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artacademy 11-21-2008 04:08 PM

A Sanguine Portrait – Drawing into Painting

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As a practicing professional artist I know that one needs to be as imaginative in dreaming up and trying inventive
strategies for introducing myself to new audiences as it is in creating paintings.

My name is Michael Britton and I am the owner of Artacademy.com. We are a new sponsor to the portrait forums
on Wet Canvas. The reason I am posting here is that Wet Canvas has been experiencing technical glitches, which
happens to all of us, in uploading this introductory lesson in the appropriate classroom channel and so this posting
is, well, an end-run around the glitches.

My intent in posting this is in the spirit of sharing with the community of Wet Canvas artists. I am taking pains to
avoid any overt commercial ploy here and if some of you see it as that way please permit me to apologize in
advance.

This is the first in a series that engages the portrait using sanguine conte.

****

The urge to leap directly into painting is universal. Painting is the show. The problem, however, is that jumping into
painting before understanding how to relate and carve out form is that things will quickly get bogged down. If one
cannot handle form in drawing then the myriad challenges of working with pigment, color, temperature, relative
values, etc. will completely overwhelm.

In this lesson I will show you a working method that bridges the gap between drawing and painting – a tonal
approach to the portrait.

Using an ivory colored sheet of Fabriano Ingres drawing paper, sanguine conte, a couple of paper stumps (or
tortillons) and a clean kneaded eraser I will approach this drawing as if I were painting.

Sanguine conte is my favorite drawing medium. It has an expressive quality that appeals to my sensibilities. But it
is challenging and somewhat unforgiving – errors are not readily dismissed. For intermediate and advanced artists I
would suggest giving sanguine conte a try. For beginning portrait artists charcoal is a much more forgiving medium.

Using a sharp conte crayon I strike the arabesque. Keep these initial lines light. You want to encompass the
entirety of the head while ignoring superfluous details. With practice and experience your initial strokes will skim
across the paper accurately establishing the overall proportion and shape.

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This is an acquired skill that takes time and practice. It is the first and foremost drawing skill that every realist
artist needs.

The common error of beginning with an eye and growing out the portrait like a fungus is a surefire recipe for
disaster and frustration. The better, classical approach, is to alternately draw from the outside in and then the
inside out.

Once the initial arabesque has been struck and the primary height/width proportion checked and, if need be,
corrected the major landmarks are now established. These landmarks are the brow ridge, the base of the nose, the
placement of the ears and the overall shape of the face and hair.

I am looking up at my model, hence, the brow ridge is a little higher than I expected it to be plus the lower face
appears superlatively larger than one would normally suppose.

This is the reason for using the brow ridge as a major landmark. Attempting to draw a portrait using the
generalized anatomical guidelines (i.e., the eyes are at the vertical midpoint, the nose half-way between the eyes
and chin, etc.) is a sure-fire prescription for failure. Worse still, relying on generalized anatomical guidelines will
seriously limit your growth as an artist.

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Holding a small piece of conte with my finger tips I block-in the major dark pattern using the broad side of the
conte crayon. It is important that your major dark pattern is only one value. You do not want to start differentiating
the range of dark values at this point. The key is to always work from general to specific.

Now the real fun begins. Using my fingers (make sure that they are oil free) I stump down the blocked-in conte so
that it is smoothed out and ground into the paper. This stumping-in is not a willy-nilly madness but a general
modeling of form. The result will not be particularly pretty and that’s OK.

Using a clean kneaded eraser (in fact, one that has never been used with another medium such as charcoal,
graphite, etc.) the lights are first painted out and the forms of the features are further suggested. Ideally you want

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to be painting out the lights with a sculptural sensibility.

Once you have finger-stumped and painted out the forms to a generalized yet somewhat unresolved state is a step
that most beginning and intermediate artists neglect. This is what I refer to as placing the pinpricks.

Using small, succinctly measured marks I fix the features into their exact locations. I find these pinprick spots by
sighting and plumbing each feature in relation to the overall head and to the other corresponding features.

This stage of the drawing is equivalent to what is called an underpainting in, well, painting.

Now that the foundation is set the drawing/painting progresses quickly. The features are readily articulated and the

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light/dark pattern is developed into its relative values of lights and darks.

The forms are now too small to be stumped down with my finger. Instead I use a small number of paper stumps
(tortillons) to push and pull the forms into shape. I use the stumps like paint brushes.

This is an additive/substractive process. I add in a shape of conte, manipulate it like paint with the stump and then
remove some it with my kneaded eraser.

Finishing the portrait is more than the articulation of details such as the nostrils. It is striving for the full value
stretch of darks and lights. Most artists quit their drawings too soon afraid that they will overwork them. There is a
valid point to this fear, but there is also the issue of failing to discover how far you can go.

Frankly, I think that it is better to lose a few, perhaps a good many, drawings by pushing them far beyond their
limits. You’ll soon learn where the precipice’s edge is.

I have left a large gap in this lesson between the initial tone-building and the finished drawing. This gap is more
fully discussed in the second part of this series which is currently available from my website.

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The Sanguine Construct – Drawing into Painting is the second in a series of engaging the portrait in conte and is
available at my website – www.artacademy.com

Netty 11-21-2008 04:50 PM

Re: A Sanguine Portrait – Drawing into Painting

Thankyou Michael for this very informative WIP. Your information is so very valuable to any portrait artist, and
much appreciated.
I have been on the artacademies mailing list for a few years now and received the tutorials which I really enjoy. I
recommend them to anyone who wants to sharpen their drawing skills and learn more about portraits.

Your work is very beautiful and natural.

Annie.

mimitabby 11-21-2008 04:59 PM

Re: A Sanguine Portrait – Drawing into Painting

Thanks for the pointers, next time I'm at Daniel Smith, I guess i'll buy a sanguine crayon!

RADAR 11-21-2008 08:05 PM

Re: A Sanguine Portrait – Drawing into Painting

Thanks for taking the time to post this Michael, Very imfomational, one can never have too much info!
Best Wishes & Welcome To Wet Canvas

Gary

Anita Murphy 11-21-2008 09:39 PM

Re: A Sanguine Portrait – Drawing into Painting

This is a fanastic lesson - thank you Michael for posting it. You've inspired me to want to try yet another type of
portrait - I can't keep up! Could someone please put some more hours in the day?

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mringey 11-21-2008 09:58 PM

Re: A Sanguine Portrait – Drawing into Painting

I'm a big fan of Conte (however it's actually the Faber-Castell Pitt brand crayon, which seems a tad softer, less
brittle). Love your demonstration. I use them for my life drawing sessions once a week. I often battle how to begin
a drawing, but have a hard time going inward, as for me, can cause major distortions. And, in life drawing, it's all a
wash, whether to even start with the head or the body. I try to capture all of it rather quickly instead of focusing on
one item. You have a beautiful outcome.

cjorgensen 11-22-2008 02:45 AM

Re: A Sanguine Portrait – Drawing into Painting

What a great demo! Thank you for sharing it. :)

amyeverhart 11-23-2008 05:08 PM

Re: A Sanguine Portrait – Drawing into Painting

Yes, thanks so much for sharing this with us!

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