Pencil Portraits

Akram Khan

Bernardine Evaristo

This was the second Sunday that Sky TV broadcast a live paint along on their facebook page.  It lasted for four hours, but I found that I completed both portraits in half the time. 

Last Sunday's sitter was the dancer and choreographer Akram Khan, painted by Portrait Artist finalist Christabel Blackburn; and this morning, the author Bernardine Evaristo posed for Duncan Shoesmith, an artist whose style I really like. He models the face with blocks of paint without too much blending.

I managed to draw Akram Khan from life, as he kept really still, but this Sunday, I had to resort to a still image because Bernardine was moving a lot more. I did notice however, that further into the four hours, she was sitting still for longer.

For both drawings, I used 2B pencils on A3 cartridge paper in landscape orientation. I drew in the centre line of the face and placed horizontal lines for the eyes, the bottom of the nose, the mouth and the bottom of the chin. The only measuring I did was the placement of the mouth in relation of the chin, which in both cases was about a third of the distance from the bottom of the nose to the chin. 

Sky Arts have created this programme because at the moment, they can't film Portrait Artist of the Year 2021 because of social distancing rules. I am very grateful to them for creating an interactive programme where artists can make art together.