jayme del rosario | sketchblog

I’ve been getting finicky lately and needed to “reset” meaning take what I learned from Rick Piloco’s sketch class (which I took a few years ago). Think big, get the right value/color right, put it down and leave it alone.

My smallest brush was a large round size 6. It was a great way to prevent myself from getting too tight too soon so that I could properly work from general to specific. Also, in a 3 hour sketch (I’m just used to much longer) I usually run out of time before I an get to anything specific and I find that this can be a good thing for me.

oil sketch, 18" x 24"

Here’s a 3-hour portrait sketch done in graphite.

Jackie, graphite on paper

Here’s a quick 3-hour portrait sketch of Whittnie that I did at the studio during Kate’s quick portrait sketch class. The exercise is a push towards color accuracy, but is highly dependent on a very good drawing and structural knowledge of the head/portrait. A block-in in 20 minutes is one of the hardest things I find that we do at the studio, though it’s great practice. It’s quite an adrenaline rush. Ay….3 hours flies!

3-hour quick portrait sketch, Whittnie

Andrew Loomis and Matthew Innis’ latest blog post on his blog, Underpaintings, offers great reading material for these quick portraits.

Copy of Menzel drawing, Head of Bearded Man, graphite

Here’s a new copy I’m working on from another visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is a copy of a beautiful drawing by Adolf Menzel, in graphite. I’m going back for a second session since I didn’t have time to finish. I spent a lot of time just admiring Menzel’s handwork. Here’s a shot of what I have so far after the first session.