Note: Affiliate links may be used in this post. I may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you use my affiliate link. Thanks for supporting this site. Full disclosure policy here.
Friday’s challenge was all about how to draw the human face, so do check back if you missed it, or would simply like a reminder.
Being able to draw a face is a skill that will benefit you whether you’re making a quick sketch, or a full portrait.
Sargent’s portrait drawings
With that in mind, I’d like to recommend a book that I’ve referred to many times in my art career and in my teaching: Portrait Drawings: 42 Works by John Singer Sargent
Most of us are probably more familiar with Sargent’s paintings than his drawings, but this book opens our eyes to his skill with charcoal. There are a few awesome pencil drawings included too.
Charcoal
It has a great tonal range, and lends itself to all sorts of subjects, not just portraiture. Available in thin sticks, through to large blocks, charcoal is capable of fine detail or large scale coverage.
Yes, it smudges, and yes, it gets all over your fingers, but that’s a small price to pay. Fixative or hairspray solves the smudging issue and a damp cloth keeps your fingers clean. So hardly insurmountable problems.
Take a look through the portraits in this book and you can see what a fantastic medium charcoal is, especially in Sargent’s hands. There are many superb examples of concepts we’ve covered in this blog over the past few months, or will cover in the future:
- Types of shading – solid tone, hatching, cross-hatching
- Use of varying tone – light, medium and dark – throughout the drawing
- Expressive mark-making
- Using an eraser as a drawing tool instead of a correcting tool
- Facial structure
- Quality of line
- Use of highlights
- Texture
- Background tones
- Tonal transitions
Sargent’s mastery of these techniques bring his sitters to life. We may not all achieve his level of draughtsmanship, but we can all learn a great deal from studying his work.
Two key learning points: in the images above, notice how the eraser becomes a means of lifting out highlights, rather than being a correcting tool. In the second image, see how the varying strength of the lines give liveliness to the drawing and places more emphasis in some areas than others.
Tonal awareness
A further point to note is that one drawing relies on line, whereas the other relies on tone, barely using line at all. Edges are suggested by the transition of one tone to another.
In other images, the sitters are barely discernible when dark clothing meets dark background. Their presence is shown by a hint of lighter tone, a wisp of lace catching the light, a highlight on the hair. It’s a masterclass of tonal awareness.
So this book gives us a chance to learn from the best, without having to trek around numerous galleries. You won’t even see many of these images in galleries – they’re scattered around the world, often in private collections or maybe not on display in their museum homes.
So if either drawing people or improving your drawing skills interests you, I recommend Sargent Portrait Drawings
At under £6 it’s cheaper than a gallery ticket or a drawing workshop. Plus you’ll have luscious images to enjoy for a lifetime. If that’s not an arty bargain, I don’t know what is.
If you prefer a more comprehensive book, there is a hardcover book of 60 of Sargent’s Portraits in Charcoal.
Or you could go for the whole Sargent immersion with Sargent: The Masterworks.
This includes landscapes in oils and watercolours, as well as portraits and murals, and shows Sargent’s wide-ranging skills.
Either would be an excellent addition to your art library.
I’m off to revel again in my Sargent books.
Related Posts:
Jackie Garner's Art Blog 