Mrs. Kindron

Finally, the last of the teachers' portraits for the year. Next year I'll try not to kill myself by putting these off until May. I hate stressing about whether or not I'll be able to complete the last one.

Mrs. Ball

Here's one of my youngest's preschool teachers, Mrs. Ball.

Mrs. Gutowski

My youngest son's preschool teacher, Mrs. Gutowski.

Miss Cynthia - Final

I finally finished my portrait of Miss Cynthia. Man, I really need to get a drawing table. I have to work on portraits during my lunch hour, so they take a really long time. The lighting at home is no good, and there's no room on my desk for portraits. Oh well, one of these days...

Miss Cynthia - WIP 1

I ran out of time at the end of the last school year and couldn't get a portrait of Miss Cynthia, my son's preschool assistant teacher, done in time. And I didn't have a reference photo I was happy with. I managed to find one and have spent a few weeks working on this so far - I hope to have it done in a week or so, and then I'll be able to give it to Miss Cynthia.


This is the first portrait I've done on Bristol Smooth paper, and so far, I really like it. I know it doesn't have much tooth, so I'm trying not to use the blending stump very much - only in the larger areas of skin to even them out.

Mrs. Lewis - Final

I feel kind of bad, because I had to rush to finish this one. I did the hair over the last couple of days and had to finish it up tonight to give to Mrs. Lewis tomorrow. Even if she likes it, I'll see the parts that could have been done better. Ah well.

Mrs. Lewis - WIP 1

Here is the last of my three sons' teachers' portraits, this time of my youngest's preschool teacher. Can I finish it by Thursday, his last day of school? Probably not, but I'll try.

Mrs. Harrison - WIP 1

I'm not sure I like where this one is going. I think I'm fussing with it too much. Part of the problem is I have a low quality reference photo to work with. In any case, I think I'm done with Mrs. Harrison's face. I'll start on her hair next.

Mrs. Gleaves - WIP 2

More work on Mrs. Gleaves' hair. Man, am I out of practice...

Mrs. Gleaves - WIP 1

Wow, it's been a long time since I actually sat down to draw something other than the things I do for my sons. After having taken my first drawing class, you'd think I'd be doing more of this!

Here's the first of a set that I'm working on - one for each of my sons' teachers. I decided to start with Aidan's teacher, Mrs. Gleaves, only because hers is the best photo to work with. I'm pretty much done with her face, and I'll be starting her hair next. I wasn't very happy with this to begin with, but it's growing on me. Once I added her eyelashes, it seemed to start actually looking like her. Anyway, I plan on finishing these before the end of the school year, so I can give them to my sons' teachers to thank them for all their hard work. Wish me luck.

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.

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.