Drawing faces

If I say so myself, my drawing is coming along quite nicely. Ever since taking lessons, my confidence has grown. My eldest daughter bought me a little book for Xmas, encouraging me to sketch something every day. I’m over fifty days in and have managed to keep up so far. That is me all over though, once I start something I have great difficulty in stopping.

I have been trying to sketch a variety of things, mostly drawings and pictures I have come across on the Internet. I have had the odd scenic view, some cartoon characters, architecture, animals and even people. The hardest thing I have found has been drawing human faces. I have wondered why, apart from the lack of talent and experience, and have finally come to a conclusion. 

When I draw an animal it usually comes out quite well and I seem to be able to catch its essence. I’ve done cows, frogs, birds, elephants, llamas, hippopotami and a water buffalo. All are recognisable as such.

Human faces are another thing. They turn out all wrong. The face is either too fat or too thin and the proportions are all wrong. The eyes and mouth are out of place and the wrong size, too high or low. Sometimes I can get it right but usually after a lot of rubbing out. Good enough to fool my smartphone into thinking it is a face.

What then is the conclusion I have come to? I don’t think I am any better at drawing one thing over another but rather it is all in the perception. Humans are tuned to recognise faces, we see them everywhere and immediately pick up on features to recognise if they are known or unknown, friend or foe. With animals, however, we are much less picky. We find it difficult to tell one cow from another without careful study and so a drawing of an animal needs only to resemble rather than be accurate.

It’s not my drawing but my viewing. I will persevere!!