Face Drawing Critique Request

https://imgur.com/a/w1OiepW

grid layout (though I uploaded as transparent PNGs, so you can't see them on the black background...): https://imgur.com/a/w1OiepW/layout/grid

A collection of drawings from mostly the 1.5 hr class.

For short sketches (30s or 1m) I think my prioritizing can use improvement. I don't think I'm good at capturing the basic likeness or emotion of a face quickly -- and part of that I think I'm not good at simplifying and grouping shapes.

For longer pieces, I want to work on the transition point between drawing and more painterly approaches. In two of 20m pieces, I went with a painterly approach from the beginning, which looks fine but results in lack of detail. In the pieces where I do line drawing first then value shading (my default approach), I think it can end up looking disjointed between the two styles.

Thanks for looking through this long gallery and giving me feedback! These are just some thoughts of mine, open to all feedback.

• Zhaoxiong edited this post on February 8, 2022 3:35am.

HI!

I like your drawings. Shading the 20 Minute-works - good! Do you have a good book on Anatomy? I can recommend you "figure drawing - design and invention" by Michael Hampton. There are basic guidelines for drawing anything of the human anatomy. There I found the planes of the face/ head, which help immensely building depth to the human face. I think the book is for 2,99€ amazon kindle...

Michael Hampton Figure drawing

Your shading approach is good. The transitions from highlight to halftone to core shadow are good. Knowledge of the face and its planes are important for two reasons: Occlusion/cast shadows and expressions. Drawing a convincing nose, for example, is next to impossible with the finest shading without knowledge of the planes and how they interact with light. I think your drawings look a bit uncanny because normally an entirely black background has no bounce light (think of the moon in the sky) so try to have them on normal backgrounds for these critiques. I'll leave you with this excellent diagram by Andrew Loomis from his book about heads and hands. It's a timeless resource and I highly reccomend it. You don't have to buy any book to know the planes of the face though, just look up a 3d asaro head on google and play around with the models, drawing them in unique and interesting angles, understanding the relationships in size and how the different planes fit together like pieces of a puzzle.

Hello Zxding!

I noticed that in almost all of your short drawings, you seem to get lost in drawing an eye or a brow before understanding the placement of those.

I would recommend, especially for the shorter, 2 minute drawings, to start with rougher, more general shapes like circles or squares to get a feeling for the general head- and faceshapes rather than the details - those can be worked out afterwards!

I actually think the more 'painterly' approached sketches you showed work better because you focus more on the placements and everything working together, rather than single features.

Thanks for sharing you drawings!

Lailo

I'm new here and I kove your art by the way! There are some short drawings were the proportions fail, so it would be better (I guess) if you start with simpler and more general shapes.

Keep making so impressive art!

Hello and good morning, zxding, it's me, Polyvios Animations, I'm doing a bit too iffy, how are you? Greatest and strongest job on our 1 1/2 hour session of faces and expressions. Strongest job on your forces of faces, anatomy and proportions and tones of faces. Way to go, and Keep 'em up!

My biggest critique to me, is that some of the faces are a bit farther too hard to read too scribblier. Would you kindly be more crueliest and boldest with your lines and graphic shapes and forms and forces of expressions with 1 hour class of faces and expressions? So that because, your facial anatomy will become the least choppiest in lines, and the most quickest and appealing in lines, and the facial structures and facial economy will be all the more recognizable in all angles. My hat's off to you and your goals. Good morning.