Sketch Artists, how many lines is necessary to capture a complicated face ?

[Tetrachloride]

Ordinary pen or pencil.

Looking for the general minimum to start. Samples welcome.

The reason i ask is to be prepared if I attend some festivals and if i talk to artists.

[Beastly Boy]

1. Not too many

But the fewer lines you use, the more difficult it becomes. At some point you literally need to be an effing genius to pull it off.

(That's Picasso's sketch below, next to the photo of the subject).

[Tetrachloride]

2. Ty. Roughly 30-40 in the Picasso example

anybody else with a sample ?

[Tanuki]

3. You might want to take a look at some of Al Hirschfield's celebrity

sketches. He had a gift for capturing someone in a few lines.

[Tetrachloride]

4. About 20 in some if we skip torso and limbs

https://www.pinterest.com/katsum/al-hirschfeld-caricatures/


Ty all. this answers the first round of this topic

[Trailrider1951]

5. This is the best example I know of. Here ya go:

This is the cover of Joni Mitchell's album "Ladies of the Canyon". Artwork by Ms. Mitchell.



Ms. Mitchell, sometime in the 1960's:

[Tetrachloride]

6. Ty. 15-20 is the general minimum from these examples.

My goal is to acquire illustrations which are not too
exact.

My strategy includes few lines.

Faces are an entirely different approach from my previous illustrated writings.