Your Features Tell Your Story
What stories can a portrait tell you? How can you convey personality and likeness? These are questions that I found myself asking as I tore apart my room to create the perfect, comfortable setup for my highly exclusive model (my Dad).
This setup was my favorite. I put on my record player with an album I knew my Dad would like (anyone a fan of The Cure?).
This setting was way more relaxed, and I found myself chatting and laughing at old stories and the music with my Dad. While some might consider this a distraction, in a weird way, this helped me capture his personality.
Highlighting Key Features
When setting up my scene and lighting, I asked myself: “What are the most compelling features of his face that deserve to be highlighted?”
My dad has a strong, Polish nose that I was so excited to draw (I also have this strong Polish nose, thanks Dad). I decided that a profile view of his face would best highlight this feature.
My dad also has awesome white hair and beard, and I knew these elements would shine with strong overhead lighting.
Block-in stage using graphite pencil.
Portraits Telling Stories
As I was starting to draw each feature of his face, I was struck by how much his hairline and forehead reminded me of my dziadziu’s (that’s Polish for grandpa). As I drew his nose, we talked about how much it resembles my babcia’s (that’s Polish for grandma).
It’s been a very long time since I have seen either of them, as they passed years ago. However, the features of my dad’s face tell their story. They exist in him.
Discussing this with my dad led to conversations about his family history and stories I had never heard before.
As I drew, I was identifying the small features that I see on my own face as well. My very own face carries echoes of this history, combined with my mom’s.
This was a revelation to me: each and every person’s face tells a story of their history. As a portrait artist, I get to be a translator of that history.
Our Role as Artistic Storytellers
What an honor that, as artists, we get to replicate and interpret how God has made each face interesting! When I hear of people wanting to change their own facial features to fit an established beauty standard, a little part of my heart breaks. Your features tell your story!
This is why it is so important to capture each feature as you see it and emphasize what is unique about each face. Art that celebrates the beauty of individuality is so necessary in a world that wants to capitalize on our insecurities. This is why I will always love portraiture.
As I kept drawing, I continually struggled with how much to render and how much to leave things soft/interpretive. I definitely took some artistic liberties with the hair, ensuring that I did not overly define everything. I wanted there to be looseness combined with movement.
I counterbalanced these looser elements with sharper edges around the main features of the face. I used my eraser to carve out some hard edges in the beard, and used my white charcoal as the finishing touch.
I wasn’t aware that sitting down to draw my dad for 2 hours could be such a bonding and reflective experience, but that is just a fraction of the joy that art can bring us, which AI simply cannot replicate.
Final charcoal drawing from life - 4 hours.
Summative Reflection:
Over the last five weeks, I have learned so much about replication versus interpretation. My drawings started out a bit stiff and confined, which I felt in each stage of my drawing. There was an undercurrent of fear guiding my drawings. Throughout this process of weekly reflection and practice, I have learned to not let fear and insecurity guide my artistic process. My work began to excel once I approached each session without a frantic, nervous energy, and with thoughtful consideration of how I would like to approach each unique model.
