Project - Portraits in Perspective

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Assignments 678Lesson NotesDownloads 6

Project - Portraits in Perspective

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

in Drawing Basics

179K

Mark as Completed

Course In Progress

Assignments 678Lesson NotesDownloads 6

In this project we'll practice applying perspective to organic forms. Heads, while organic, adhere to the rules of perspective similar to boxy objects, so we'll start by constructing 3D heads. Look for clues of the angle of each axis such as angles from brow to ear, the vertical center line of the face, and the horizontal side to side angles of the features.

I've prepared a range of portrait photos for you to work with, that you could find in the downloads tab under the video. You'll notice each photo is numbered. Please label your drawings with the corresponding photo you're drawing to help me and the community give you a critique. Otherwise it would be very difficult to know which box matches each photo.

Level 1: Basic Box Construction

Draw a box representing a simplified version of each head.

Try to match the orientation and dimensions of the head in the photo
Rely on your intuition to imagine each head's rotation and dimensions
Iterative process: Redo and refine as needed

Level 2: Head Construction

Start with a small box representation of the head, same as Level 1. Then add linear head construction with accurate perspective.

Use primarily straight lines to draw, emphasizing plane changes
Find angles in the organic shape that correlate with the simple box (ex: top and back of the head)
Observe, analyze, then draw
Avoid drawing tiny heads; aim for at least 4 inches in height

Deadline: Submit by 1/15/2024 for a chance to be in the critique video!

Art Stark

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Level 1 Heads 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

Emanuel Mejia

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Hey @Art Stark, The ear on numbers 10 & 11 are a bit on the small side. The ones on 12 and 14 are getting a bit big and 14 and 15 are pretty spot on! The way to keep your ears from going to big or too small is by getting your rule of thirds (the Andrew Loomis method) right first and then constructing your ears from there. Your facial features are looking dynamic! I'd try and see them as boxes as well though, as some of them are looking a bit flat. Really looking for that three dimentionality. Good work!

Melanie Scearce

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These are really stylish, great job @Art Stark!

Kyle

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This was a fun project! I liked being able to quickly iterate with different angled boxes to get a better perspective.

Stephen Worthington

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4 level 1 portrait boxes 2 - I wonder if it's not 2 point enough? But then, given a head is a small object, I guess the vanishing point would be incredibly far away. Anyway, I've not measured my box but I do wonder if either my X or Y axes will have vanishing points 5 & 8 - think these are fine? 10 - definitely the one I struggled to visualise most because of the rotation on both the Z and X axes, but I think it came together okay

Stephen Worthington

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Though I do seem to have given everyone very wide faces. Particularly 8, whose head I have drawn wider than it is deep.

@deadsm

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The proportion guides finally make sense. I can see why, though boxes are a great first step to good construction, and not an end-all solution.

Arthur Nesbitt

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10d

Goodness this one proved to be a challenge for me. I feel my most obvious issue is I have a tendency to make my heads too much of a cube when they should be more rectangular. I was trying to be conscious of the perspective but critique is welcome!

Aubrey Hannah

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12d

I just did the level 1 version of this exercise, but I think I did pretty well. The only thing that gave me trouble was understanding how exactly two-point perspective applied to the reference photos. I assume that the vanishing points were either well-hidden or outside of the picture plane. From what I can gather, that's pretty common. If anyone could give me advice on how to better apply the concept of perspective, I would greatly appreciate it.

@kirstybp

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12d

My first attempt at portraits in perspective. This is hard! I’d be grateful for any feedback! Thanks! ☺️

Laurent Van Acker

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15d

Two level two attempts! I found the perspective reference and thinking about the head's landmarks with perspective really helped with getting these 'right' quicker than measuring, so that was nice! Noticed that even though I realised I should have tilted the face cube more in my start for #11, I still didn't tilt the final head.. Also post-edited the drawings in Photoshop to make them more readable!

hobodios

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15d

(I did all of these in order #1 was the first one #14 last I got better! I think) I find it extremely difficult to get a drawing with good proportions in a shorter period of time. Usually I take 2+ hours to get my proportions almost perfect but I put around 1 hour into these drawings and the proportions just look worse and it bothers me. I'm moving on to 3 point perspective but I definitely need to keep practicing these to improve my proportions. As always any feedback is highly appreciated!

Patrick Alexander Büchi

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16d

My oh my what a struggle this was, but even though the assignment was terribly difficult I had immense fun trying to figure out what way the axes converged. Also, I cannot simply put to words how amazing this task is. Even though I struggled, it has shown me a whole new perspective (understanding) on how to look at heads, perhaps even other objects, thanks! And as always, any sort of critique is very welcome. :)

Melanie Scearce

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16d

I agree, this exercise is great. You can do so much with a box in perspective. Glad you had fun working on this! These are excellent. The only one that I think could be adjusted slightly is #1. I see a bit more of the top plane showing in the reference image, which means the head is pointed downwards more. Overall you've done a great job with these.

@621

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16d

Laurent Van Acker

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16d

Finished level 1! Eager to watch the demonstration and move on to level 2 (which I feel will be very hard, but that's the road to progress!). Wanted to this one digitally so I could easily have self-feedback: 1 and 10 for example I feel I did okay, but 17 I totally misjudged proportions... Line-work is quite sloppy digitally, no smoothing and no straight line tool will do that, but I tried to keep it legible :)

Mason Stroud

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16d

This has been the hardest project for me so far. Left is before demo and critiques, right is after. I just couldn't wrap my head around wrapping boxes around these heads..

@flixkopf

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20d

Firat one done alongside the demo, fhe other two on my own

sami

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20d

Level 2 i'm still confused a bit on how to draw the lips and the nose specifically the nostrils and the head of it in from below (i wanted to make it as realistic as possible but this the best i could do)

Rynhardt van Vuuren

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23d

I started with #15 having no idea what I was doing just following the course. My brain is constantly like "Project, Get straight line, Don't scratch, Make nice" It's bloody exhausting!!!! Anyway... Continued with 16, 17 I felt the angle was off and it box could have been rotated more to the left and down. I kept going through 18 and 19 (19's xray was terrible but post it anyway) On a new day, I did 14 10 and 9. 10 could have rotated slightly more to the right? and evened out more. It was fun and challenging.

Melanie Scearce

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23d

I think you're right with your analysis of #10, I would bump it over to the right a bit. With #17 I think it could be tilted back actually, following the angle of his face there. Overall, really great job!

Angel Kritikos

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25d

Level 2 project.

@androida

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1mo

I did 2 passes through them - first 18 before watching any demos, second 19 after (2 of them during) watching the demos and critique. These are a mix of boxes and details (level 1s and 2s and something weird in between)-- I got carried away with a few and started shading. Very challenging but fun once you start getting the hang of it. Keeping line quality in check does get challenging with multiple corrections. Should've just drawn a separate box.

Axel Gyllenstierna

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1mo

Level 2 - critique very welcome: Before watching the demo I put the heads INTO the boxes. To me, that did not make it easier. Watching how Stan used the box shapes helped a tonne! By putting anatomical landmarks into perspective and defining (to the best of my ability) the major planes of the head I was quite happy with the outcome. Great exercise to practice controlling line weight and drawing the eye (which feels like a magic ability not having thought of it before starting this course!). Included both pre- and post-demo tries.

Maestro

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1mo

I think the angle on 02 is wrong, would be thankful for critique

@androida

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1mo

I think you did a good job in keeping one axis lines in each parallel! (vertical axis in most, horizontal in 05) In 02 it looks to me that the smaller box has the right angles but side is too short - there's quite a bit of the side of the head showing too -- so the larger box would have the right proportions and the smaller the right angle?

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Stan Prokopenko

Founder of Proko, artist and teacher of drawing, painting, and anatomy. I try to make my lessons fun and ultra packed with information.