Capturing Ronda Rousey Laughing

Rowdy Ronda Rousey Laughing

Laughing Ronda Rousey
A portrait of Ronda Rousey Laughing. Made with charcoal.

I just did this drawing today, starting at home this morning and continued at a local Walmart while my wife was shopping for groceries.  I was out in the car with a drawing book, brush and charcoal(s).

I really enjoyed drawing this picture.  Mainly because it was a pretty picture of Ronda Rousey, but also I got to test out different charcoal colors.  The total time on the portait was bout an hour including the home time.

I like to use a pant brush when I work with Graphite and Charcoal.  I find it more gentil than using a blending stump.  Blending stumps and hard paper products like that, seem to be very abrasive and will flatting and damage the tooth surface of the paper.  They diffidently have their place.  I do use them from time to time.

I would like to say, I know Bob Ross likes to paint happy clouds.  I like to draw happy Ronda Rousy’s 🙂

I know this portrait may not look 100% like her, but I had fun making it anyway.  I’m not an expert, but I like to draw and have fun.

 

Materials Used

  • Multicolored Charcoal(s): Brown, Black and White
  • Gray Tone Paper – Fine Tooth
  • A paint brush for blending
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Rowdy Ronda Rousey – Art – First Portrait

Rowdy Ronda Rousey

Rowdy Ronda Rousey
My first attempt at drawing this beautiful deadly fighter.

What can I say, this Mix Martial Arts female champion has captured my attention.  She is as good looking as she is fierce.  Definitely not to be taken likely.  Like quote from Rocky III – “She is very hungry”.  My art education is influenced by life around me and she has influenced me to attempt to capture her may different sides.

She really seems to be a hard working person, no doubt about that.  I took Karate when I was a kid, believe it or not.  I was an orange belt, but nothing I learned can come close to her fighting style.  If I needed a body guard that is deceptive to the eye and can get the job done, she would be it.

The drawing took about an hour, I was in Greenbelt Maryland for the week.  At the hotel each night, I tried to find something to do.  I saw an HBO Sports special and saw her interview.  I was like “That’s my next subject!”, I began my journey into drawing her beauty and power.

I used black and white charcoal on Gray tone paper to draw her.  It was my first time using these materials.  Definitely trial by error.

Media Used

  • Charcoal Pencils (Black and White)
  • Gray Tone Paper, Fine Tooth
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Portrait of Patience 2 – Drawing – People – Women

Portrait of Patience - People - Women
A portrait of my friend of Patience with curly hair.
Patience - Source - Portrait
Patience Source Photo for her portrait

My friend Patience has been one of my sources for portrait drawings.  I am grateful for all my friends that allow me to attempt to capture them on paper.  I chose this picture from her gallery of photos.  Manly because of the bright smile, angle of the head and her current hair style.

This one I like better than the first, mainly because of the shading, halftone and highlights.  One of my friends noticed that some of the first portraits that I did, looked flat and not 3D.  My friend thought that it was because I was using photos as a resource vs drawing the subject in real life.  I believe she was right.  I was failing with obtaining the 3D effect because I was either shading the entire picture or missing out on the halftones and highlights.

The hardest part of drawing a human face is keeping the proportions and knowing how to make objects closer bigger and objects far away smaller.  Seems simple, but it was very hard for me.

The curly hair took time to complete.  I had to keep building the layers of graphite and using a kneeded eraser for pulling the highlights on the curls.  The blending was done with a brush and Tortillion.  The combination of a 2B and 8B were used to create the dark, shadows and halftones.

I have included the original photo so you can see my progress with my art education.  You can almost see a night and day difference.

Took about two hours to complete.  This is a rough estimate, I sketched her picture in sections off and on throughout the weekend.

Portrait Patience - Women - Drawing -Portrait
This was my first portrait of my friend Patience.

Materials Used

  • Graphite Pencils 2H, 2B, 5B, 8B
  • Tortillion
  • Paint brush

Time

2 Hours off and on

Model

Patience T.

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