To craft interesting fluid portraits that exude life you must understand the effect of the spine on the skull and shoulders.

To generate a relaxed feeling in your portraits quite often you will need to render the skull slanted. Most people when they are at ease will view with their skull slightly slanted. In this article we will point out what to look for and how to tackle the slanted skull.

In the slanted skull view the subject will show a clear change of bearing from the action of the torso to the slant of the skull. Also take note of where the shoulders are. The subject’s shoulders will almost be aligned with the base of the nose.

With this information in mind, the first step is to measure the angle of the skull’s slant (from the base of the chin to the top of the skull) before drawing the arabesque. To do this hold your pencil (or a knitting needle) at arm’s length, looking through one eye, and adjust the angle of the held pencil so that it corresponds to the angle of the slant. Keeping your arm straight and locked you can now transpose this angle onto the sketch.

Now that the angle of the slant is found you can strike the arabesque and verify the height/width proportion.

The axis of the features is perpendicular to the tilted facial angle. A common trend while sketching is to straighten out the features so that they are horizontal to the paper. Be aware of this and ever on-guard because this trend is delicate and is constantly trying to sneak into the sketch.

It is not a recommended practice to locate all of the features at this point. It is actually more accurate to first fix the brow line and the base of the nose and work from there.

When the skull is tilted you should also be aware of the effect that gravity has on the face. The flesh, in particular on the underside of the jaw, will be somewhat pulled down. This effect is quite delicate but for those of you who are advanced portraitists you should capture this in your initial arabesque. If you are a beginner just file this information away for future reference.

Take note, also, of the neck. The critical visible neck muscle is stretched out. Its companion is shortened. This opposing muscle action is referred to as abduction/adduction. This action of the neck always renders a striking effect.

Once the arabesque is located and you are satisfied with its accuracy relative to size and form you can render the features and block-in the key big darks and lights. Keep the value simple. The more complicated the lighting arrangement, the more this applies.

The value arrangements are worked further, but are still a bit crude and unresolved. The key concern is the overall light effect.

There are a few items to keep in mind as you prepare to finish the sketch:

1. Ask yourself how far you should carry the sketch. You can get a real nice effect if you give the shoulders and upper torso an unresolved quality. Remember, sketches are not meant to resemble photographs.

2. As you gain a better understanding of the facial structure the trend exists to render what you know rather than what is actually there. So make sure you always pause to observe the life model or the subject in the photograph.

In closing, the tilted skull view is special in that the features will be centered on a tilted axis and that the stress in the shoulders will be different from one side to the other. Also the changeover from the torso and shoulders to the skull should be carefully observed.

Do you want to learn the secrets of pencil portrait drawing? Download my brand new free pencil portrait drawing course here: portrait drawing course.

Remi Engels is a pencil portrait artist and oil painter and skilled drawing teacher. See his work at graphite pencil portraits by Remi.

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Posted in: Drawing Tips | | January 2009