Simple lines, face to face.

It’s interesting to draw with simple lines and yet still try to capture character. Things like the size of eyes, the shape of a chin, the direction to draw lines to indicate where and how hair is growing. Nose shape, mouth shape, thin lips, large eyebrows….

Can you tell the emotions that characters are feeling from a drawing? It’s hard to say… Can you tell if the people are male or female, or young or old? Can you show how big they are, what they weigh?

I think you can tell a lot from line drawings if you try.

Diana Rigg?

I do love drawing people, but there is less chance now of finding a subject. So when BBC 4 just showed a half hour interview with Diana Rigg in a programme called Face to Face from 1997? The image of her was full face far away, full face close to and profile images, so her face was fully in view was for approximately ten minutes. It’s a good bit of practice, as if you were drawing from life. The face never stops moving so you have to try and fix where the eyes are, how far apart, how long the nose? And the shape and size of the mouth. Plus the face shape. How long is her chin? How high her cheeks. Trying to see all of the face, not looking too closely at just one bit, so it fits?