Proko - Project - Portraits in Perspective

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Project - Portraits in Perspective

Stan Prokopenko

in Drawing Basics

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Drawing BasicsFull course (184 lessons)

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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.

assignments 422 submissions

A 15 min warm-up page of two-point boxes in Bic, a 20 min warm-up page of boxes, heads #1,#2, #3, and a Proko skull, and then moved on to a longer 45-60 min lay-in for heads #4, and #6.

LESSON NOTES

This is a great exercise to improve your perspective skills, especially with organic forms like human heads. You're going to figure out the orientation of the head in space by considering a simple box, then using that box as a map for a portrait. Watch this video for tips on how to do this properly.

Practice this from the photos I've provided in the downloads tab and don't forget to submit your drawing to the community!

DOWNLOADS

zip

head-boxes.zip

8 MB

mp4

project-portraits-in-perspective.mp4

213 MB

txt

project-portraits-in-perspective-transcript-english.txt

5 kB

txt

project-portraits-in-perspective-transcript-spanish.txt

6 kB

file

project-portraits-in-perspective-captions-english.srt

8 kB

file

project-portraits-in-perspective-captions-spanish.srt

9 kB

ASSIGNMENTS

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!

Rich Acosta

•

This was a lot of fun. I got the hang of these by the end. At first I was way too preoccupied with looking at all the different angles on the head. It helped a ton when: 1) I started thinking of these in 2 point perspective instead of 3 2) I just focused on where the horizon line was, then approximated my vanishing points. I don't think my proportions were always right, but I feel decent about my angles. I know if one side is super foreshortened, the other side will have a very far vanishing point etc. I put on some silly faces just to give some kind of indication of where these boxes are facing.

Caden Y

•

I would appreciate a really nitpicky critique for the proportions/angles, I especially have a harder time with up angles cause the downwards chin throws me off a lot, but any critique is welcome :)

Melanie Scearce

•

These look great overall. #3 and #5 are the ones that stand out to me; I think #3 should have a bit more of that side plane showing, and #5 more top plane showing. Nice work Caden!

João Rudge

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11d

Here are my drawings of the level 2 project. Any feedback is welcome.

João Rudge

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11d

Travis Rossi

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15d

level 2 Head Construction assignment. Thank you for any critiques!

@nelorin

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18d

I should have paid more attention to the eyeline and the tilt of the boxes

Applesmapple

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19d

This was challenging. I tried making the boxes on my own, then i discovered how off i was when i watched the demo. So I followed along 13 and 7 from the demo to try and get a better idea and then tried on my own for 10. I liked how i was able to keep perspective lines fairly consistent in their angle between the aligned facial features . But the distance between features aren't quite right. Going to try the boxes again starting with 6.

@jfd

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20d

It was harder than I thought applying the 2-point boxes to actual heads. But I already felt improvement after doing the 19 heads.

@jfd

•

16d

I also gave level 2 a shot

Tim

•

26d

So, I think I get drawing random boxes in two-point perspective, but I found going from that warmup exercise to trying to put a box around a head in two-point perspective a real challenge. When you see people who can actually draw do it, it looks so simple. Of course, people who've mastered their craft always make things that aren't simple look easy, but I really floundered on this one. Off to watch the critique video to see if I can figure this out. Failing that, I might need to take a cognitive test, I hear they're all the rage.

@appa93

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1mo

This was exhausting, I hope it’s decent lol

Bubbles

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1mo

LEVEL 1. Honestly this one was hard because I can do a cube in 2 point perspective but applied to heads is way more difficult all of a sudden. I really struggle knowing if it's the top or bottom of the head the one visible.

Janou Baarda

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1mo

I hope I did right. It took me a lot of thinking and figuring out.. Can someone tell me if I did correctly?

@dbd1000

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1mo

Here's my assignment.

@dbd1000

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1mo

Some more.

Laika

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1mo

Here is my submission. I tried to do it without a horizon line and it worked at first, but on some of them it definitely didn't. For the last few I used a horizon line and they turned out better

Patrick Bosworth

•

1mo

Nice job, you tackled quite a few of these! It definitely helps to establish a horizon line every time until you've really internalized the way cubes act in perspective, keep up the practice they get easier the more you work on them. I'm noticing some extreme convergence in a few of your cubes (4, 14, 15, 16, 17.) A quick rule of thumb to controlling convergence, the closer your vanishing points are, the more distortion you'll see. Your examples 12, and 18 have a much greater distance between the vanishing points so they feel more like cubes. The extreme pinch of the top corner in 16 shows a dramatic up angle perspective, but you'd notice a lot of distortion in the facial features with this much convergence. It helps to make sure you only have one vanishing point visible in the frame of your drawing to make sure they're not placed too close together. You can see in my example, one vanishing point to the left of the cube, and far off the page to the right is the second vanishing point where the hairline/brow/nose/chin lines recede. Play around with the distance between your vanishing points to see how this works so you can adjust it to however you want your portraits to look! Hope this helps, keep up the good work!