Why Portraits? Why Faces?

Every once in a while, I will post a portrait. I don't usually post the reference photo, which I should (but more on that later), but as you see them, the portraits seem a bit animated. A bit cartoony, not exactly a caricature, but not exactly photorealistic. Thats ok with me. Yes, there are times that I try to get as close to photorealistic as I can, but I tend to pull back and be a bit more loose and animated when it comes to my line work.  In spite of that or with that said, I enjoy the challenge of trying to illustrate someones face. I do get my references on Pinterest. Yeah, I know, Ican probably hear you saying it right now. “Wait, Juan, why don't you just draw some of your friends? Or people in the wild?” Well, when I was in my 20’s thats how I practiced, and over the years, I just lost being comfortable doing that in public. You know, just randomly staring at someone while drawing them Im not inconspicuous.  I would rather not have someone trying to get an argument with me. “Why are you staring at me, fool?” yeah not my cup of tea. Sometimes I will find people on Instagram that I just want to draw. I do that too. If anyone wants me to draw them, knowing that I'm a bit out of practice, and wants to meet up at a coffee shop, I’d be down. ALso I really love how characters look over an image. Specifically, Japanese characters. I know one of these is Korean. But I still love it nonetheless.

So the image here, the one with the Japanese text, is a reference. I can’t seem to find the original image at the moment, but I will post it on my next blog if I find it. She was fun to draw, gave me a bit of a challenge since she looks a bit “no games all business,” and I wanted to show some of her femininity. The one with the Korean Characters, that is all of the top of my head. I just made her up. I wanted her to just stare right into you. Oh, I also don’t remember what I ended up writing in either language. I do enjoy trying to do typical bubble letters, too, which is also a LOT of fun to do.