MON. 4/22 PORTRAITS: Constructing the Head

Stephany Valencia

Last night, we began with a discussion concerning the proportions of the head. The most widely used method is the "rule of thirds." You can divide the face into thirds beginning with 1. the hairline to the bottom of the eyebrows, 2. brows to the bottom of the nose, 3. bottom of the nose to the bottom of the chin. We also discussed the majors "planes" of the face and features as well as the direction of their cross-contours. Notice the "hatch" work in Stephany's drawing above. All the lines flow in the directions that are most complementary to the volumes as opposed to crossing the volumes in a manner that would emphasize the "light" but diminish the volume. For instance, the contours swoop down across the cheeks and then rise over the nose.