The Art of Studying: Anatomy - Faces

   Last week I started a digital regime where i would study areas that i thought would be most useful to me. As the human anatomy isn't one of my strong suits, mainly the facial area, that would be the first brick in my metaphorical wall.
   The face. As a starting point it isn't the best. How i expected to cover the whole face in just 1 week i'll never know, especially a week in which i spent over half of it around 60 miles away from my computer. I've extended the face for another week. Not a great start but it did give me a huge insight into the structure of the face and what it contains.
   Before going back home for a few days i did manage to do 2 self portraits. They didn't turn out hugely amazing, but i wasn't going for a finished piece. Just trying to learn as much as i can.

   This first one took around 45 minutes and was done from a picture. What i intended for this one was facial placement more than anything. To get the facial features in the right place for practice. In that respect it turned out pretty well, despite looking a little orange the tonal ranges turned out ok too.

   I much prefer this second one, which took a shorter time, around half an hour, and was painted from life using a mirror.
   After the 2 portraits i focused more on the individual features of the face. Starting with the eyes for a short time and moving onto the nose, not just copying from life or pictures, but looking deeper at the structure of the individual features and examining what makes them up. I used tutorials and explanatory videos on YouTube to help too.

This process is taking me a long time but i'm learning a lot. Ill continue with the mouth, ears and other facial features before doing so more portraits.