I've put some of my art-school work on flickr here. We're nearly at the end of the first semester, and I feel like I've learnt heaps.



My favourite trick was using a grid for a self-portrait from a photo. My previous attempts at self-portraits were a bit scary - intense staring into the mirror and a cricked neck from trying not to move. The grid helped me work out the proportions of my face as they actually are - eyes further apart than I usually draw, nose shorter and wider. When I started to draw what I thought was there, instead of what is actually there, I turned the paper and photo upside down so I could just concentrate on the shapes and shading.

I've since found self-portraits without the grid easier to draw so they look like me. I have no idea what I'm going to do with all of these huge pictures of myself - perhaps gifts for unfortunate relatives...?

You can check out the rest of the CAE class work on blogger too.