Raven portrait in progress 3 - The centerline

An artist should always improve upon their reference photo. Artists: Don't be a slave to what you see in your reference photo. I've improved on my reference photo by making Raven’s mane symmetrical. Here's how I did it....

1

I was going to start working on the ruff of hair (the “mane”) to the left side of Raven’s face today, working downward from that left ear. But I realized there was an issue with the reference photo. So I paused my pencilwork to correct that on my line drawing, the pencil outlines that guide me in the portrait. 

This is the artwork that I started with: 

2

This is my reference photo. A great photo of Raven’s eyes and expression, and his beautifully symmetrical face, looking straight into your soul. But can you see the problem with his mane? (The fringe of black hair on either side of the face.)

I have many other reference photos of Raven that Cathy sent at the beginning. In many of those I see a beautiful symmetrical mane, with the hairs flowing outward in a distinctive way. This photo doesn’t have that. 

3

This photo is a beautiful example of the shape of his mane, which I saw in many other shots also. Almost like “butterfly wings”, with an upper and lower wing on either side of his face. Much prettier, don’t you agree?

This photo is not the expression Cathy wanted for Raven’s portrait, but it’s the right reference photo for his mane. I’m using other photos of Raven to create a “more perfect” mane framing his face. That will really add to the visual appeal of the portrait. Every client wants their loved one to look perfect in a portrait. It’s a portrait artist’s job to accomplish that. 

An artist should improve upon the reference photo whenever possible.

Don't be a slave to what you see in your main reference photo.

We are artists, not copyists. 

4

This is the modified mane on my line drawing. (In the next pic I’ll show you before and after). Note that I’ve drawn a vertical centerline up the center of Raven’s face with white chalk pencil (easy to erase) so I can measure outward from there and make sure the black mane on both sides is symmetrical. Raven’s portrait is strikingly symmetrical, with Raven looking directly at you; he has a very symmetrical face and markings. To capture the beauty of him, I want to get the shape of the mane perfectly symmetrical also.

That little arrow shape at the bottom of my chalk centerline is so I can see that’s an artificial line, not just another strand of white hair on my outline drawing. That helps orient me visually. I’ll erase that later.

5

This is my line drawing BEFORE and AFTER. On the left is the original line drawing from the main portrait reference photo, which doesn’t show his mane at it’s best. 

On the right is the improved line drawing after I studied other reference photos of Raven. The black arrows on this pic show some of the main changes. The distinctive “upper butterfly wings” of hair that stick out below his ears on either side, then below that a gap (the same on both sides), then the large mass of black mane flowing out evenly on both sides in two matching symmetrical curves. In the previous pic you can see I drew those symmetrical curves pretty heavily with dark grey pencil. I’ll follow those grey curves when I make the outward-flowing hairs with pencil strokes. 

See the difference in my before and after drawing? It’s minor, but it will make an important improvement in the visual appeal of the portrait. 

6

These are some of the reference photos I was looking at to see Raven's ideal mane.

7

Ref photos on my monitor as I begin working downward from his ear on the left side. The larger one is the main photo I’m looking at for the perfect mane.

On the artwork I have the right eye covered with clean paper so I don’t drag my hand through that carefully crafted eye pencilwork, as I make the vigorous strokes with black pencil flowing outward to the left. Fast, vigorous strokes to make those sweeping hairs that come outward in the “upper butterfly wing” shape. 

8

Working downward along the left side of the face. Pencils in their action-positions above the drawing!

🎨 Prismacolor pencil on “Sand” Canson Mi-Teintes paper, 16 x 20 inches.

“Raven”

Conant’s Raven Nevermore CDX RN

Commissioned by Cathy Nearman.

Raven's reference photos by Allison Yap.