How to make more out of your portraits - Drawing with Geena

Hello my favourite Steemians,

Recently I have been obsessed with drawing faces. I draw from life whenever I get the chance.
Either a self portrait or I get a friend to sit for me.
But a portrait takes a long time and not many people are keen on sitting still for hours doing nothing.

Therefore I also use an app called Sktchy where people upload photos of themselves for artists to draw them.
I love this site because you can see a lot of different styles and get a lot of inspiration.

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The problem I often have is that I just draw the face and then leave the rest of the page blank. That is okay for practise reasons but it tends to look unfinished and a bit boring.

So I have recently begun to fill the background and I must say it emphasises the person a lot more and also you can put the person into a context which is more interesting.

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In the example I show here, I wanted to stop after the face was done but I made myself continue and I am very pleased with how the drawing/painting improved.

My art tutor told me that this is a very common mistake and that most drawings could be improved by adding background and context to it.

So maybe this little tip can help you too and I would encourage you to try it out.

Until next time

Lots of

Geena