Figure “A” is the photograph I will be using as a reference for the drawing. I will show you what methods I use to try to reproduce the picture as accurately as I can. Of course a drawing will usually not look like a photograph, but at least for me, I don’t want it too.
In many ways, especially with pyrography, the shading must be “exaggerated”. In other words, it must have a higher contrast than the person or original photo to look good. I do however want the drawing to look as much like my son as I can, and these are the steps I use in my process.
1. Figure “B” is the first time I am actually drawing lines on the face, but I am constantly doing this in my mind as I draw. I look at the main features and there position in relationship with each other. I use this visualization to draw the picture so I draw the eyes in the same relative position to the ears for their height, and the nose and mouth for their horizontal placement.
So I will draw the eyes in what looks to me to be the same spot along the horizontal line as I draw that part of the ear. I will draw the mouth, nose and eyes trying to line them up vertically the way they appear in the photo. This line or alignment visualization helps me to not only line things up properly in relation to each other, but keeping the features proportioned correctly as well.
2. In Figure “C” I show another method I am using at the same time. Just as I visualize lines to help me align features in relationship to each other, I am always aware of the size and spacing of the features and visualize lines to help me proportion all of them in this way as well.
What is the distance from the ear to the eye in proportion to the other side of the ear…or to the other side of the eye?
I make note of things like the distance between the eyes seems to be the same as the width of the eyes. The distance from the top of the ear to the top of the head seems to be the same as to the chin. The bottom of the nose appears to be half way between the top of the eyes and the bottom of the chin. the bottom of the lip looks like it is right in the middle of the bottom of the nose and bottom of the chin... I keep going this way as I am drawing the features, keeping the photo close so I may keep studying it while I draw to get the proportions correct.
The center point for my piece will always be the eyes, or the point in figure “C” that is between the eyes. The eyes are the most important part of the piece, and the focal point of the picture. They are not level in relationship to each other in this picture, but the height and width will be the same.
They eyes will not be the same shape as each other either, and one eye on most subjects I have found is usually closed just a bit more than the other. I will do my best when drawing to reproduce these shapes as best as I can.
Many may feel that a good artist does not have to erase much. If that is true, then I am a terrible artist. My eraser is a good friend of mine. You will find that when you draw something or burn it into the wood, what looks fine in life may not render as well in art.
I have found that when sketching a subject that the eyes did not look as natural when drawn as they did in the picture with one lower or closed a little more. Sometimes I have had to make the eyes more level or symmetrical for the picture than they were in the photo to make them look more natural. (Another reason my eraser is a dear friend.)
This answers another question I have been asked. “Do you draw everything before you burn it?” the answer is not always, but the more concerned I am about how something is going to turn out, the more I put into the design and drawing of a piece before I do it. Most of the things I do, the main features or focal points of the picture are always drawn first, and then I use my own drawings as a pattern.
3. Figure “D” shows the first stage of my sketch. This may not be the way or order it might develop if it were only a drawing, but this is how I would approach it if I were creating this piece to be burned onto wood.
I have already begun shading the jacket, which I would not do if this were going to simply be a "pattern". I normally don’t shade a sketch because I don’t transfer the shading onto the wood anyway, or because usually my original sketch is actually on the wood and not paper. For this illustration I will completely finish this drawing. The detail on the face in this stage is as much as I would probably draw out on the wood.
The reason why is that when you burn over any pencil lines, or lines from any number of transfer methods, they darken and become permanent. So the only areas I will want to sketch on the wood are going to be the areas that will be burned dark enough to cover all the pencil lines anyway. I may draw a light line for a guide where I intend to shade then I will erase it before I burn that area.
This brings me to Shading...