To Trace Or Not To Trace. Whether Tis More Practical To. . .

[D Akey]

Giddiness is not allowed! To have the proper standing artists have to be somber and moody. It helps to cut off body parts to insure one's somberness. Talking funny and having a funky mustache will add to the grandeur. But giddy? No, can't have that. In this case though, an afternoon with those girls, a bottle of wine, and a pizza would bring on giddiness.

There is a girl that works in my doctor's office, she's also on my friend list, absolutely the prettiest girl I've ever seen. Her eyes are hypnotic, I'd really like to paint them but I' not good enough yet. We have plane to go to Bermuda together, my wife said it's ok if I can come up with the money. Between the two of us we have 8 dollars so far. I'm old enough to be her dad but it's a nice plan. Nothing improper, mind you, I'd just like to have a week to look into those eyes. I figure while we sit in the shade with drink with little umbrellas in them my wife can make sand castles.

Regarding tracing, I know it's commonly done but I just can't stop feeling like it's cheating. I used to do it every time for my first few drawings but now I try to do it as little as possible. I'll use a tracing image to put marks where eyes, ears, and important features then try not to use it again. This brings up an interesting question, for me at least. I'm curious to know where people start when drawing faces. I, for instance, start by blocking in the colors of the face then I do the eyes next. The eyes being in place and done properly give the drawing some life.

EOR (End Of Rant)

If your wife allows it, is tracing this young lady cheating?

There are all approaches for all manner of styles and whatever works for the artist is legitimate if it serves the purpose. I mean, if man was meant to fly he would have been born with wings -- am I right?

I'm just pointing out that those who say to never trace, not ever, not for anybody are giving people constraints with no context. There are people who are speaking as if they're strong-arming people away from a legit tool, for those who want to use it. For those who don't want to trace, that's more than cool as well. They both teach different things and have different times when it's most appropriate for the needs of the artist.

Not tracing is great. No argument from me there. But so is tracing.

As to where to begin -- lay in for structure is good. Then it's what you want to do. Eyes is a logical first step for me as well when doing a head but it's more about where the eyes are looking and how the head is angled as a result of that looking. I rarely do a straight on mug shot, though I did plenty of them when I was in school because that angle simplifies the structural deviations. (If you're doing a whole body, the head and spine is the main thing around which everything else works. And you get that right, then the rest has more of a chance to fall into place convincingly.) But when doing pictures, it's quite often a matter of movement or expressions, tilts and turns that speak.

But I think where one gets to is where the whole process is outside considerations like which feature to do first, because ideally one holds the whole image in their head and it's a matter of putting in all the bits where they belong. The eyes are a good place to begin though. What I mean by that is drawing figures and heads is formulaic at the beginning of a picture and thus one is considering larger issues like the pose in a generic way, seeing the big picture first (as you mention in your lay in step).

And that step would then move into deviations off that formula, like something about the model, or the drawing from imagination that stands apart in a big way, like a woman's hair style or if they are interacting with something like eating an ice cream cone. Then you would start breaking it down and focusing on the features -- the stuff that makes them distinct. So large to small is the most common way to approach it. But then flying fast and loose without structure or starting from a point and working out also has value in that it helps one break out of the formula and become more inventive when one is looking for a unique style. Do it differently and you have a different outcome. Aside from that, formulas are most professional for those who have to get in and out of a drawing in short order. Fine artists can do anything they want if they don't have to conform to realism.

But structure first allows for making changes and not getting too lost, and the model can hold together in a safer way.

The most important part of the drawing process for me is the lay in because that angle is going to tell me how everything else is to be placed. So if I have my lay in at a slightly different angle than the model, I always err on the side of the lay in and not try to superimpose the model's angle onto my drawing's angle. I only use the model as reference for fleshing out my drawing. But I usually try to get the model right. But when I vary it, I haven't lost my drawing. You can kind of see how the guys in these pin-up shots worked and modified the models' poses to suit. And there's one where the girl is seated with big wide open eyes, you can see how the artist stylized them, showing more lid and exaggerating the lashes and all that. That's a formula thing that he knew looked better than natural shots do. So he probably did eyes that way a lot and just applied that sensibility to that model.

The other thing in working the big picture first is so that when you do get to putting in the detail, you know how much or how little will work in context with the rest of the figure or head. Anyway, those are some thoughts.