The Saga of Timothée

A vast majority of artists who dabble in portraiture have one thing in common - they want to draw the face of Timothée Chalamet.

"What is the logic behind this?"  you may ask. 

Well, I couldn't pinpoint the reason, but generally, I think it's because his aesthetic is the child of a Burberry model and Joan of Arc. I firmly believe that had Timothée been born during the Renaissance Era, Davinci and his cronies would have been ALL ABOUT HIM.

Therefore, to honour the masters of The Renaissance, I decided to draw lil' Timi. 

Jk, he just has those muse vibes that I live and die for.

Welcome to my process.

1. The Blob Phase

The blob phase is the vaguest phase. The phase of least enlightenment. The phase of correctable error.

This is the time where you find the best shape and placement of your portrait on the page. Where you figure out proportion and block in chunky circles and shapes to represent important facial features.

The blob phase allows you to experiment with shapes and gives the drawing a basic frame for your eyes to anchor onto and your mind to start working on the VISION.

2. Ye Olde Ugly and Pathetic stage

As you can observe from the quartet of disaster above, this is a phase of pure grief and misery. A phase of exclamations that sound like -

"I can't draw!"

"I am a failure!"

"Why do we even HAVE noses!?"

This is a phase that humbles even the most prideful of artists. It is a phase of wretchedness and deprivation, and for many, it is the phase of giving up.

 HOWEVER, There is purpose to the madness.

This period of humiliation also serves as an opportunity to experiment. The artists who push through and are fearless, the ones who allow themselves to use a magical tool called 'The Eraser', those who don't take themselves too seriously - these are the people who are rewarded by the time they drag themselves from the depths of this revolting phase.

My advice to those who are struggling with the ugly stages of a drawing would be - just go along for the ride kids, because eventually, you'll get to your destination. 😎

3. The Phase of the Likeness

Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the sort-of-successful union of pencil and paper.

This is the phase in which the light turns on and you are able to look at your art and say out loud in an empty house:

"There he is!"

And as the echoes of your exclamation bounce around the house, you COULD look further at your creation and begin to doubt yourself. You COULD observe that his eyebrows are too, big and his eyes are slightly too close together. You COULD listen to that inner voice and correct those niggly little details that are sort of off.

But instead, you choose to ignore them. Because this is just a sketch, and the likeness is passable.

The truth is, some artists are perfectionists (GOOD FOR THEM) and others truly fly by the seat of their pants (GOOD FOR THEM TOO). 

4. The Phase of Getting Shady

When it comes to art my mother is SUPER CRITICAL. For example, if she was watching DaVinci paint the Mona Lisa, she would probably tell him everything he was doing wrong. When she saw the final result of this drawing she said to me:

"You should have used a harder pencil to shade the lighter areas and then picked up a softer pencil to fill in the darker shadowy areas."

Thanks mum, for your support and for giving me the words of affirmation that I need.

Admittedly, if I detach myself from my pride and melt into a puddle of humilty, she is 100% correct. For the shading of homeboy Timi, I was way too heavy-handed. I'll be honest, I was so happy about finally achieving some semblance of a likeness that metaphorically, my shading was a lone warrior running down a hill to a whole army of the enemy, shouting.

"FOR VICTORY!!!"

The lone warrior does not die by the hand of the enemy though. He loses steam half-way down the hill and then faints and the enemy thinks he's dead and they go away and our hero lives to fight another day.

The moral of the story is, even if your shading technique isn't successful this time. Next time, you will learn to pace yourself and do better. There is always hope.

5. The Phase of: 'I'm sick of this and I want to draw something else.'

Oh Timothée.

I'm sorry for your wonky face

And your wiry hair.

I'm sorry that your eyes are crossed

They make me want to swear.

I think you're great as Henry V

I really like your style

One day I will draw you well

But that may take a while. 

If you got this far. I appreciate the commitment.

Overall, I give my sketch of Timi, a 6/10. He's pretty okay.

Let me know what you think of my artistic process. Do you have any healthy criticism you could give me to help me make further improvements for the future?

Also, who is your favourite person to draw? I'd love to know.

Have an absolutely 10/10 day today! (Not 6/10 like my drawing)

Minnie

Watch my latest Youtube vid here where I design an album cover for an EP :)