Technique - part1

In reply to some recent questions regarding technique (secret or otherwise!) I thought I'd stick a post here to try and answer some of them.

The last two posts (Bolt & Putin) were done in 1hour 30 minutes - 2 hours each. I'm not sure exactly as I weren't timin' 'em! On average I spend an hour on my drawings (always A4 as they're easy to scan and upload) I spent a little longer on the last two as I wanted to give them more impact.

They were also both first attempts - which is certainly not always the case. Some caricatures can be the result of three or four attempts - even then, some of those can be discarded 3/4 of the way through when I reluctantly realise that I've been fooling myself and it's never gonna work out between us - ha!

With that last sentence in mind it was interesting to realise that when I started Usain Bolt I knew within the first minute of work I was drawing something that was gonna turn out to my satisfaction. I've realised as time's gone on that you've got to get the basic morphed shape correct first before potentially wasting time later relying on furious detail to 'save' a bad drawing. I always believe that likeness is more important than flashy drawing - I'm a big fan of Al Hirschfeld: simple but expressive lines. But! If you can marry great likeness with 'flashy drawing', then - knockout!!!! Ha, ha!

As to 'my secret' I'm afraid there's no secret other than that which we've known all our lives; practice!!!! If you make a resolution to draw every day then I promise you that in six months time you will look back on your drawings and see a marked improvement. More than that you will develop your own style which is the icing on the cake.

Hope that helps!

Russ