You know when your favorite action star does a triple backflip off their motorcycle, landing perfect in position to kick mr. bad-guy in the groin... but before they cut to the close-up and witty one-liner, you notice their eyebrows were too bushy or jaw a little too square? ... telltale signs that the studio tried to fool you with a stunt double, but didn't quite mask it in the editing room!
I'm calling this my family's stunt-double portrait because, in one way or another, each of us looks a little off. I learned an important lesson with this portrait, in that a 5"x7" board is a little too small for me to really nail the details on a medium shot. Each of our heads fits into about 1 square inch, which I found makes it really difficult to make adjustments and accurately re-produce the details. One millimeter off in the drawing could be a whole half-inch in the person's face, which is why those of you who know us may notice that we're a little pudgy, maybe with a goofy smile or a lazy eye.
Not that it's all bad, there's something kind of endearing about it! You wouldn't necessarily expect a drawing to look more lifelike than the photo it was based on, so long as you can capture something true about the person in the process. I haven't decided what exactly I've captured here, but it certainly made us all laugh!
Moving forward, I'll make an effort to use a larger board when drawing more than two people from waist up.
Happy Holidays to all!
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