess, these claim to not smear at all. I find this claim to be quite accurate, and, in addition, they come in four different colors: black, white, sepia and sanguine. The above drawing was done with a sepia  pencil, a color traditionally used throughout art history. 

The subject is taken from one of my wife's alumni magazines in which they provide profiles of alumni with a page-length photograph. This is a drawing of a photograph taken by David J. Turner in the Spring 2014 issue of Macalester Today.

Using these jumbo pencils, one feels a waxy sensation as the lead is applied to the paper. For me, they are quite pleasant to use; however, it is not easy to keep a sharp point, thus areas around the mouth and eyes are not as precise as with a regular HB pencil. What do you think?