Sunday, August 23, 2009

The Gaze



Media: Ikea pencil (HB? H?), B pencil, mechanical pencil on paper.
Date of start: 23.8.2009
Date of finish: 23.8.2009

Description:
I always wish I could draw more often (damn you, medical course!). Now and again, I would feel like drawing or sketching but I usually suppressed my desire so that I could focus on the more important stuff at hand.

Today, however, I had the strongest urge to draw and there was no way I could let that unheeded. So I said to my journal article critical appraisal assignment (which is due next Friday), "Ah, screw you!" and grabbed my sketch book and the nearest pencil I could see at that time. That pencil turned out to be a short pencil that you get for free when you go to Ikea. Just so you know, it was a lousy pencil.

When I started to draw, I thought I wanted to produce a familiar face. So I took a self-portrait of mine as a rough source material. After 4 hours and some imagination on my part, the result was a Caucasian guy (what the--?). If not fully Caucasian, the guy is at least half-Caucasian. I guess I was kinda curious as to how I would look like if I were a white guy. Not sure if I would be that good-looking, though. (quirky smirk)

Major alterations: Nose, facial structure
(Very) Minor alterations: Eyes, lips
Retained features: Ears, brows, hair, neck, hoodie

So yeah, basically the guy has the same exact pose and clothing as the source photo, with some of my facial features incorporated. Wouldn't say he's me, and wouldn't say he's not me either.

Anyway, I focused on brushing up on my shading and lighting skills, especially on the face. That's why the hair was drawn unsophisticatedly and the shading on the hoodie was light and simple. I just wished that the scan would look better than this. The scanning process has a habit of bleaching out the lighter shades. Oh well, let me admire the original art by myself.

To those of you friends who have seen me in real life, do you think he has my resemblance? Even if you've never seen me face-to-face, you're more than welcome to drop your thoughts/comments. Maybe you can talk about his gaze? Or maybe he looks familiar to you? Like an actor or a model, perhaps? Hey, wait, where are you going?


P.S. That was my hair 3 months ago.

P.P.S. In retrospect, the hair wasn't that much different from what I have now.

5 echoes:

nadia said...

me only see the shape of the face resembling urs...other than that..hurmm..u didnt quite capture the eyes n the gaze.

word of advice : dunt go caucasian on us yet!~

August 24, 2009 at 5:33 PM
Anonymous said...

Beautiful sketch keep it up posting such a nice article

Saavi

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August 24, 2009 at 6:51 PM
Unknown said...

nadia:
You saw a face shape that resembles mine? Maybe you haven't seen me enough. (fake laugh)
But I think I have to agree with you on the eyes and the gaze. I could have worked more on that. But to be fair, they look so much better on the original paper that I drew on.
Word of confusion: I don't even know you can actually go Caucasian!

Saavi:
Thanks for the compliment and the, uh.., advertisement.

September 2, 2009 at 11:41 PM
night-owler said...

imagine, i've known you all my life and never knew you had such wonderful talent! *shame* i'm always amazed at people who can draw portraits - i'm more of a landscape / object person ;)

and...never knew i had such a poetic cousin too! :)

September 3, 2009 at 4:23 PM
Unknown said...

jujubean:
Kak Juju, i've known you all my life and never have seen any of your arts (apart from digital art and photography)! I guess sometimes we humans are too absorbed in our own world and we are blind to the out-of-the-ordinary things that people can possess. Who knows if some other members of our family have some sort of talents we don't know.

P.S. Share some of your stuff, too! I know you're an artistic person.

September 24, 2009 at 3:59 PM

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