Portrait by Dan S., Drawing Academy graduate

Portrait in Winter

I’ve been working to develop my portrait skills to depict realism in both deep shadow and full frontal lighting. Capturing the physical depth and three dimensions in full lighting is not easy and requires the ability to “turn the form” very subtly as it turns away from the primary light source into “dark light” and finally into shadow. If there is simply not much shadow then there is a natural flattening of the image that can give it a “cardboard cut-out” look if one is not careful to do things like soften edges against the background and utilize the small areas of the anatomy such as the orbital areas (eye sockets).

It is sometimes useful to sharpen the focus of the prominent areas of the face (nose, lips, chin) while depicting the receding features slightly “out of focus” to help create the illusion of a three dimensional figure on a flat surface.

All comments will be appreciated.

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