Trying portrait drawing without grids after weeks of grid training

We have been working on portraits in my classes lately because I feel that the human face is one of the most complicated things to get "right" in art. There are a lot of schools of thought out there that feel as though it isn't important to get the details of a face exactly right but if that is the case, why are some of the most famous classical works of art faces that the artists got exactly right?

I suppose it is a matter of perspective but when you consider the Mona Lisa, The Girl with the Pearl Earring, and the unfinished portrait of George Washington, these are all very highly admired works of art. If you don't want to be good at doing portraits then don't do it. I always say to embrace your weaknesses in art because that lack of realism might actually be what makes your work unique. In the meantime, and at least in my classes, I try to round out a lot of the elements of art so that the student themselves can decide what it is that they want to focus on.

In this week's class I brought a bunch of random pictures of faces and most of them I don't even know who the person is. I tried to steer clear of celebrities because I don't want it to become a competition among the students about who gets to draw Taylor Swift or Robert Downy Jr.

I also limited the amount of time that they students had to do as best they could to 10 minutes.

This is one of the photos that we used and while that looks like it could be someone famous, if it is, I have no idea who it is. I told the students to look at the picture and seek out what makes this face unique and focus on that. We have been working with grid programs to assist them for a while now, but this time we did it all free-hand and I was kind of impressed with what a couple of the students were able to accomplish.

Because of the 10 minute limit, they were not able to finish what they were doing but I think that this girl, did a pretty darn good job of replicating it in the mere 10 mins. Eyebrows are extremely tough to do so I think she did the right thing but simply looking for an outline and then filling it in as best she could. She told me that she intends to eliminate the "hard lines" on the outside of the eyebrows later and asked if it was ok if she took the photo home with her to finish the picture.... Of course I will allow that and I was delighted that she was interested enough to actually want to do that!

I think that grid programs are a great idea for learning how to do things, but I also think that this assignment was actually a test of sorts even though we have no tests in my classes and no one receives grades of any sort. This to me shows that the student in question actually is learning from the things that we have done in my classes and the fact that she wanted to take the picture home to finish it put a smile on my face.

Sometimes I get a student in my classes that has only a passing interest in art before they come to my classes but then afterwards they seem to have a great interest in it. This always makes me very happy because even though I do my classes for free and am a volunteer, I do enjoy making a difference in the lives of others.

I look forward to the finished product and because of her enthusiasm, I think that she is very much looking forward to showing it to me.