I have been doing portraits of women I admire as part of The 100 Day Project for 2024. But I felt like I was not getting the heads positioned correctly. Luckily I remembered Carolyn Peters.
First published April 13, 2024: About six years ago, I took an in-person class with Carolyn Peters in Orange, CA where I lived at the time. She gave us a small tin of watercolor paints (which I still use to this day) and a brush, and we practiced some basic drawings and paintings. It was a good class, mostly because Carolyn is such a patient teacher.
So when I realized that my portraits (no matter what medium) looked wonky, I knew I needed to go back to some drawing fundamentals and get a refresh. So I Googled portrait drawing and there was Carolyn on YouTube! What a nice surprise! I took her (free) Expressive Portrait Tutorial (about 1.25 hours). In it, Carolyn drew — with us — four portraits in an hour, so basically we were allowed 15 minutes for each. The subject was the same person, with different expressions.
Carolyn is extremely well-versed in the process for creating a balanced structure of the head. She stresses the importance of not “committing” to the actual drawing until the structure is correct. This is very different from what other teachers have taught me. They told me if I couldn’t get the eyes right, then don’t move on. Carolyn’s approach makes sense, and though I am an impatient artist, I have already seen an improvement in my understanding of the basics, just after an hour with her. And did I say her class is free?
What I learned in just one lesson with Carolyn will help me with my 100 Day Project, which is painting inspiring women. I have done about ten so far, and know I should have participated in her class before I started. Live and Learn.
Since I only had fifteen minutes for each, these are not finished (and I probably won’t finish them, since the practice was the expected result). I am happy with each, as messy as they are, at least they look in proportion:
Expression was supposed to be “wow”
big tilt, and pensive (she really had all five fingers — I ran out of time)
pursed lips
This was a great hourlong exercise. I will continue to pursue tutorials and lessons from Carolyn (Cura Studio). And thank you Carolyn for a FREE lesson!
Hope this inspires you to try some practice drawing…