The Practice of Tone When I released my advanced portrait DVD Practice of Tone last year, James was quick to order to complete his portrait education and take his drawing to the advanced level. Shown here is a portrait drawing that represents the fruit of all James’s hard work over the past six months. James has graduated to the exquisite classical drawing media of sanguine conte as demonstrated in the DVDs. Jame's drawing is full of expression, fine drawing technique, confident handling of materials, clean line and tone. The features are solidly constructed with a now sound understanding of the underlying anatomy. The gaze of the eyes engage the viewer in a direct dialogue. James, in the drawing of the male, you are still favoring that right eye with a slightly ballooned iris. So just be aware of that tendency. But in this case it is well drawn and, thus, doesn’t detract. Sometimes drawing errors actually add to a drawing's emotional pull.

James Murch, Portrait Drawing in Sanguine Conte, 2009

That said, however ... the nasolabial furrow (smile line) on the right side of the face (our view) is a little two 'roundish'. It's almost there. In fact it is very close. Breaking the smile line into a few, exquisitely select, lost and found, architectonically straight lines would significantly improve the drawing. This is, of course, easier said than done.

The flow in the transitions from feature to feature, the tonal passages, the highlights and shadows, facial hair and textures in the drawing is rendered with a degree of skill to be highly commended. This kind of fluidity can only come with lots of practice and clearly James’s perseverance and consistency has paid off handsomely. As in the Practice of Tone DVD demonstration, James has drawn the facial arena only, illustrating portraiture as a work of art. We don’t miss the top of the head, hair, neck, ears do we? The focus is on the face and expression, the viewer fills in the rest.

James you can be proud of your efforts. Bravo and job well done!

Some final suggestions

As we have seen James your progress has been admiral. Congratulations. Your main struggle at this point seems to be the initial height to width ratio of the arabesque (or contour). You might want to revisit the Plexiglass exercise in Mastering Portrait Drawing: the frontal pose and spend some hours strengthening that all-important skill. You should see your sitter’s likeness from this very early stage of the initial arabesque. If you’ve missed the gesture and shape then it won’t come later.

Secondly watch the size of those irises. They are smaller than you think. All portrait artists have to fight the desire to make the eyes too big. In the portrait of Luke and several of the other portraits you sent me, the shape of the iris also got away from you.

Keep up the great work!

Best Wishes

Michael Britton.

P.S. Recently James posed a very good question to me and because many students ask it I have decided to include it on the following page for those of you who are also struggling with the same issue.