Side Profile - 01.5.24

Bones and Muscles and Structure

I haven’t really picked up a real pencil—not an Apple Pencil or a Wacom stylus—for drawing since…1997? I think I discovered Photoshop and Wacom tablets around 97, and as far as I can remember, that was the end of my real pencil days.

Even back then, one of my great frustrations was my lack of ability to freehand draw human faces and bodies that looked like they could be real.

So one of the first courses I’m taking this year focuses on portraiture. More specifically, it focuses on the bone structure of the head and the facial muscles and tendons. It’s basically a biology class, is what it is.

And that’s okay. I need to learn this stuff.

After just a week in the classroom, I can already see a vast improvement in my portrait work.