The Two Amigos

The drawing above shows to people posing next to each other. The figure closest to the foreground appears to be blowing a kiss, while the other one behind her looks on. The figures in the composition are not drawn to actual scale of their models. Done on a 24 x 18 sheet of paper, various graphite pencils were used in this portrait. Thus, the colors of the drawing are limited to a grayscale. Contour Lines essentially make up this entire piece. The lines all vary in thickness and value, with the outlines of the figures being the boldest, and the details in the clothing and face being the lightest. Excluding the shading done to the hair and faces, the mustache of the closer figure is the boldest and darkest contour line in the composition.

The composition itself is somewhat asymmetrical. The figures are mostly positioned in the middle of the paper. The initial sketch of the drawing was done on a grid. Contour lines were then added on top of the searching lines. Seeing as the figures must be distinguishable from each other and the background, darker lines were used for their outlines. The darker lines were achieved with the use of a softer pencil with pressure applied. Lighter lines were used to draw out the folds and shadows of the clothing and face in order to add a bit of depth into the drawing. This was done with the use of a harder pencil with little pressure applied.

While the project focuses more on the importance of contour lines and the possibilities it can achieve, the subject of the drawing does hold a sentimental value to me. The drawing itself came from an old photo I had taken of my friends two years ago for a project. The both of them were meant to dress up as two shady figures, thus the reason for the taped on mustache and huge bush brows and unibrow. The use of different values and thickness of lines does add to a bit of realism to the drawing.

Overall, I thought that the contour lines came out nicely for this piece. While the pattern shading somewhat hides the soft and hard contour lines done on the face and hair, it was done fairly well in my opinion. If it weren’t for the fact that I need this drawing for another assignment later on, I would have kept it as it is, if not for the simplicity of the contour line drawing, than maybe because using the patterns does distort the picture a bit.