Working on More Realism in Family Portraits

Originally posted on Amdall Gallery, jonamdall.com. The posts on this Blogger site are condensed; check out the original website for the full write-up and images.
https://jonamdall.com/2018/02/23/another-family-portrait-working-on-more-realism/

I have drawn four total sketches of my wife. From what I can see looking at these previous drawings, I don’t think I’ve ever quite captured her accurately. Years ago, I did one of me and her together, and it wasn’t bad. I also did a rough sketch I used for my proposal, which looked like her but was no Rembrandt in terms of realism. Then, much more recently, I made one of our family with all four of us. Although it was probably the closest to being accurate of any, I ended up basically ruining it by trying to add color (we all looked like zombies…it was my first color attempt). Then, the most recent was one of my wife and our girls, but that one really looks the least like her; she’s almost not recognizable, the more I look at it.

So, I decided this was a great thing to work on next. I did some brainstorming, and came up with two to work on. The first of these features my wife, her sister, and our oldest kiddo. In this one, my wife is helping her open a package, while her sister watches the show. I tried to stay loose, and part of that was compelling myself to move faster. I think you can see byproducts of going possibly too fast in how the box looks; the lines are not even close to straight. Interestingly though, I really like how this one turned out!

https://jonamdall.com/2018/02/23/another-family-portrait-working-on-more-realism/ for the rest of the post.