Pastel Portrait class

​I am taking a 5 day portrait painting class online this week with artist Alain Picard. Painting people is not my strong suit, but I take heart from Leonardo - “What do you mean ‘it doesn’t look like the Duke’? Who will know in 500 years?” 

I learned the best tip in the first 10-minute instructional section on the first day - a styrofoam ball with a stick through it top to bottom and an equator drawn on it indicating the brow ridge. A longitude drawn the other direction represents the nose ridge. Tilting the ball clearly shows what is visible as the head tilts in various positions. Drawing it from directly in front, the circle of the sphere is the head from crown to just below the nostrils. The chin is drawn as a triangle below and the ears on the sides at the same level as the brow ridge.  The sketch pages in my many how-to portrait  books finally make sense to me now!