I find it very difficult to draw young people. Their faces tend to be very smooth and unformed, this is exacerbated by the way that they are reproduced in the mafia ( actually this should read media but the predictive text on the iPad substituted this for mafia – seems somewhat apt!). So back to the point me and the young face. I love the older face because, well, it has more of the world about it. A drawing or painting is always going to be a two way exploration and there is more to explore with the older face.

Here is a case in point – Emma Watson. This is based on a rather appalling photo on the front of the Radio Times. This photo is really washed out, partly photoshop but mainly the way it has been captured – close in with a ring flash – just flushes all the life out. So I have had a stab at the drawing and it works in part but in not in others and this is down to the young face having none of the trials of life scratched across it. Of course this is also my inner Victor being let loose and I am having, what my wife calls, a grump. Well why not I’m reaching the age when I am entitled to be a grumpy old man.

Sent from my iPad