GA1A01 - Theoretical Foundations of Art and Design – Submission Four

Submission - Self Portrait

The scanned image turned out a little darker than the original

For the final submission of the portfolio summative, I chose this self-portrait I drew a few months back because I deem it’s the best traditional work I have produced this year, and I will be explaining the artwork in detail and why I think this is my best work.

The reference photo I chose from was one I took earlier in the year. I found this photo to have very soft diffused lighting over my face, and I chose this lighting over harsh and contrasting (such as closely shining a lamp over my face) because I felt the resulting drawing would bare more resemblance to my real face as you don’t walk around every day with a lamp shining over your head. This choice however also raises the difficulty of drawing my self-portrait as the slightest shade change can result in deforming the face.

The time spent on this drawing was around 10 – 12 hours (three nights of 3 – 4 hours’ work). I spent the first night getting the proportions matching as closely as possible, which meant heaps of light line work, comparing, and erasing/fixing. I highly prioritised this step because the human face is perhaps our most sensitive region of visual perception and the tiniest alteration/difference in proportion can be easily picked up. Next night I did the majority of shading, mostly on the eyes and skin, and then on the last night I drew the hair and finished up the whole drawing. I left the clothing mostly without detail to keep the focus of the portrait to the face.

Features I felt I did well were the general proportions of the face and the shading on the skin to show form. I feel these two features were the standouts of my portrait and the reason I think the portrait bares great resemblance to my face.

Features I felt that were most difficult to draw were the eyes and hair. The shape of the iris was especially challenging due to the preciseness needed to make it look natural. Hair was more time-consuming than difficult, but I think the shading requires more attention than I have given it.

The features I felt I could improve most are also the details around the eyes and the hair. Details such as eyelashes and my eyeliner became mixed up, which I feel could have been fixed by drawing the details much finer. The hair needs another night of detailing each strand and the overall highlights need improving especially around the side of the head. Overall I think I did a fine job on the self-portrait.

Wang, Q. (2013). Self-portrait.