Process

Working on a charcoal portrait as a "late" Christmas gift for a friend.  I work predominantly from my little ipad, get the picture I want and work from a 1 to 1 size approach that way.  I do like to draw from life but time constraints (mainly the fact that I have a 3, 6, and 9 year old!) keep me using this method.  Some people say it is hard to transfer life into a portrait from a photo but I would have to disagree.  Yes, there are challenges and sometimes photos actually distort the face, but if you understand what some of the obstacles are ahead of time you can move forward.