Analogous pastel of classmate
© 2026 Morgia
First time using pastels, spent about 8hrs on it. Really really struggled with facial feature placement and moved their ear like 4 times. Does anyone have suggestions?
Apocalyptic Chaos
The lighting has a really dynamic effect on the piece, but the mouth looks like its too high up, similarly with the nose.
Jcmlfineart
Morgia,
Are you the same ethnicity as the model?
The reason I ask is that, often, if you are from an ethnic background different from the model's, you may subconsciously try to draw them closer to your ethnic 'norm'-(What you see every day and grew up around).
We tend to draw more of what we know versus what we see. Why? Because it works sort of as a shorthand for our brains to do it the way we always have done.
A good way to get out of this funk is to draw with your non-dominant hand or to only use letters or numbers instead of shapes when drawing figures. These things force our brains to pay closer attention and focus on drawing what we see because we are placing unfamiliar elements (letters and numbers) in a familiar context (drawing).
If this drawing diffrent ethinities is your issue, don't sweat it; this proclivity is more common than you'd think. The best way I have found to combat it is to draw skulls of that ethnic background. And over time, one recognises the differences in how the bones sit on, say, a person from Hongkong verses someone from from Austrailia. Your college library may have a few skulls for you to check out. Both the arts and the sciences use them for various study needs, so if your art department does not have samples, check the science wing of your school for availability.
The bone structure (where these bones sit beneath the skin) differs between ethnicities. Examples included were that the oculus bones are higher, lower, less pronounced, or more pronounced. Same with the slope of the forehead and the bone that holds the nose shape.
The big bugbear: where the bones are located affects how the muscles lie, and that will affect how the skin reflects these two things that make up our shapes as humans.
By the way, the hair in the top left of the head is very alive and lovely! I can tell you spent some time here.
I hope this was helpful,
All of the best,
JCML Fine Art
Are you the same ethnicity as the model?
The reason I ask is that, often, if you are from an ethnic background different from the model's, you may subconsciously try to draw them closer to your ethnic 'norm'-(What you see every day and grew up around).
We tend to draw more of what we know versus what we see. Why? Because it works sort of as a shorthand for our brains to do it the way we always have done.
A good way to get out of this funk is to draw with your non-dominant hand or to only use letters or numbers instead of shapes when drawing figures. These things force our brains to pay closer attention and focus on drawing what we see because we are placing unfamiliar elements (letters and numbers) in a familiar context (drawing).
If this drawing diffrent ethinities is your issue, don't sweat it; this proclivity is more common than you'd think. The best way I have found to combat it is to draw skulls of that ethnic background. And over time, one recognises the differences in how the bones sit on, say, a person from Hongkong verses someone from from Austrailia. Your college library may have a few skulls for you to check out. Both the arts and the sciences use them for various study needs, so if your art department does not have samples, check the science wing of your school for availability.
The bone structure (where these bones sit beneath the skin) differs between ethnicities. Examples included were that the oculus bones are higher, lower, less pronounced, or more pronounced. Same with the slope of the forehead and the bone that holds the nose shape.
The big bugbear: where the bones are located affects how the muscles lie, and that will affect how the skin reflects these two things that make up our shapes as humans.
By the way, the hair in the top left of the head is very alive and lovely! I can tell you spent some time here.
I hope this was helpful,
All of the best,
JCML Fine Art
