SKULLS, HEADS, PORTR AITS
F IGURE 1
In my first drawing class I felt like I was surrounded by experts. It seemed that for some students, it was their second, third, or even fourth time taking drawing. I was convinced that they had been born with the ability to draw. Genetics had given them hands that could create masterpieces. When it came to drawing the model, my hand locked up. The model’s face went from any ordinary face to
something contorted, asymmetric, grotesque. Where did Professor Gussow find this guy? How could I compress this face into two dimensions? A half hour went by, and I had a crooked egg with an ear and a lot of erasure marks. As that first semester went on, the model started to look more human to me. By the second semester, he started to look human on my newsprint. It took almost the two full semesters to realize that my hands were an extension of my eyes. It’s been ten years, and my most diff icult class has stuck with me. I draw on business cards at meetings, on receipts during rush hour, on paper tablecloths during meals, and for work everyday. My portraits are small and usually get thrown away or shoved into the glove compartment of my car, but they tie me to the people around me. For a minute or two, here and there, I engage in a quiet relationship with my subject. — ELIZA CHAIKIN Physiognomy, the revelation of human character portrayed by facial features, is a study of endless fascination. In all manner of encounters in daily life, we study one another’s faces to discern meaning. We do this naturally, without undue or even conscious consideration. In many of the arts—literature, theater, painting, drawing—the face and the play of its features is a matter of intense scrutiny. The features and their expressions are tools in an actor’s trade; their configuration, the landscape for a portraitist’s brush or pencil. Attaining facial verisimilitude is an intense preoccupation for anyone invested in drawing the human form; achieving that likeness is keenly gratifying. Surprisingly, a major portion of the first semester of Freehand Drawing students are advised not to focus on likeness. In the rapid figure exercises (see the “Figure in Motion” studies, pp. 30–34), they are encouraged to ignore features altogether and simply to mark an abbreviated shape indicating the
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