Oil sketch of Samir

Samir was our model at the scout hut today. I initially made him look rather older than his 27 years but I hope that towards the end of the two hour sitting I was able to take a few years off. Samir has an Irish mother and an asian/african father, giving him his striking looks. This was his first modelling experience and he sat rock steady which (if any of you have tried it will know) is no easy feat. I tried a slightly different approach with this study, in an attempt to speed up my process; I am due to do a demo in a few weeks time when I will have approx two hours but will also need to explain my process and field questions. Therefore, I am not spending quite so long on the drawing, trying to get the correct proportionns and establishing the light and shadow to capture the general typography of the face before addressing the features. This is not making a marked difference to the outcome (although there are a few issues with his eyes I would have liked to resolve) but it is saving me almost a quarter of the sitting time. I look forward to his second sitting next week when I plan to do a side view.