With so much going on, the head is almost a body in itself, so this week I want to look at a portrait
There isn’t a lot of time to get everything down even in the longer poses. It is quite easy to get distracted by putting all your energy into getting the portrait resembling the model. However, I do a few portraits for my commercial illustration work and wanted to give time to these in my life drawing class.
So instead of having to rush a full pose, my 60 minute drawing focused on the torso, giving me far more time to work on a portrait. The image is also larger without having to fit a full pose so getting some of the details in was helped quite a lot.
Our model tonight was called Samuel.
Giving me guidance, my class tutor is Frank Gambino, trained as a graphic designer, however in recent years his main practise is in portraiture and figure studies. Frank’s studio is in Belsize Park, London, where he works on commissions and runs popular life drawing classes. However, conveniently for me, he is also running classes in East London, at the Tokarska Gallery.
The Tokarska Gallery, a contemporary art gallery run by emerging artist Nadiya Pavliv-Tokarska.