Drew Struzan Master Studies
2mo
Dan Blodgett
One of my favorite artists right now is Drew Struzan, the master of design and likeness. His finished work is beyond extraordinary, yes! But honestly, to me anyway, his sketch work is far and away my catnip. The subtlety, the nuance, the shape design, the drawing chops, the hatching, interesting mark making... All with just pencil, toned paper, and a few colored pencils. They are the most simple of masterpieces. And I want some of that sauce!
So, as part of my ever-evolving quest to improve my drawing skills, I'm going to be doing a series of master-studies on these sketches and posting them on here for the Proko community. I believe it will be instructive, not only to myself, but to many others, and perhaps an introduction to who I consider one of the great portrait artists of all time.
So without further ado, the first post of my series: Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. Mixed media on Strathmore Toned Tan. By no means the same level of mastery or accuracy as the original, but I could probably draw my whole life and never reach that level. At least it kind of looks like Harrison haha. If I could only just touch the hem of the cloth, I would be onto something.
Decided to take it easy on myself with this one and do a black and white / pencil study. Just focusing on the mark-making, design, and shading style, although I inadvertently nailed the likeness, too, which is always a bonus. I think maybe it's because I worked a little bigger than I have so far (my toned sketchbooks are 9x12 and this one is 11x14) for my other two studies.
I notice I can see shapes and angles way better the bigger I draw. Maybe because I sit further away, or I don't know, getting the whole body involved instead of just the fingers, but likeness is much easier for me to capture when working larger. Weird.
Really like how this one turned out. Kurt Russel as Snake Pliskin. Graphite on Strathmore Vision drawing paper.
Struzan study number two. Hugo Weaving as Lord Elrond. Mixed media on Strathmore toned gray.
This one was a challenge! I feel I captured the likeness, which is always fun, and I was very pleased with the dimensionality/depth I achieved with the dueling warm and cool halftones. However, the drawing itself was quite difficult for me; getting the right proportions felt extra hard, and I don't know why. I gave him a little extra chin. The eyes are skewed a bit, I think, and the overall shape of the head feels off, too. Maybe I'm rusty... Or too much my own worst critic. Maybe I need to get a mirror for checking my drawings? Plenty to consider coming from this and to keep in mind for the next one!
I also believe there was a bit of airbrushing done by the master in his version, which wasn't apparent in my reference until I started the drawing. There's a super smooth undertone of warmth along the whole shadow side of the face, and some blanket-like coolness in the shadows of the robe and cool splatters crossing into the light side in the original, so... You tell me what's going on. Either it's an airbrush, or Drew is just a god of pencil control and I'm just a mortal, haha. Either way, I don't have an airbrush, haha. So, I made do with my colored pencils, trying to get as close to the subtle blends as I could, then put it into Krita and did some digital airbrushing/splatter effects to get it to where I wanted it. I think I did okay.
Overall, I consider this a better technical achievement compared to my first effort with Indie, but probably equal as far as the pure drawing is concerned. Solid C student work at least haha.
Any critiques or notes are appreciated, as always. Thanks!
I don't know... I think you did an awesome job on the eyes. A very striking gaze and color work makes them look wet! Pretty cool stuff in my layman's book.
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2mo
Excellent work! I LOVE Drew Struzan, I'm really looking forward to seeing more of your studies!
