Old Dog, New Tricks

I'm rather pleased with myself. After going though a few new links on my blog reader, I happened upon the site of a British illustrator, Christian Ward. Ward's illustrations have a dreamy, watercolor-y effect to them, and I found his portraits really inspiring. So I set out to just draw a face (as is often my wont) but maintaining a very light line. For some reason Painter was in a weird rubber stamp mode, and I think it filled in whatever lines I made with an underlying pattern -- this particular one seemed to have something to do with roses. Anyhow, it reminded me of Ward's work, so I decided to run with it. I think Ward may use reference for his portraits, because they look so natural. I just went straight and drew from my head. But what was really fun for me was incorporating some of the details I studied in my last two male portraits from photo references (from the last several days), mainly how the lips, nose and eyes resolve when seen from a 3/4 view. I really like the result. I feel like she looks like someone who may really exist, as opposed to a face i invented. Well, at least to me she looks that way. But it goes to show, you can never be too old to learn something new.