Photo Art Design

Posing your subject surrounded by a number of props can add much attention, dimension, and appeal to a portrait and goes a long way to describing your subject. A prop can add considerably to the composition of the portrait.

Sketching a portrait with a prop, such as a table or even ear muffs, requires you to above all pay attention to the complete arabesque.

Quite often the beginning draftsperson will be tempted to approach a prop as a separate item or an afterthought so that rather than complimenting and merging in a supporting role with the subject’s face, it looks artificial and overwhelms the subject or is incorrectly sized or sketched.

In this article you will learn the expert approach to drawing a supporting item that frames the center of interest even with a supporting item that is bigger than the face.

First, the presence of a prop does not change the approach to sketching the pencil portrait. As with drawing any other portrait, you should use all your usual fundamental knowledge and apply them throughout the normal phases of your drawing effort.

So as always, you begin with the arabesque which in the case where the head and the supporting item overlap will be a “construct” which is a complete arabesque that encompasses not only the shape and proportions of the head but also of the outline of the supporting item where it overlaps with the head.

In the context of the presence of a supporting item that overlaps with the head, the construct becomes of crucial importance. It helps a lot with the maintenance of unity. If you do not sketch from the reference of a construct, the head and the prop will appear as separate structures.

While you work through the subsequent stages of your portrait drawing (proportions, landmarks, blocking-in, stumping, etc.) you should continually be aware of the fact that your supporting item should not overwhelm the face of your subject.

The face of your subject should remain the primary focus. Your sketch should not turn into a still life of your supporting item that also happens to show a person’s face in the background.

One trick that can help you with understating of the supporting item is to only sketch the merest of details inside the supporting item. Another one is to soften the values of the supporting item but only if it this appropriate in the context of the overall intent of your sketch.

Again, we cannot stress enough the importance of maintaining the cohesion between your subject and the supporting item. That is why it is significant that you sketch from the construct which already links the subject and your supporting item as one overall object. Of course, this also implies that you do the toning in a similar spirit and not overdo the lines and values that separate the subject and the supporting item.

So, in conclusion, the primary considerations when including supporting entities in your sketch are to make sure that the arabesque covers the entire outline of the head and the supporting entities.

In addition, be sure that at all times you keep in mind that the supporting entities should never become the focus of your sketch. If you stick to these guidelines, the use of supporting entities should never become a problem for you.