Sketching Expressive Faces in Ink

Capturing the essence of a person without overloading on detail is one of the advantages of working with ink within a time limit. As Bob Ross used to say "there are no such things as mistakes, just happy accidents". That is what makes it art instead of a being a copy of a photograph.

Here are some 20-minute portrait sketches that I use to capture the mood and moment. Don't look for perfection, look for a reaction from your audience.

miserable middle aged woman sketch with watercolor splashes

Using a quick watercolor washed background this crabby old lady has a little more character than just a using a plain white background. It doesn't have to be perfect or refined to add a little zip.

This dude with a crazy-eyed expression is far from perfect and even with the corrections made along the way it is hard to tell what was an intentional mark and what was not. Don't be intimidated by ink, be confident in your strokes and embrace your mistakes.

Comments

Acrylic Landscape mini demo

A little something I started yesterday 16 * 20 acrylic on stretched canvas. So far so good but I am a little stuck, to much open space in the middle ground, may add a sheep or two or maybe make it into a golf course. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Happy Painting Tammy

UNDER PAINTING IN WATERCOLOR - Grisaille underpainting technique

I chose to use a grisaille technique for the painting of this old man in watercolor. Grisaille is an old technique oil painters used to develop a monochromatic value study, kinda like a road map for your painting. This later served as a base for the addition of transparent layers of color. For this painting, I chose to use a limited palette of dioxazine purple, Naples yellow, alizarin crimson for the face with a pop or 2 of transparent orange and green gold at the end. **This is not a palette I would choose again and here's why. Naples yellow doesn't pack any punch and is opaque. This is not a great mix when you need to cover or mute the purple. Diox purple is also strong stainer, making it difficult to remove pigment. Sometimes this is ok, but didn't really help on this piece. I started this gentleman with an ink sketch that can be found in my Strathmore watercolor 400 series journal. I love the quality of paper in this journal but I wish it wou...

Granite tabletops

Well not really I have a fully stocked canvas corner.. but I just wanted to switch it up a bit. In our home we are all about the 3 r's. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle so when these off cuts of granite used for counter tops were dropped off at the bin at my husbands work he called and asked if I would be interested. Well I am always up for a challenge. These are 2 garden table tops. The black one is in my little corner of the garden and the pinky one is a thank you gift for all the perenials she filled my garden with this spring. :) She has no idea she is getting it but cant stop talking about the one in my garden. I cant wait to see her face.

Eclectic Studio - Tammy Morrison-Koenig

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