En Carles dibuixa (Entrades sobre face-a-day)

Face a Day 2020 (bonus)

Carles Barrobés — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 07:30:00 GMT

The face a day challenge of 2020 is now officially over! I wanted to conclude with a final more elaborate drawing as a final challenge.

This one is a portrait of my friend Jordi Grifell, a man of many qualities: singer, musician, stage actor and tap dancer among others.

The reference photo I used had really beautiful lighting, it was perfect for this exercise. It took me a bit to realise how important a good sharp reference photo is, and the impact it has in the quality of my drawing.

I've drawn this one over a couple of days, one where I concluded a 2H pencil drawing, and a second day where I experimented with the finish. I have also used this opportunity to document the process a little bit, so you can see the steps I went through.

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I start with a sketch that focuses on the general shapes, in order to get the proportions right, and the placement of the features:

Secondly, I use a kneaded eraser to lighten up the general shapes and start focusing on smaller shapes and details. I use a kneaded eraser a second time.

At the final drawing stage my concern has become the quality of the lines, make sure they are fluid and not shaky.

Finally, to experiment on the finish I took a photocopy of the 2H drawing and used a combination of compressed charcoal and soft graphite pencil to get much darker blacks:

Face a Day 2020 (22)

Carles Barrobés — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 09:45:00 GMT

Graphite (H and 2B) pencil on sketchbook
Source: photograph from a fashion catalogue
Drawn on August 26th

Face a Day 2020 (21)

Carles Barrobés — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 09:45:00 GMT

Graphite (HB) pencil and callibrated marker on sketchbook
Source: "Brutally Honest" by Deya Muniz, and imagination
Drawn on August 24th

A day with no time for a full portrait, I found this comic style that I really liked - so different from anything I ever draw, that I wanted to give it a try. It was also fun to start doing some inking as well. (I may eventually ink some of the portraits I've made so far).

The pencil drawing is the first face in this series that is drawn from imagination. In the end, this is my end goal, make up believable characters for my comics and graphic novels.

Face a Day 2020 (20)

Carles Barrobés — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 08:45:00 GMT

Graphite (H and 2B) pencil on sketchbook
Source: photo from Steve Harris (bassist) at a live Iron Maiden concert
Drawn on August 23nd

I picked this up because Steve's "mad scream" face seemed like great reference that I could use in comics.

Steve's hair, and in particular at a live gig, is a curly tangle that felt like a helluvalottawork to draw, so I only hinted at it.

Face a Day 2020 (19)

Carles Barrobés — Sat, 19 Sep 2020 07:15:00 GMT

Graphite (H) pencil on sketchbook
Source: screenshot from "The End of the F***ing world"
Drawn on August 22nd

This screenshot of James as a kid at the burial of his mother was a great subject. I was also well aware that many of my subjects had ended up bein young women rather than the variety of gender, ethnicity and age that I was initially aiming for, so I wanted to counter that.

I enjoyed tackling the expression in his eyes - someone lost in his own thoughts, having a hard time expressing his feelings.

I'm also happy I drew the full hair with decent results for a second day in a row :)

Face a Day 2020 (18)

Carles Barrobés — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 07:25:00 GMT

Graphite (H) pencil on sketchbook
Source: photo from the internet
Drawn on August 21st

Profile of a young woman, from when I was collecting reference, while learning to draw the profile.

This time I chose a subject with hair that was easier for me to tackle: blond hair, tied up in a ponytail. One I could solve with a few strokes.

I also went for a very lightweight line drawing, and tried to focus on making clean flowing lines.

Face a Day 2020 (17)

Carles Barrobés — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Graphite (H and B2) pencil on sketchbook
Source: screenshot of Adria Arjona from TV series "Good Omens"
Drawn on August 20th, revisited later for some work on hair

Third portrait of Adria, this time again from her role in TV Series "Good Omens".

I did a first pass on August 20th with no hair, some days later I revisited it to adjust the mouth and start adding the general shape of the hair.

Maybe one day I get to finish it, when I become more fluent with hair.

Llegeix-ne més…

Face a Day 2020 (16)

Carles Barrobés — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Graphite (H and B2) pencil on sketchbook
Source: photo of Adria Arjona
Drawn on August 19th

At this point I felt I was ready to tackle Adria Arjona and I'm really happy about how it turned out, the eyes and mouth in particular.

I also used a combination of H and B2 pencils, to be able to add more contrast - and thus life - to the drawing.

I may one day revisit this one to properly finish the hair...

Face a Day 2020 (15)

Carles Barrobés — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Graphite (H) pencil on sketchbook
Source: photo from a UNHCR magazine
Drawn on August 18th

Face a Day 2020 (14)

Carles Barrobés — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Graphite (H) pencil on sketchbook
Source: selfie taken on my mobile
Drawn on August 17th

The second self-portrait. I feel like this drawing is a turning point - I suddenly realised I had to pay much more attention to the quality of my lines, which are often sketchy/shaky.

So I focused more on trying to make the lines longer, more polished, more flowing, "drawing from the shoulder". This is also more of a "line-drawing" than the ones I did before, which will suit more the comic style I will most likely be going for.