The goal of this class is to direct your study. And because each student will come in at a different skill level, I have some recommended Project/Assignments geared to each:

Beginner Artists:
Project 1: Take a blank sheet and fill it with geometric objects. Start with boxes (as they're closest to the form of the head), and draw them from above, below, straight on, rotated, etc. This is to practice visualizing the page as a 3D space as opposed to a 2D space - a primary skill needed to assemble the planes of the head (as you will always be dealing with perspective, in all angles of the head). Try some boxes where you first plot out vanishing points and basic perspective lines, then try some boxes without. Next, try adding other geometric objects into the scene: spheres, cylinders, cones, etc. They all offer opportunities to practice drawing forms in space. You may apply a single shadow value to these forms, separating the planes that face the light from the planes that do not. I recommend against adding halftones or reflected light. Just one value for the light (the canvas value) and one value for the shadow will do, as that is the most fundamental information needed to display form. This project is excellent for daily warm-ups!

Project 2: Draw from the cartoony head sheet provided with the class. Feel free to use other cartoon reference from animated films of your choosing. Do NOT try to simply draw the contours or outline of the head. Instead, construct the head using your knowledge of the planes of the head from Chapter 1. You will find that, by constructing the head, your eventual contours will be more accurate, and you will have gained a much more valuable understanding of the design. Cartoon heads are nice to study because they have already been simplified. That is, the complexities of nature have been edited into something neat and presentable. A good design will often only contain the most important planes, which is great training before you get into all the little complexities of nature.

Intermediate and Advanced Artists:
Project 1: Find photo(s) that clearly show the planes of the head, load it up in your software of choice, then on a new layer trace the planes over the photograph. Feel free to reference the Asaro Head handouts provided with this class as you map out the planes in perspective. On another layer, and with a different color, trace some of the prominent rhythms you see (eg. look for the line of the brow, the 'question-mark' rhythm as the brow connects to the cheek area, the circular rhythm that connects the nose, mouth and chin.) Do many of these, over different photos. Feel free to even use animation character design, caricature art, or comic book art as your reference material! If you do that, compare how the planes of a cartoony/illustration design differ from that of a real human being. (Hint: you will find the same major planes, just likely arranged in different proportions.)

Project 2: Take what you produced in Project 1, and hide the reference (so you now only see your trace-over). Put that off to the side, and on a new sheet, draw that same arrangement of planes, freehand. Be conscious of where you are struggling, as every artist invariably has trouble with certain areas and an easier time with others. The areas you struggled most with drawing freehand are what you should immediately go back to for more focused plane/anatomy studies from reference.

Project 3: Isolate features of the head (eye, nose, mouth, etc.,) and draw their planes. Construct the eye from different angles on one page, the nose from different angles on another. The goal here is repetition, not perfection. If a sketch doesn't work, don't wrestle with it. Move on to another view, then circle back to problem sketches later. The problem to overcome with drawing the head and its features is not in perfecting detail, but in training your eye to see form and dimension rather than a flat page. This training takes repetition.

Project 4: Find a photo that has a strong, singular light source. Map out the head with line using the planes and rhythms of your choice. Now using just two values - average light and average shadow - assign the planes into either the light or shadow family. Keep this in grayscale; no color. Remember that everything in shadow gets just one shadow value, and everything in light gets just one light value. This will help you edit and simplify what you see. Try to also be conscious of the 2D shape you're designing, particularly as you will often be grouping many forms and planes together into one value. Do many of these studies. Skill in this area in particular is primarily what makes a good painter.

Project 5: Using the same reference as Project 4 (or new, your choice!), now add halftones and reflected light to further add to the effect of light and illumination. Still no color! Remember that halftones are only in the light family, and reflected lights are only in the shadow family. Also remember the one rule of painting: your light family must remain lighter in value than your shadow family, and vice versa. For this reason, I recommend keeping your halftones close in value to your average light, and your reflected light close in value to your average shadow. Think of them as brother and sister; they need to stay together.

Project 6:
Complete the same painting as you did in Project 5, but now paint it with color from the start. The critical thing to remember here is: value is king! Do not let your color choices take you out of the mindset of simple value and shape decisions. It's a great idea to check your painting in grayscale mode as you work, to always be evaluating your value relationships. If you are worried about choosing the "right" color, don't be. There is no "right color," only the right value. If you like, begin with an egg-study (as seen in the 'Study Advice' section in Chapter 2) and map out some of the various fleshtone colors you see working in various values. For instance, you may see a pinkish red in the average light values, and a more earthy, warm red in the shadows. Get those relationships into your egg study! Then use that egg study as a palette that you can sample from during your actual painting of the head. Remember that you can absolutely change colors and temperatures within a value. For example, within average light, you can have redder cheeks, greener jaw, golden forehead, etc. To help the colors mix, I recommend using soft edges between them. As long as you are within that same value (a little error and variance is allowed here, but not too much), your colors will work just fine. Remember to evaluate your painting in grayscale, as quite often value problems get misdiagnosed as color problems.

Project 7:
Design cartoon characters or caricatures of real people. Keep your planes simple, and play around with their arrangement. Feel free to enlarge the nose and shrink the mouth, or widen the distance between the eyes, and narrow the length of the head. There are infinite amount of changes you can make to reality. If you are struggling with coming up with a good design, recall what I recommended in Project 1, doing plane and rhythm trace-overs from cartoon and caricature art. Sometimes the most difficult thing is simplifying reality down to its bare essentials, and studying from professional character design is a great way to continue your learning, even if it is not your goal to be a cartoonist!

Overall note: These lessons and projects/assignments can be done in any medium. Just because I am using digital (or watercolor) does not mean you have to. I recommend studying from this class with the medium you are most comfortable with, as that will allow the most direct path to the skills and knowledge contained within. Happy studying!

Mira Boteva

One never stops learning..

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