DrawWithMike.net

Hi Everyone. I am in need of a little advise if you may be kind enough to offer some suggestions
For the 2nd time I have watched Mike's 'Magic Stage' video. I love it. It opens up the world of art through ideas. But - yes there is a but! - I am in need of confirmation that I am on the right track with my latest project:
I found a lovely graphite picture of a cowgirl. Her face and smile seemed to be quite sad, so searching online for a similar smile I began to try and merge the line drawing with the new found smile. But it just doesn't look right and I am trying to figure out to where my wonderful idea was going wrong?
I also looked at the material of a cowgirl's hat online and studied this; leather, cowhide to name a couple.
Thank you for your time reading this and I am open to any suggestions that may be of help.
From Andrew in Bath
PS. Just to confirm the drawings:
1. Is my drawing
2. Is the new found smile!
3. Is the reference drawing that gave me the idea

I'll have to be brief today, but.... That was an excellent idea! And you've almost pulled it off.

In this case, I'd really want to play around with the reference first. And - just in case you did - Never experiment in your drawing!

I took your reference and placed it as closely as I could over your drawing, which is a tad stretched vertically.

Then I placed the face of the donor smile on top, sized and positioned it to match, and reduced it to greyscale. They have completely different face shapes, so I lined up the centres of the eye and mouth in both cases. The ear didn't quite sit right, but it was at least the same size.

I repositioned the mouth until the top lips coincided. Then, using a large soft brush, I deleted all the donor face bit by bit until just the mouth, facial crease, and her chin remained. I think that looks OK - although it's like neither girl, but that was to be expected. Do you have Photoshop or Affinity Photo? You can play around with the various layers by downloading the layers I was working with here:
https://sibleyfineart.com/_members-area ... owgirl.zip
That contains 3 copies:
Photoshop
Affinity Photo 2 and
Affinity Photo 3

I think there are two important "clues" you have to include to achieve a smile:
The facial crease up towards the nose and, more importantly, an UPWARD HOOK AT THE CORNER OF THE MOUTH. And, in this case, that facial crease or dimple, does that job for us. I used that trick a lot in my dog portraits. The tiniest hint ALWAYS reads as a friendly grin;

Mike, you are brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! You have been kind enough to devote your time in forwarding me some great suggestions.
Yes, sure, it is early days for my art drawing skills to develop. And yes I have no doubt that there will be good and some not so good days. But I will persevere and be patient.
Thank you again for your support and also the information about Photoshop and Affinity Photos... both of which I will check out over coming days.
Stay well Mike.
From Andrew in Bath
PS. Mike, you wrote the words 'Never play around in your own drawing'. My mind tells me that there is one of your videos about this. I think swapping a ladies smile with another also. I cannot remember which video it was, but it was beneficial and I would like to view it again... if I could remember which one?!

I'll get back to you - just fixed a serious water leak in the barn after everything thawed this evening! It never rains but it pours... literally!

Take a look at AFFINITY PHOTO 3. It's now FREE to download (unless you want to add Canva... and you don't need that).

Andyart67 wrote: Tue Jan 06, 2026 10:07 pm ...you wrote the words 'Never play around in your own drawing'. My mind tells me that there is one of your videos about this. I think swapping a ladies smile with another also. I cannot remember which video it was, but it was beneficial and I would like to view it again... if I could remember which one?!

I had the same problem... I really must find time to build an INDEX!

But I found it - in the intro to Negative Space: NEGATIVE SPACE: INTRO.