Pencil Portrait Drawing Tips on Cropping

Cropping is a composition technique that displays a subject within the borders of your paper and often involves a truncation of some parts at the edges of the subject. For example, part of a hat or an arm may be truncated or cropped which will give the drawing a whole different look and feel.

Cropping is a device that can often be applied to great dramatic effect. It usually brings the subject much closer to the viewer and makes the portrait much more intimate. As the viewer you almost feel like you are violating the subject space.

Here are a few ideas you may want to keep in mind when you apply the cropping technique to your pencil portrait drawings:

* Keep the Balance - Cropping immediately presents you with a compositional puzzle. You must exercise good judgment in what to crop and what not. You must make sure that you preserve the balance in the drawing both from the point of view of shape and in terms of values. It is a good idea to stand back a little and judge your drawing from a distance. It will be much easier to see of something is out of whack or does not just right.

You can usually determine by gut feeling whether or not you did a good job with your cropping. If the result feels right then it generally is right. If not, you should try to determine what exactly is wrong. Mind you, some subjects or situations are not suitable for cropping and are better left whole. It is also a matter of doing this cropping business for a while so that you get experience with it. So do not be discouraged if it does not work out right away.

* Draw a Border or Use Border Tape - Sometimes it may be beneficial to the overall look of the finished product to use border tape or actually draw in a border. Border tape can be had in any art supply store and comes in many different colors and various widths. Border tape is generally only used for artwork of which you will make prints because with time the tape on the original drawing will almost certainly loosen and maybe even ruin the picture.

* A Alternative for Cropping - An alternative to actual cropping is letting the drawing run all the way out to one or more of the edges of the paper. This often creates a triangular composition with pleasing results. It can also help you in balancing the values if there are no other alternatives to do so.

I regularly use this technique when the subject’s upper-body clothing is of interest. I usually draw the head life-size on a 16” x 20” ground. By letting the drawing run out to the bottom and side edges I am able to gain enough room to also draw the upper-body clothing. At the same time I usually blend the bottom end of the drawing quite heavily so that it almost looks like mist.

* Use Your Imagination - Cropping is an interesting compositional tool. It can also be used to lead the viewer’s attention in a particular direction off the page and force him or her to think about what is not drawn in that direction.

For example, part of the back of a horse-drawn cart could be cropped. A smiling good-looking gentleman could be sitting up-front in the cart gazing towards the unseen backseat of the cart. In this way, a viewer is invited to wonder what is in the back of the cart that could attract the rapt attention of such a fine gentleman.

We just discussed the idea of using cropping as a compositional tool. Cropping is can change a drawing in very interesting ways and can add to the drama of your composition. It is something you must try at least once to see how it suits your taste and style.

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Comments

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 at 6:25 AM, by olivia
Cropping" is a very helpful article. I'm making a "window" in heavy stock that is the size that I want the finished portrait to be.
I was going to "crop" drawing tonight....so I'm glad that I read your article first!

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 at 8:27 AM, by remicengels
Well, thank you so much. Cropping can indeed add a lot to a drawing. In fact, I like cropped art quite a bit.

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