Modern Model

 I was thinking about my post submission for First Friday and how it was so dated, but that was actually teh intent, to do a more classic look. I started thinking about my male models, as I was watching some ads for one of my favorite brands, Studio Nicholson, and the model they used, Joseph Uyttenhove, has a look I wouldn't normally draw but is very much what I think of as a modern male model face.

So I did an experiment: I turned the video off then tried to reconstruct his face from memory, to try and see what exactly about it made him feel modern. He has many of the hallmarks of what I draw already for my fashion illustrations: the large eyes, sharp noses and small lips, but this time I also thought he had a weaker chin, or at least, one that receded unlike the strong jawlines I'm used to from older decade style model ideals. That's the black and white sketch on the left.

Next I took screen grabs of his face from teh ads, and actually sketched from them roughly, and boy, was it an eye-opener: the proportions were completely different, and his chin is actually stronger, but coupled with  small pursed lips that are nevertheless small but fuller than the thin, Anglo mouths I've tended to draw as a default lately. What an interesting experiment.