My first human portrait commission and the human figure in dance

It began innocuously enough. My friend, a massive BTS fan (scratch that, a massive Jimin fan), had posted an ethereal looking temporary profile of Jimin, and I made an innocent comment, "That's a pic just waiting to be drawn." Not sure if she took that as an invitation but she sent me a photo of Jimin doing a dance solo and commissioned me to draw it (actually, it was a merger of two photos which made things even more complex).

I'd never taken on a commission of a human portrait. I'd drawn the Beatles, but that was a one-time thing and I haven't had enough practice drawing people to be confident that I would get the results I wanted. But it was a fascinating pose, and there's something about the human figure in dance that has always attracted me. Plus the ability to raise more funds was appealing, so I rashly agreed to the challenge.

This was the final drawing, in coloured pencils on Canson Mi-Teintes dark paper. Excuse the bad quality photo - dark paper never photographs well.

This drawing turned out to be a lot more difficult than expected. Drawing humans is really much trickier than drawing animals! Some parts I just couldn't get right, and had to erase and redraw a few times. I only realised how stressed out I was by this drawing when I dreamt that I'd spilled a whole jar of paintwater over a part I'd slaved over!

Anyway, I'm glad it turned out well in the end and more importantly, my friend likes it. And with this commission, the amount raised for charity has broken the S$5,000 mark ♥

Up to this point, I'd only drawn people using coloured pencils, as that's the best medium for fine details. I was curious as to whether I could attempt drawing a human figure in pastels, so it seemed like the perfect time to break out the new box of Schmincke pastels I'd bought from Overjoyed as part of my art supplies haul. 

Schmincke is one of the oldest brands of soft pastels around, made in Germany. This was a special edition set - 10 full sticks and 20 half sticks. The reason I was drawn to this set is the range of light tints in the middle column. It's hard to get these hues in a small set, and I thought they would be very useful for highlights. Here's a closeup of the colours. Unfortunately, two of the half sticks came broken.

I chose a photo reference which didn't have too much detail, as I didn't think I would be able to pull off fine details with soft pastels. I started with the background and immediately, I could see that the Schmincke pastels are EXTREMELY soft. They're so soft that the slightest touch would leave a bright mark on the paper (I used home-made sanded paper here). In terms of softness, they're very similar to the Sennelier extra soft pastels, which I'd reviewed previously. In comparison, I find that the Schmincke pastels crumble more easily, and the Sennelier stain my fingers more. However, these are minor differences. They're so similar that I whipped out the Senneliers to complement the drawing.

 

In case anyone is interested, this is my set up. I prefer drawing flat on a table as I get more control that way, but I've learnt to paint on a desk easel when using soft pastels, simply because of the amount of pastel dust generated. If you draw with soft pastels on a table, the dust pools all over the drawing and you get smudges everywhere. I clip a piece of paper under the painting to collect all the dust, so it doesn't fly all over the surroundings. This pic below shows the amount of dust collected just from doing the background.

 

And the final drawing. My conclusion is that I'm not there yet. I'm not able to break out of the mold of drawing details and going for a more painterly, Impressionistic look. Perhaps in time...

My thoughts on the Schmincke pastels: When I first tested the Senneliers, I didn't think I enjoyed working with super soft pastels. They can't take many layers and they fill up the tooth of the paper quickly, and having control over the fat sticks is challenging. But I've since changed my mind. The Schmincke pastels, which are similar to the Sennielier pastels, are so buttery and creamy and glide so nicely on the paper, it's a joy to use them. Furthermore, the colour payoff just can't be beat. The vibrancy is superb and I love me some colour. 

There's a learning curve to using them, and it will take practice, for sure. I guess it's not often that one can say practice is fun, so I'm glad that in the case of soft pastels, it's fun for me.