Helena - Final

OK, well, Helena's all finished! I had a hard time with this, because her hair is so fine. I actually stopped it for a long time because I didn't know how I was going to approach it, but gave it a try and I think it came out OK. I finished it yesterday and gave it to her parents, who loved it. Helena's mom said she was going to cry, and they both just kept staring at it, and said they were going to treasure it forever. They're currently expecting, so they asked if I realized I'd have to do her sibling, too. I said I would, as long as he/she was as cute as Helena. I'm glad they liked it.

Helena - WIP 1

I wasn't intending to do this as my next drawing, but I saw a picture of my neighbor's daughter and thought it was adorable. I especially liked the innocent look and the lighting of it. I hope I can do it justice. This will be another surprise, since they don't know I'm doing it. I'm pretty much done with the face, but I may do some touch-ups. Next will be the hair...

John - Final

Here is John's finished portrait.

Eliminated

Well, I was hoping to particpate in the San Diego County Fair's art exhibition this summer. Since each participant is limited to two pieces in each category, I chose my portraits of Aidan and Cole and delivered them a couple of weeks ago. A jury selects the pieces that it wants shown, and, unfortunately, mine weren't among them. All I received was a form letter letting me know that my pieces were "eliminated". Ouch.

John - WIP 1

I decided for my next portrait to do my brother-in-law, who passed away a year ago. My sister-in-law has always been one of the first to see my drawings, and she has been very kind in her compliments, so I know this will mean a lot to her. I just hope there aren't too many tears when she sees it. I don't really like doing a portrait where the subject is looking directly at the viewer, but I only had so many photos to work with, and I want this to be a surprise. Unfortunately, I have a pretty low quality photo to work with.

Mary - Final

Here's Mary's final portrait, with a week and a half to spare before Mother's Day.

Mary - WIP 3

I worked on Mary's hair this week, and still need to finish the side on the viewer's right. Doing the hair wasn't as bad as I'd feared - I got lucky with the last two portraits, since Aidan and Cole were both doing hats. Once I got into a rhythm, though, Mary's hair was actually fun to do.

Mary - WIP 2

I've finished Mary's face and now it's on to her hair. I've been able to avoid doing hair with my last two portraits, since Aidan and Cole were both wearing hats. We'll see how it goes.

Mary - WIP 1

To round out the portraits of my nuclear family, here's one I'm working on of my wife, Mary. I'm going to do my best to finish this by Mother's Day so I can give it to her then. This was tricky because of her glasses, but hopefully I did OK. They could probably still use some touching up.

This is 9x12" Arches HP WC 140 lb paper, and so far, I've only used a 2B mechanical pencil with some F pencil for the skin. I've tried used a stump this time, which I haven't done before, and I rather like it. For the larger skin areas, I'll be using a chamois again.

Cole - Final

Here's the completed portrait of Cole. I've learned a few things doing this portrait, and I'm fairly happy with the results. I do need to work on clothing, because I think the shirt could have been better.

Cole - WIP 4

I finished the underside of the brim of Cole's hat. What a pain - there are so many folds because of the way it's sewn, but I think it came out pretty well. The top part should be easy after this! Then it's on to finish his neck and do his shirt.

Cole - WIP 3

Well, I'm essentially done with Cole's ear and hair. I don't really enjoy drawing hair, and of course, Cole's hair, which is normally straight, was kind of sweaty and matted when I took this picture. I'm pretty happy with the hair, but might do a little more tweaking to it.

Cole - WIP 2

Well, Cole now has a mouth and chin. His face is almost finished. I didn't get as much time to work on this during lunch hours as I would've liked this week, but at least I'm still going on it! If you notice anything unusual about his teeth, that's not an error. One of his front teeth broke in half when he fell on it when he was two. I think that was a bonus when I picked out this photo to draw, because it shows off his teeth in a subtle way. I hope to get his ear, neck, and hair done next week.

Cole - WIP 1

It's hard to believe, but it took me four months to get around to starting my next portrait of my son Cole. After I took a break, it was hard for me to get started again - like had happened before, I lost my confidence and dragged my feet. After I started, though, I felt like I could do him justice. We'll see how it turns out.