Self Portraits by various artists + check and log

Self portrait by Durer when aged 13, silverpoint, 1484.
This portrait displays such patience and skill in one so young.  Very precise marks and using silverpoint I think it would have taken a lot of time to build up the darker tones.

 

Self portrait by Rembrandt, 1630.  Using a much looser drawing style, I love this image which makes me think of Rembrandt having to pull this face many times over and over to get the expression.

Frida Kahlo "Self portrait dedicated to Marte R Gomez", 1946, pencil on paper

Frida Kahlo interests me as her many portraits serve largely as a visual autobiography, telling the story and events of her life.   She includes all sorts of signs and symbols in her portraits to tell her story.  In this drawing she has tears rolling down her face.  I don't know the explanation for this but the fact it makes you wonder, makes the image all the more interesting.

 

Check and Log

Which drawing materials produced the best results?  Why?

I am of the view that different drawing materials produce different types of result but I wouldn't place them as better or worse.  It totally depends on what end result you are aiming for.  I wanted a simple graphic look about my portrait and ended up using a black fineliner to achieve that end.

 

Does your self portrait look like you?..  The reason I struggled with this exercise is because I do find it difficult to portray myself in a straightforward way.  I was pleased I managed to achieve the portrait I did as I felt it did look like me.   I asked a friend and they confirmed it.

 

Did you find it easy to convert your sketches into a portrait?  It helped to have done the previous exercise of drawing the basic shape of my face.  It simplified my approach.

 

Were your preliminary drawings adequate? For me they were.  They helped me get a feeling for the facts about my face such as the overall shape.  This helped me when I did the final picture in that I started the drawing knowing more facts about my face than I had noticed before.  Looking back I  think that in the final portrait I did not convey so much of the the angular nature of my face shape which I noticed when studying my features.  I think that is because I did a straight face-on portrait which didn't emphasise the angles as another view might have.  But despite this, the final picture still captures me