A Bani Thani Style Potrait

This portrait is painted in the typical style of the Kishangarh school of Indian miniature painting. Kishangarh itself is a small town in Rajasthan, approx. one hundred kms. from Jaipur.

The lady in this portrait is Bani Thani, and has an interesting story behind her:

King Sawant Singh (1748-1764), the seventh ruler of Kishangarh, was an accomplished poet and artist in his own right. It so transpired that his stepmother employed a young girl as a singer in her palace. She came to the notice of Sawant Singh who fell in love with her. Her real name is not known, but she came to be called Bani Thani, which means smart and well-dressed. She was a beautiful girl who also professed interest in Hindi poetry. She became Sawant Singh's mistress. It is conjectured that the bloom of her youth and beauty not only roused unholy thoughts in the hearts of men who saw her, but also provided inspiration to the Kishangarh artists to whom credit is given for the invention of the Kishangarh facial formula.

Bani Thani here is portrayed with an elongated face, arched eyebrows, lotus-like eyes tinged with pink, a sharp nose and a pointed chin. Obviously, it is an idealization, for no woman would have such eyes, here we notice a resemblance with the technique of the Kangra painters. It is not the beauty of a single person, but the ideal beauty which the artist paints. It is based on the ideal type given in the Sanskrit love poetry, viz. 'Padmakshi' or lotus-eyed. It represents the Rajput ideal of feminine beauty at its best. Those who delight in parallels call her the Indian Mona Lisa. Her face is delicate and refined, more like that of a courtesan. Her eyebrows are curved like a bow. Her neck is decorated with necklaces of pearls and precious stones. She has draped herself in a transparent wrap which greatly enhances her charm. Which woman of today would not envy her dreamy eyes, her shapely nose, her fastidious lips, the glamour of her clothes and ornaments, and, above all, her seductive charm?

Pastel

Pastels are simple to make, ground pigments; soot, chalk or earth are bound together with gum Arabic to form sticks, these can be used for drawing. More complex organic materials are used to make different colours, but basically the production of pastels has remained unaltered since the fifteenth century.

Popular in the eighteenth century, artists specialised in the 'pastel painting' of portraits, for example Francis Cotes. Paper would be collaged onto prepared canvases and used as a more durable support for these fragile works. The high content of chalk as a base for pastels means that it can be easily smudged and smoothed, producing convincing and subtle three-dimensional effects. Drawings need to be sprayed with a fixative in order to prevent further movement on the surface, but not for too long else the particular powdery and translucent quality of the pastels is deadened.

Portrait Drawing Techniques for Children (Ages 9-12)

Today, looking for an interestung information about Portrait Drawing Techniques, I foun an interesting article, that was written by Tara Scott. I'd like to introduce this article to you. May be it will helps you in future.

"What would you think if I told you that children as young as age 9 years old can be taught how to draw realistic portraits of people? Impossible? You may think because of their age they haven’t fully graduated from drawing animation characters, and using color markers, and construction paper. Yes, your child can learn how to draw realistic people portraits using the (five tones of shading, a high quality black and white photo, 8″ x 11″ plastic acetate sheet grid, gridded 8″ x 11″ drawing paper, and a 1/2″ square viewfinder). By using these basic drawing techniques and drawing materials your child will be able to draw a realistic portrait within two hours without taking any previous drawing lessons from an instructor, or ever picking up a sketching pencil and drawing paper.

Are you still puzzled? I was, and I am still puzzled today. I was an independent Art Teacher teaching at Michael’s Art and Crafts, located in Waldorf, MD on Saturday’s. I noticed in my area a lack of art classes available for children ages (5-12). Most of the art instructors taught art to individuals ages 13 to adults. But know one wanted to teach the younger children, or it was hard to find an art teacher close by who would have the patience to teach younger kids, because of their short attention span.

I thought to myself. If a child can learn how to draw animals, landscapes, and animation characters using basic shapes such as a (circle, straight line, angle, curve, and square). They can apply these shapes to draw a realistic portrait of a person. I started reading articles on the Internet and other reference materials on how children learn how to read, write, and draw. I then incorporated my research into a six-week portrait drawing workshop for children ages (9-12).

I learned when a child learns how to read, write, and draw, everything is upside down, or right to left. In other words, they read from right to left instead of left to right. Instead of drawing right side up like adults do. A child will turn their photo upside down to draw, like they are looking in a mirror were everything is in reverse. So I came up with a fun and creative portrait drawing workshop by combining children’s games, 5, 10, 15 minute drawing time drills, grid line drawing, light and shadowing or toning, upside down reverse drawing, etc . I had to think like a child, and reverse the way I was taught how to draw into the way a child learns how to draw.

For example, by the fourth week of classes the students were ready for time drills. You say time drills that sounds like they are in military school. Not quite, time drills helps the student to focus on the shapes, expression, and movement of the subject without using shading. The basics of this technique is to remind the students to draw the subject exactly the way they see it without stopping. The students were given a cartoon character to draw in five minutes such as Mickey Mouse or any cartoon character. I would tell them not to rush because five minutes is a long time. Some students finished sketching the character in less than three minutes. If they finished before the five minutes were up they could go back for the two additional minutes to correct their mistakes and erase out unnecessary lines. The students would do this exercise for one hour alternating between (five to fifteen minutes time drills) sketching as many as six drawings or more.

Another great exercise is the upside down reverse drawing. The students were given a 8″ x 10″ black and white photo, a plastic acetate gridded sheet, and 8″ x 11″ gridded paper. The students were instructed to turn the photo upside down, place the plastic acetate gridded sheet on top of the photo. What they are now seeing is the photo divided into (8) 1″ squares (horizontally), and (11) 1″ squares (vertically). The number of squares on the acetate gridded sheet, should be the same number of squares on the gridded paper. Instead of focusing on the photo the students are now focusing on the shapes, and tones of the subject in each square. The purpose of this exercise is for the students to draw and shade in the shapes exactly how they see it in each square. In other words, its like playing connect the lines, or connect the dots. Once the exercise is completed they now have a portrait of a person with the right placement of the eyes, ears, nose, mouth without spending time making corrections. All of the corrections of the portraits can now be finalized by turning the paper right side up and erasing unnecessary lines and heavy shading.
You may think that you need years of drawing experience to draw a realistic portrait. However, I found that to be false. I have taught students with no drawing experience, and some with a few years of drawing experience. Anyone with the desire to want to learn how to draw can do it. The three key points to remember is:

1) Patience - Go at your own pace. Do not compare yourself to other artists, or you will get frustrated and want to quit.

2) Technique and Style - Everyone has their own unique style. Choose a media or medias that you feel comfortable using. For instance, if you like using oil painting, but feel uneasy about exploring with watercolors. Stick to the oil painting.

3) Practice - I always say this to my students. Practice makes perfect. Then practice again and again."