The Silver Screen Oasis

Danny, I come in here to ask for tips on portraits and once again I'm left in awe of your work. Amazing as always! Thanks for sharing those two great stars with us. Glad you discovered the one and only man of a thousand faces.

I've been drawing as of late and still haven't grasped the idea of seeing portraits as shades. It hasn't been pleasant drawing people but hopefully I can learn a bit from the torture. lol I will never get anywhere near to what your work looks like because you have the gift of bringing the subjects to life on paper. My question to you is, What do you start first when drawing the face? Do you begin with the eyes to center the portrait correctly or do you draw the outline of the head first? I know it's a matter of style and everyone has their own way of doing things but I would like your take on it if possible.

Very, very nice work, Danny.
Hard to believe I've never stooped-in here before this morning!
What a delightful way to kick off a fresh, new, as-yet-unspoilt week!
I'll be thinking of all the little nuances of character you've captured in these pencil portraits throughout the day, as my employees come trundling in for their paychecks, grumbling & mewling & tearing their hair over their heroically pathetic lives.
Who knows, perhaps those little inspirations might just stop me from throttling one or two of 'em . . . at least til 5 pm gets here, and I can hustle down to the pub & whistle up a trio of Arth. Guinness' brave black soldiers!
Dan, we'll only be disappointed if you fail to show us your new work as it becomes finished!

Oh, wow... Thanks so much for the most wonderful replies. I have been gone for a short vacation, which was cut even shorter due to the unbearable heat

I appreciate every word in these replies, and I find immense joy in the fact that some entertainment comes from these old drawings. I haven't much to share, I'm afraid. I was stuck waiting for a friend at the doctor's office (NO magazines!) and doodled this cartoon of Buster:


Not really normal, is it?

To metsfan:

I love answering your questions! But I have to warn you that I have no artistic training or background. I draw portraits in two different ways, one way is more of an inspired rendering. When I feel particularly moved by an image, I start from the right eye. Then I typically moved to the left, working on the eyebrows and the hair line. When doing this, I generally begin with a harder pencil - the 'F' is my favorite, because it is not soft but none the less easy to erase. The last of the features is generally the mouth. I'd recommend this method, I like it much better. An example of this would be the Chaplin, Powell, Chaney potraits.

But, sometimes I do create the head outline first, I did this with the Gable, Astaire portraits. Then I work my way in... I hope this helps some!

Thanks as always for letting me share, you guys are just wonderful

Your Buster "sketch" is just too wonderful for words. That is one of my favorite movies as well you know. Thanks again for sharing it. I love it.

Thanks, Chris! We are in total agreement on how special that film is

Exquisite Buster caricature, Danny! You should do more in this style, too. I don't know how you do it, but you really capture the "spark" in each personality, whether in true portrait or cartoon...

Thanks so much, QA!! You know, cartoons were really what I first began doing. I do love them, more so than drawing portraits - So nice of you to drop in I hope you are doing well,

Danny

Fantastic caricature, Danny! You are so endlessly creative.

MissGoddess wrote:Fantastic caricature, Danny! You are so endlessly creative.

Oh, I don't think so but thank you! I hope you have been doing well Miss G, I thought I saw you braving it out over at the motherboard Good for you.

Yes, Danny, things are slowing down again at work so I've been able to pop in more often in the forums. I'm toying with the idea of taking a drawing class at the Art Students League this fall, so maybe I will have something to contribute to this thread eventually.

The drawings I already have at home are too large for me to scan, unfortunately. Or fortunately, because they aren't that great!

How wonderful! I'm so excited for you... I can't wait to see some of your creations. Do you think there will be a Gary Cooper in our future, perhaps?

And I'm possitive you are being modest about your current art I know it is fabulous

Hee! Of course I would love to tackle the divine Cooper but I will need a lot of practice before I dare! And truly, I'm just so-so---the trouble is that I am terribly impatient, and a good artist needs to be painstaking at details or else magnificently gifted. I am neither to be sure!

It will be fun, though, to get back into the groove of drawing and maybe, eventually, painting. I miss it----especially on the design end, because I used to come up constantly with new fashion ideas. Lately that has gone by the wayside. Life has a way of doing that.

Great caricature, Danny. You are a self taught professional. Thanks for the advice! MissG, you can try taking a picture of your drawings and post them here. The other day I went crazy with a charcoal pencil and did two quick sketches of Conrad Veidt. It's fun to use but if you mess up, there's no turning back.

Metsfan---that's a good idea! I didn't think of photographing and then scanning.

And won't you post your Conrad Veidt sketches? I think he was so handsome....

It's nice to see another Conrad Veidt enthusiast here. I shouldn't post this but if you want to see my horrible sketch, here it is. lol Please bare in mind I was only fooling around with the charcoal pencil and the shading is really bad as well as the proportions. Soon I'll try to draw him with a regular pencil. Here he is in character from a 1927 film.



Don't forget to post your work too, MissG.