Mum's portrait

So this was a first attempt at doing a finished portrait.  I worked from a photo my Dad too of my Mum.  I had to keep it all hush hush as I was doing it as a gift for my folks for Christmas. They really liked it so that was great for me.  It also had a little outing in a local exhibition where I go life drawing.

Here is a link to view promo

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0KUfkYNU2InUUplZ2VKWTVjbXc/edit?usp=sharing

Charcoal 16 x 20"

Lavender Hill - Term 5, Week 1

So it's good to be back at class again and we started of doing a portrait which is great as I love doing portraits.  As you can see though I have little skill in drawing from life and learning the technique with the charcoal.  Photo's 1 & 2 show my start and what I completed at class.  My teacher said I had the nose too short and that it is best to work from the chin up.

When I came home I worked from a photo to get to photo 3 and practice working with the charcoal. We don't measure at class only sight using verticals, horizontals and angles.  At home I take my best guess and then I do measure when needed.  The coloured lines on photo 4 were traced off the photo and show that I got closer but my eye still needs more training.