Renaissance: Focus on self-portrait

This week's task was a challenge for me. I had to draw a self-portrait by looking in a mirror and drawing what I saw. This put my knowledge of facial structure to the test. I found it particularly challenging to draw myself as it is challenging to pinpoint features when looking up and down to the mirror and paper. I tried my best to assess the structure and how fat is distributed around the face. I also tried to recognise which areas of the face would have thinner skin to the bone and which would have fat underneath them. I wanted to try and get the initial sketch to look as close as possible to what I actually look like. Through watching the video, I came to recognise many elements of knowledge about renaissance portraiture and how faces were constructed during this time period, leading up to how the similarities and way in which it is essential to construct now. Again, I used a light cross hatch and then blended it out in order to achieve some harsh and soft shadows making up the face. The hardest part to this task for me was drawing the basic shape of the skull. I found it difficult to distribute my features in a logical and accurate way whilst referencing from partially still life. It is clear that the importance of understanding facial anatomy and how bone and flesh work with each other to form the factual features is crucial. Looking back at my self portrait now, I can see a few errors with the sizing of the lips in relation to the nose and eyes and the positioning of one eye. This is due to an inaccuracy with the perspective of this pose as I did not draw myself looking straight forward at the mirror; my face is slightly turned to one side. I could have paid better attention to how the facial features would look at a slight angle and how the positioning would change. I feel like the hair looks relatively convincing and relates well to the structure of the head. The distribution of the facial features looks satisfactory but I think the sizing of the features needs to be worked on in the future. I would like to try drawing a face at a more dynamic angle so that I can practise how features would look drawn at more complex perspectives. I have quite a round face and I think I was able to capture this well from the wider temple area and jaw. 

Overall I think there are a few structural issues that I will need to focus on in the next task and issues with perspective of the features which I would like to go on to practise. The drawing resembles me but there is more I could have done to ensure total accuracy and resemblance.