Portrait Drawing Lessons:
Building Form

A Portrait of a Street Performer in Florence

Portrait Drawing Lessons - Building Form 1

Busking (street performing) is a time-honored tradition dating back to the beginning of civilization. Also dating back to the misty dawn of civilization are laws seeking to ban street performers. In ancient Rome it was illegal to perform any public act that parodied or satirized the government or its official. The penalty was death. These days the penalty is usually a ticket and a fine, but not always.

Buskers are excellent fodder for character studies. Armed with a camera, a couple of dollars and an enchanting smile you can easily approach a busker and ask to take a picture. It would have to be a particularly grumpy busker that would turn down your kind request. If you are shy you can take a photo discretely, but it also good form to drop a dollar or two into the hat.

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Portrait Drawing Lessons - Building Form 2

The busker for my drawing was dressed all in white, including white face, and wearing a headpiece that piqued my interest. He was at rest and smoking a cigarette on a street curb when I walked by. I knew then and there that I had to get the shot. Unfortunately it was a busy street and by the time I had stalked out my position for photographing he had finished his smoke. These things happen and one must adapt. The photograph that I did get was still an excellent reference for this drawing.

For this portrait drawing lesson I will address the needs of both the beginner and experienced artist.

Some artists pride themselves for always working from life. I have no argument with that and believe that working from life is by far the preferable mode. But it is not always feasible and the camera is an excellent tool for the artist. The problem though is that you need to be aware that a camera lies: the camera flattens and dulls form.

That said, let me unequivocably state that the photograph is merely a reference. At most it is a springboard. There is little point to slavishly copying a photograph; drawing is much more than that.

The beginning artist’s first agenda is to learn how to accurately adjudge height/width proportion. This is done by first drawing and ingraining the proportions of rectangles into your mind’s eye. Natural design law infers that there are nine basic rectangles that encompass all organic, and most man-made, objects. These are the dynamic rectangles and their complementaries. I’ll introduce you to two of these in this lesson.

When you initially assess the height/width proportion of your subject you need only determine the main body. The inert fold of drapery at the back of the head and the nose of my busker are extraneous details at this juncture and incorporating them into this initial assessment would complicate an otherwise straightforward procedure.

I extended my rectangle a little above the photograph to include the entire head piece. My guess is that my busker was playing the part of Medusa and those twisting, elongated forms are snakes.
Portrait Drawing Lessons - Building Form 4
Portrait Drawing Lessons - Building Form 6

To efficiently facilitate your learning process take your best guess first as to what you think the initial height/ width proportion is and draw out the rectangle on your paper.

Now your guess needs to be verified. First sight the width of your subject’s main body and apply that perpendicularly to the height (line AB). It is also a good idea to take a mental note that the headpiece lies a little below B, but more about that later.

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