September 1, 2021
This week we’ll consider making a painting or drawing a whole baby and suggest your subject is no more than one year old, or perhaps a better guideline would be between newborn and crawling, but not yet walking.
Babies have a tendency to thrash their limbs about when awake so it is often easier to work from photos but if you have a resident crawler, or baby that is starting to support himself do try and sketch from life, even if all that is achieved is a few hasty lines. This will help your observation and visual memory enormously. It will also help you to identify errors in more considered drawings at a very early stage.
However the easiest way with babies is to draw them while sleeping!
Do have a look at some of last week’s references again and perhaps practise drawing a few baby feet!
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/jhall1282/portraits/babies-and-infants-drawing-tips/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/jhall1282/portraits/babies-and-young-children/
If you you would like to why not try a parent or even a grandparent and baby painting. Mary Cassatt painted many of these and a few examples can be found at:
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/jhall1282/portraits/baby-and-parent/
Your paintings: