Drawing the Asaro Head
Drawing can’t be learned by theory alone. Doing drawings, especially drawing problems is the way you advance. The Asaro head is three-dimensional model designed to simplify and exaggerate the planes of the head. I’ve drawn it a number of times and often return to it, especially when I’m doing a portrait course. It is also not perfectly symmetrical left-to right. Apparently the artist, sculptor John Asaro, felt it was more dramatic that way. I’ve always drawn this figure from photographs since the actual head model is fairly expensive. I hope to get one in the future.
Oddly, this abstract head has a portrait character that will come forward when the head is drawn fairly accurately. It gets easier and more interesting each time I work with it. Drawing it without first understanding the relationships within the head, is much more challenging and will rely on careful accuracy in the proportions and how each part relates to the next. What hopefully will emerge is a feeling for the three dimensional scheme and geometry of a head in 3/4 view—-what the landscape of the face looks like as a basic structure. It doesn’t matter if the initial drawing is not 100% perfect (none is and you can make corrections almost indefinitely), rather, that when drawing it you start to see how things fit together and start to develop a strategy for getting the information down.
I would sketch out the overall form first, the “envelope” as it’s sometimes called, then start fitting in the major forms. I’d spend as much time looking as drawing. See how the planes of the forehead and top of the head work together. Notice that there are three arcs that go from one side to the other: the arc of the brow ridge, the underside of the nose, and the lips—each reaches from one side to the other and has to move in space in away so they don’t run uphill or downhill from one another. If I had the actual model, I might use the light/dark structure as a guide by putting it under a strong, directional light. In this case, contour lines will likely work better. Like all drawings/paintings, it’s important to work the overall image. Create a basic foundation and then keep it in flux, moving things around until everything aligns. Nothing should be out of place. If it is, correct it. Keeping everything tentative until the very end is difficult, but a necessary element, so take your time and be patient with yourself. Don’t be afraid to start over, if need be.