Baby or Old man?
Look back on many classic paintings of Madonna and child. The babies often look like miniature adults. And some would say that babies in medieval paintings look like ugly old men. I often wondered why this was, and this linked article has an explanation with a little humor in it.
Baby or Blob?
Recently I’ve read where some artists say they find it very difficult to draw babies. They say their attempts end up looking like blobs. I’m sure some wonder why this is as well. Perhaps it’s because babies don’t have very defined faces. I mean after all they are just at the beginning of growing into their inherited facial features. Their cheeks are still plump. Their noses are just a button of their future forms.
I picked up a box of brand new water soluble oil pastels and decided to play around with them drawing child and baby faces. An especially useful practice since I’m working on dummies involving both little kids and one with a baby. This is the first time I’ve used a product like this. I drew on paper designed for acrylics. The pastels felt sticky in hand but rolled on with ease and rubbed in and blended together wonderfully. The sample I’m posting I drew in about five minutes. Already I’ve decided I want to play around with them some more to see what all they can do. But I also wonder how well they will dry as they seem to retain that sticky smudgy feel. Not something I want to place on my scanner bed. I figured snapping a photo with my phone was a better option. I think my baby looks pretty cute. Not blob like at all.
Baby Yourself
I suggest more practice in drawing babies, especially with a loose hand and an eye for rounded shapes. The more you draw them and look at them the better you’ll become. If your baby looks super roundish, that’s because they truly are round and plump. Enjoy the process.
And remember to baby yourself. Don’t be critical of your prominent cheek bones or concave cheeks. Don’t despise your crooked, pointy or upturned nose. Be glad you have such amazing features. It’s taken you a long time to grow into them, you should be proud of how individual you are. You wouldn’t want to just stay at that early roundish plump stage that artists have a tough time drawing. You want a drawing of you to look like you, not a blob. Right?