How to make it art?

Artworks by Lisa Lieber, Drawing Academy student

I have just started the drawing course and I love it! I am in my second week and have already learned so much and have gained a lot of skill. I know I will continue to grow!

I am sending in a portrait drawing for critique, (I also included a drawing of vases from the class).

I have included a portrait done by Natalie Richy to help explain my question. To me my portrait shows great improvement from my past attempts, but doesn’t look like art ( or at least not what I hope to create). Natalie’s does! Can you help me understand what I am seeing and not seeing? I appreciate any thoughts and comments.

Thanks,
Lisa

Hi Lisa,

Your portrait is very good, well done. It is art, you don’t have to do some “tricks” to make it more “arty”.

The main difference is in style. While Natalie’s portrait is done in a realistic manner, your artwork is more stylized. Did you draw it from your imagination? Natalie’s portrait is taken from life.

There are some ways to improve your portrait. For example, by placing more emphasis on the focal points instead of paying equal attention to all its parts. Also, the anatomy of the face is not presented in a believable manner- for example, the shape of the nose is a bit simplified and the width of the neck should be a bit wider at its base. Is your portrait done in graphite pencil? If so, smudged graphite marks is not a professional technique.

Regarding the still-life, you may double check constructive principles in your drawing.

It looks like that two front vases are intersecting. To see it, you may project the widest parts of those vases onto the ground as virtual footprints and check if these two ovals would cross each other.
I like how you depicted tonal values on vases, making highlights, which gives a polished look to the texture. It is also good that you applied hatching lines along the vases’ contours.

Once again, thank you for your wonderful artworks.

Keep practicing, you are on the right track.

Kind regards,
Natalie Richy and Vladimir London
Drawing Academy tutors