Drawing a Likeness

Everyone who paints or draws portraits worries most about one getting an accurate likeness. But getting a likeness doesn’t take genius and isn’t based on a bag of tricks. It’s really a matter of learning to use a logical procedure, based on careful observation of the subject, and then lots of practice.

Drawing a Likeness is divided into three parts. In the first part you learn how to analyse a head—how to recognise the basic shapes and their variations, and place the features within the larger form of the head. Drawings of many different subjects serve as examples. In the second part, the actual drawing procedure is analysed in minute detail as three different-shaped heads—oval, rectangular, and round—are drawn. Each of these three demonstrations contains a photograph of the subject and develops the portrait in great detail (45 actual steps) right down to the finished drawing. In the third part of the book, you learn how to use different combinations of drawing materials to create a wide range of charcoal, Conté, and carbon pencils on both gray and white charcoal paper, graphite pencils on illustration board, soft and hard charcoal sticks and pencils on smooth board, charcoal and carbon pencil worked over acrylic-gessoed chipboard. There are six demonstrations in this section showing how to draw men and women of different ages. Each demonstration has ten steps, one per page, and includes a photograph of the subject.

Drawing a Likeness is a basic, practical book for anyone who has ever tried to draw or paint a portrait—students, amateurs, professionals, and teachers.