Getting a Likeness

"Willie," digital, 2019

Making a two dimensional image appear to have three dimensions is an important goal for a realist. The artist wants a landscape to look like a real scene, a portrait to look like a real person. With a portrait it's also assumed that the artist will capture the individual. A good artist is able to draw or paint an image that closely resembles the subject. A great painter will make a portrait that presents not only a physical image but a personal impression, even a psychologic one. The first step is accuracy. Accurate drawing provides the substrate for capturing likeness.

There are many ways to draw accurately, but for a portrait, here are steps that I use. These steps or modifications of them have been used by many.

Laying In
The beginning of a portrait, whether drawing or painting, it is important to establish shapes and angles. Much of the resemblance in a portrait is based on getting the head structure right. The head must always look as if there is a skull underneath. In the drawing at right ("Willie") I began with a simple circle then added the big trapezoidal shape of the jaw beneath, being careful to establish the forward tilt of the face with respect to horizontal. The top of the circle is the top of the skull, not the head (recalling that

Features in profile

there is flesh and hair on top). Using knowledge of head anatomy and general shape and location of the features, I marked the position of each, paying close attention to the angles they made with contiguous structures--e.g. the angle between the bottom of the nose and the lip, or the angle of the ear with respect to the jawline. There are many references available that give rules of thumb for locating the features. The profile example at left emphasizes that in most people the face is divided in roughly equal thirds from hairline to brow then brow to the bottom of the nose, thence to the bottom of the chin. These are only guidelines, of course. In the diagram you can see too that the eyeballs are located about halfway from chin bottom to the top and the corner of the mouth can be located by dropping a vertical from the eye. Also, most peoples' ears are about halfway back on the head. A common error is to situate the ear on a perpendicular too, but the ear is most commonly at about a sixty degree angle. 

Using a pencil tool and drawing lightly, I established locations of the major facial features, their angles with respect to one another, and any exceptional differences. The reference photo I used was taken in nearly full profile, which is often a difficult angle to approach, but knowing how the features align is very helpful. Each of the features is important to likeness, but in my own opinion, the mouth is probably the most important. The length of the nose can be difficult to establish, too, but most people have noses that are about two eye-widths long. You can also see in the diagram that the nose is slightly less than 1/3 of the face in length. Once the basic drawing is complete, it is time to block in dark values.

Planes of the Face, graphite and chalk, 2015

Value Mapping
Attention to shapes is paramount to getting a good likeness, so I usually also lightly diagram areas of shadows. Shadows are one of the features you can use to establish dimensionality in a drawing. Consider the light source and facial anatomy very carefully when laying in the shadows. The brows, nose, and ears may all cast shadows onto the curved of flat surfaces of the head. Sometimes the eyes are in deep shadows. In short, the light and dark values of the head can be mapped and shaded. In many cases I draw on a mid-value background, which gives even more of a sense of dimensions.

In the graphite drawing at right I used an artists mannequin known as Planes of the Head a my reference model, lighted from above and slightly to the left. In this drawing I blocked in the head and features much as described above, then mapped the value changes. Under the eyebrow on the left was one of the darkest spots, as was part of the upper lip, under the lower lip, and under the nostrils, especially the one on the right. Notice how two values of line on a middle value promote the illusion of mass and dimensions.

When satisfied with the darker values, I move on to the lights, using chalk when drawing in one of the traditional ways, or a light color pencil tool when drawing digitally. Most times the kinds of shading I do with darks and lights is traditional hatching and cross-hatching when drawing. Sometimes I "scribble shade" when in a hurry. In the case of the graphite example here I mostly hatched the lights but scribbled the darks.

Finishing Details

"Mugshot," graphite and chalk, 2018

Once the facial values are finished, the final step is to return to each activity for review and revision. An old mentor once told us that no matter what stage of a painting or drawing, you must be willing to correct your errors. So review and revision means using a critical eye and strategies to correct myself. Two strategies I use are image reversal and blurred vision. In the digital format, image reversal is simply a click with a mouse, but otherwise I use a mirror. Errors are easy to spot and correct in a reversed image. In the studio I use a full-length mirror. Another way to reverse the image is to turn it upside down, again facilitating spotting and fixing mistakes. However you do it, image reversal is a great tool. Blurring the image makes details less arresting and gives a better overall view of the subject and how believable it is. In the real world, squinting accomplishes the objective and makes the light-dark pattern more understandable. Blurring is easy in the digital world, too, of course, depending on the program. Regardless, each method has its uses. Image reversal gives me information about symmetry or asymmetry, location of features and shadows, and so on. The final stage of detailing may go on for some time depending on how accurately the initial stages were complete.

Lindsay Graham, digital, 2019

Likeness in portraiture is based on a number of things. First, overall structure is critical and must be established early in the process. This means care in drawing the basics of the head, especially getting basic shapes and the angles between features correctly placed. Second, each of the features have not only classic shapes but individual idiosyncrasies. Likeness depends on the differences. Finally, care in mapping the values of the face with respect to lighting adds verisimilitude. Once the portrait enters the detail phase, the artist has to search diligently for tiny features that ensure a good likeness. It might be the tilt of the eye or mouth; or the wrinkles on the forehead or at the corners of the eyes; or it could be something more subtle. Regardless, the elements of likeness are in both the large and small pieces of a drawing or painting.

N.C., digital, 2019

NFL Retiree, digital, 2019

Louis, charcoal, 2010