Greetings, everyone
Today I want to share with you a pencil portrait of a nephew. His name is Santiago. He is almost four years old and is living in Perú now. My brother asked me to draw portraits of his two small kids, who I do not know since they had to leave the country when they were about a year old. I am not a portrait artist per se. Portraits always represent a challenge for me and more than once I have had to abandone projects because they just do not resemble the models.
I am satisfied with Santiago's portrait. The eyes needed more work, but I was not aiming at hyper realism here. That's out of my league.
Process
I started with a sketchy outline of the main elements and I must confess I did not notice until it was too late that I had not captured the slight tilt of the head. I figure that would be my rendition, so I left it like that.
Santiago's most prominent feature is his eyes and I had a hell of a time getting them right. I know they need more work. At this stage they were not even well proportioned. I made some adjustments later. I must clarify that I did not go to art school or have taken classes of any kind. I have read and watched some techiniques, but I rarely know how to use them properly. So, perspective and measures I play by ear, or should I say by eye.
This picture I sent to my nephew so that he too has a token of this moment. I hope I can get to meet him in person some day. I hope he grows up to be a fine man, whether he stays in Perú and adopts it as his home or whether he gets the chance to return to his parents' homeland.
The original picture