Baron drawing

After creating my initial sketch of the Baron I felt it would be a good idea to try and draw the same character from a different angle. This again would serve a dual purpose of me developing his character but would also act as a drawing exercise. This drawing was done using pastel blocks and pencils which give a very different finish when compared to my first sketch. Pastels give a much fuller piece of work just by the nature of the material, this is probably most evident in the Baron's face and his hat. On first impression the character below looks to be the same person I had drawn previous although this version does look slightly younger. This is largely due to the colours blending more as the mark making is more subtle within this image. Due to the angle the Baron's age can only be established from the area around the eye, the loose skin below the cheek bones has not turned out as I hoped it would. The cheek bone is still too prominent and should have had less of a shadow as he is meant to be an older gentlemen. There is a significant tonal range especially within the wig which highlights the darkest and lightest areas although there is room for improvement on the hat. The face has good tones although I think that the range could be stretched and some areas that are lighter might be slightly in the wrong areas. These types of issues can be addressed by further studies of life drawing and improving my observational skills. The lighting and shading values are where I need to concentrate my efforts on the most as this is probably my weakest point. Although each area is shaded and there are definite areas of light the face, hat and wig seem slightly separate from one another rather than one coherent piece of work. This can only be solved by further works and studying how different materials react to the same light, although this has turned out well just drawing from my imagination only. The most difficult part of this drawing was the wig, it may seem like it has the least detail but this proved harder than the rest. When I created the initial pencil outline I tried to draw rows of curled hair, nothing in any detail just rough sizes of rectangles. Trying to get these blocks to look as though they were going round on a curve to follow the shape of the head was difficult to achieve. Once the pencil outline was completed the only area that concerned me was the wig as it just did not look right. However I proceeded with the pastel and once I came to the wig it became obvious that I should not try to be to precise. Allowing for rough, quick marks seemed to create a far better impression of what the wig may look like. In the end I was pleased how it turned out but it got me thinking that apart from straight on it kind of limits the Baron's character when drawing from other views. These first sketches were only to build a person in my mind and now I will develop others without hats and wigs to see what emerges and allows me to progress with the art style and characters for this project.