Drawing from Memory

After talking to Geoff on Monday I began drawing the image from memory. This was the first result. I found that I remembered it mostly as a whole image- for example I wasn't drawing the boy's shirt, I was drawing a block shape that I remembered filled that proportion. I also found that I felt like I wanted to put down everything quickly that I remembered. The whole drawing was quicker, and because I was drawing over a lightbox it came out thicker and darker in line.

I found I could remember the whole photo- colours, expression, shapes, but a lot of the connection between mental image and communicating on paper didn't really match. Often I would be drawing a line and know it was wrong. Everything seemed a lot flatter and heavier.

The smaller head here was my second attempt at drawing the photofraph from memory. I ended up just getting frustrated that the lines I was trying didn't match the image I could see in my mind- both drawings were a lot flatter and heavier.

The larger head was me trying to draw the face on a larger scale, as in the photo it is quite small and dark. I found that giving it space really helped in illustrating the expression on his face, the whole thing became more animated.