Copyright 2012, Valerie Jones
We finished up our portrait drawing class a little over a week ago. This is what Souzi looks like when she is complete!
Souzi was drawn from a photo reference I had taken of her last summer.
Our new portrait class that started March 16th will only have live models to draw from! No need to be intimidated from live models. The quality of drawing from life is much more rewarding!
Copyright 2012, Valerie Jones
Souzi has eyebrows and eyelashes! We started working on her hair last Saturday. We are using 5 Prismacolor colored pencils in her hair, Black, Tuscan Red, Indigo Blue, Dark Green, Dark Umber. There are about 2 layers of each color and then more Black is applied for the last layer to give the hair more definition.
“Souzi”, Work in Progress
Copyright 2012, Valerie Jones
We are finishing up the skin tones on Souzi in our Saturday colored pencil portrait class. This coming Saturday I will show everyone how to do the hair, eyelashes, and eyebrows. She is so much fun to draw!
Happy coloring!
“Souzi”, Work in Progress
Copyright 2012, Valerie Jones
Last Friday we finished up getting the hair done on this portrait of Souzi. Now that the hair is in, we will see what need re-defined in other areas on her face and clothing.
This coming Friday in class, we will re-visit those areas and get the values correct.
We have been working from a photograph to complete Souzi. On the 16th of March, we will start using live models to create our work!
Happy drawing!
Copyright 2012, Valerie Jones
What a way to start the week! Mondays are awesome when you start them out with drawing!
For the past 3 weeks we have been studying perspective and how to use our pencils. Next week, we will put those skills to work using a still life setup.
Drawing from life can no way compare to drawing from a photo. Photos flatten things. Just think how much our art will improve when we start drawing from life!
Happy drawing!
“Souzi”, Work in Progress
Copyright 2012, Valerie Jones
Our Saturday colored pencil portrait class is moving right along! We worked on Souzi's nose and mouth last week. We are still working on skin tones all around her face. Colored pencil teaches patience! I am looking forward to adding her hair.
Happy coloring!
“Souzi”, Work in Progress
Copyright 2012, Valerie Jones
We have been busy drawing Souzi in our Friday portrait drawing class. She is getting close to being complete. This coming Friday we will finish her hair and put in her eyelashes. Then, the week following we will do any touch up work before finishing her. I know I have a lot of endings and roundings to complete on her face before I will be satisfied.
Happy drawing!
Copyright 2012, Dedra Morgan
Have you always wanted to paint a picture but didn't know where to start? Join friends and peers at the Art Center on March 16th for a night of fun while you follow Dedra Morgan and Valerie Jones in a structured lesson on painting a daffodil grouping. You will be given ...step by step instructions on how to paint your canvas, and you will leave the evening of fun and fellowship with a finished work of art you can display with pride.
Cost for the evening is $35 and includes supplies to finish a complete canvas in acrylic. Appetizers, wine or punch will be offered free of charge.
You may hold your place one of two ways: Pay and Register online here:
http://www.valeriejonesart.com/art/canvas-uncorked/
Or call or email and reserve your place with either Dedra or Valerie.
Dedra Morgan (918.285.0660) (dlm2nd@gmail.com)
or Valerie Jones (918.335.8318) (valeriejonesart@gmail.com)
Attending class at The Ryder Studio is like reading a good book you can’t put down. It becomes part of who you are. You will not return home the same person. Your heart will ache to go back to the studio to learn more.
Copyright 2012, Valerie Jones
I recently attended a workshop taught by Daryl Reimer at the Bartlesville Art Association. Daryl has attended The Ryder Studio for several years. He taught us the same classical method to drawing that Anthony Ryder taught us when I attended the studio last summer. The workshop re-awakened the fire inside me to learn all I can about drawing and painting as the masters did.
In preparation to attending The Ryder Studio again this summer in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I am offering a class this spring teaching the same method. I will give more details about this class in a week or two.
Happy drawing!
“Souzi”, Work in Progress
Copyright 2012, Valerie Jones
Last week in class we worked on building up the skin tones on the ear. We learned about how light affects how we use our pencil in the layering process. As the form curves into the light, the lighter pressure we use on the pencil. As the form curves into the shadow, the more pressure we apply. We don’t grind our color into the shadow but rather apply several light layers.
We ended up using 21 layers of color in the darkest areas of the ear. Isn’t that amazing?!?
During our next class we will either work on skin tones on the cheeks, forehead, and chin or we will work on the nose and mouth.
Happy coloring!
Copyright 2012, Valerie Jones
We got a lot done in drawing class today! We worked on Souzi’s mouth and her ear. It was fun to draw the pathways in her lips.
We don’t have class next Friday due to an extensive portrait drawing workshop by Daryl Reimer at the Bartlesville Art Association.
Next class, February 17th…we will follow all the wonderful pathways of the face and create the skin tones of the cheeks, chin, and forehead.
Happy drawing!
Copyright 2012, Valerie Jones
I am so excited for our Friday drawing class to get here! We are working on Souzi in graphite. She looks a little bit like a reverse raccoon at the moment! But just you wait….She’ll be a beauty before too much longer.
Hmmm….what should we work with next? I am thinking we will work on the lips and the ear this Friday.
We haven’t put in her eyelashes. I am going to wait until the end to put those in. I want the skin tones just right before adding those jewels. I will also wait until the end to put the little wisps of hair around her head.
For this drawing, we added the hair first. I usually don’t do that, but her hair is soooo dark. I didn’t want us taking a lot of important class time adjusting skin tones. When a person has dark hair, it is easy to go too light on the skin tones in the beginning.
Happy drawing!
“Souzi” – Work in Progress
Copyright 2012, Valerie Jones
We were having so much fun in class on Saturday that before we knew it, class time was over. No one wanted to stop working.
I showed the class how to create eyes. Eyes really bring a painting to life. The eyes are where the soul of a person lies.
Souzi’s eyes are dark, so dark that you can hardly see the pupil. What make the eyes shine is leaving the white of the paper for the highlight. If you get the highlight too small, it is extremely difficult to get it back. So, draw the highlight larger than it really is. You can always make it smaller later.
The whites of the eyes are never white, so we added some color with Prismacolor French Grey 10%, Warm Grey 20%, Cloud Blue, and Periwinkle. Why the blues? The shirt Souzi wore to pose in has blue in it. The blue was reflecting in the whites of the eyes.
I wanted to make sure I was getting the correct value of color in the skin tones around the eyes. I converted the color image to black & white and compared it to a black & white image of the original.
Original Photo
I can see that in the darkest shadow in the creases, I hit the mark. I also see some areas that need adjusting. I will re-work these areas by adding more dark colors. I am leaving the eyelashes out until the values around the eyes are correct.
I am so looking forward to class again on Saturday! We will work on the eyebrows and nose.
Souzi – Work in Progress
Copyright 2012, Valerie Jones
What fun we are having in the colored pencil portrait class! Four wonderful artists and myself are working on “Souzi”.
This is our second week to work on this portrait. Don’t let the hollow eyes frighten you! We will have those beauties put in next week.
We are using the Prismacolor Portrait Pencil Set to complete the skin tones. We are also using Ann Kullberg's Skin Tone Bar as a guideline to select our color values.
The first overall layers or “washes” of skin tone value was put over the whole faces except the eyes and highlight areas. The colors used in these washes are: Cream, Light Peach, Jasmine, Pink Rose, Beige. This was done on the first week of working on Souzi.
The second week, we started modeling her facial features a little more. We used Sand on most of the face. Some areas of the face aren’t quite as yellow, so we only used it as needed.
The next color was Yellow Ochre. Souzi’s facial features really started coming to life when using this color. We used Yellow Ochre only in the shadow areas of the face. These shadow areas are on the right-facing side of her face and around the shadows of her eyes, nose, mouth, and chin.
After using Yellow Ochre, we moved on to Peach. We put Peach everywhere on the skin except the highlighted areas. We leave the highlighted areas the white of the paper. Once color hits these, it is extremely difficult to remove.
We moved on to Salmon Pink after the Peach. Salmon Pink was used only in the darkest part of the shadow areas.
Class time ended way too soon! We are looking forward to next week when we add the eyes and maybe a few more skin tones.
See you again soon!
Copyright 2012, Valerie Jones
We recently moved to a different house…with it came lots of wonderful lighting for a studio! I am so excited to finally have natural light to work with.
I made a vow with myself to have studio hours that will be uninterrupted. How did it work today? hmmm….I kept finding things to side-track me. You know….emails, Facebook, music.
What things side-track you from being in the studio?
