class has begun!

first assignment is a self-portrait... i only watched a third of the videos misty posted for today, and after the first one on portrait drawing, i knew i had to stop and play with that technique before moving onto another (and hopefully finding a "favorite" way of expressing :)

 this was my first attempt (my first graphite portrait ever, i think! i did draw my face one other time a few years ago, but it was with charcoal - these are pencil). i was having a hard time seeing lights & darks so i turned off all the lights save one spotlight. this ended up complicating things, but i was glad to have the core shadows to highlights to practice with. this turned out looking NOTHING like me. i felt like it was because i started with the wrong proportions (eyes too big, too far apart, too low). so instead of using like a "universal" grid to shape my self-portrait, i made my own of my actual face (below) by placing a transparency on the bathroom mirror and drawing the grid (plus a few features) with a sharpie.

 so this second attempt at a portrait definitely turned out looking more like me. but they are both pretty angular, and the proportions still aren't quite right. but i'm going to bed, and i plan to try a more "expressive" one tomorrow (read: not a sour expression like these ones. guess i need more practice to get my emotions into the expressiveness of the portrait - cause i was super-happy when i was drawing both of these... can't you tell???  ;)