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altocello — Sam Heughan
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#samheughan #fanart #pencildrawing #outlanderstarz
Published: 2015-06-30 17:09:11 +0000 UTC; Views: 886; Favourites: 19; Downloads: 0
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Description
In which I draw Sam Heughan (but can't look the drawing in the eyes while I finish it without getting seriously distracted; which is ironic considering my last drawing of Jamie Fraser), and he smoulders at us, gently.This piece was an effort on my part to learn to draw Sam's face better, and to aid in that I used a technique I'd never tried before to attempt to keep me on track with the likeness. And as much as I wanted it to not be so good, because setting up the grid is kind of a pain, I have to admit that using a grid really, truly, does make it easier to get the likeness right. Let's hear it for really great references; thank you to Miranda Penn Turin with Emmy Magazine for taking the amazing photo of Sam!
Thanks also to Lord Huron for creating the Strange Trails album, which was playing on repeat in the background while I drew this. I will forever associate this drawing with that whole album, but especially "The World Ender."
Drawn with pencil (HB, 4B, 8B) on white drawing paper and photographed. Contrast adjusted and signature added in GIMP.
You can also find this on Tumblr .
This is a non-profit fanwork; no harm intended, no money made.
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Comments: 9
This is beautiful! I'm curious about the grid thing. Do you draw this digitally? Or by hand? How does the grid thing work? I suck so badly at doing faces, so if a grid would help, I would love to know more about that process.
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Thank you! I drew this by hand; it's graphite on sketchbook paper. I used a digital reference, and "drew" grid lines at regular intervals in a square pattern. I then drew faint grid lines on my paper (same number across and down as I had on my reference), and sketched an outline, then filled it in and erased the grid lines as I went. It's a fabulous technique, especially if you're scaling something up or down in size, and it's really really helped out with those odd things that can happen with a portrait when the proportions aren't quite right. Not great if you're just trying to do a quick drawing though, lol. It's painstaking, but worth the effort.
Actually, if you don't mind gifs, I think I might have a work in progress gif of this somewhere.... *goes to look* ... Aha! I do! It's on my tumblr post! artocello.tumblr.com/post/1248…
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That's a neat trick!! Even *I* might be able to do a decent portrait using that method. Thanks for the explanation!
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Amazing!! Beautiful work on the face (and yes, I can understand fully about the distraction) 
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Thank you very much! (and yes, sooooo distracting 
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Wonderful lighting and attention to detail, but not "too real." His expression is priceless. Good job!
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Thank you very much! It was the expression that drew me to the original photograph
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I had no idea who this was, so had to google him to see what he looked like. Brilliant job! You've done a super likeness and the textures you've created, (I particularly love the sheen on the hood, and the detailing of the stitching on the sleeve), are just wonderful. And the expression you've caught on his face... Love it!
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Thank you so much! It was really good to go back to working with pencil after all the digital art I've done recently, though I wish I'd been able to get the darks more properly dark. Ah, the limitations of actual paper with grain and an 8B pencil, lol. I had fun with the stitching, and I spent a fair amount of time working on the sheen on the hood, so I'm delighted that those stood out for you! And I'm very glad to know that you feel I've caught his likeness and done the expression justice.
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