Zeichnen von fotorealistischen Porträts mit Bleistiften

1. Introduction: A wanted to make your portrait drawings look exactly like photos to showcase a full range of beautifully rich, saturated tones and soupy smooth skin blends drawings that just radiate depth and personality. Hi, my name is Shane, a professional portrait artist based in the UK. I run my own commission based art business where I help clients recreate heartwarming moments by drawing photo realistic portraiture of their loved ones. Yeah, I love this style of drawing and for the last several years, I've been honing my craft, dedicating almost every day to researching, learning, and practicing the skills necessary to produce such quality in my drawings. Over the years, I've developed a specific layering process that uses graphite carbon and charcoal pencils together to showcase a full range of beautifully rich values with exceptional results, which if you're familiar with using graphite pencils, we'll know is impossible to do. So within this class, I want to teach you all the skills, knowledge, tips, and techniques that I use to create photorealistic drawings for your portraits. It's my intention to help you understand the process of layering, blending, and smoothing out all the different pencil compositions whilst maintaining a consistency in tone. Along with this, I hope to convey how important patience is when trying to achieve realism. We'll be covering things like what makes a great reference photo and how to transfer to paper how to achieve a full range of values using only pencils. When exactly to transition through different pencil compositions, prepare to share your final portrait and so much more. There's even several small but fun tasks to help you build confidence before we begin, not only will this class teach students how to create stunning photorealistic portraiture, but it will also provide students with the knowledge and confidence to use a full range of values in any form of pencil art. You will learn how to observe and recreate details that help achieve realism and authenticity. A skill set that actually translates beyond the portrait and pencil drawing, but is relevant practice for lots of visual arts. I've done my best to make this class as comprehensive as possible, so it's suitable for not only beginner to intermediate students, but also experienced artists looking to add to the skill set. So without further ado, I want to wish you all the very best of luck. Grab your pencils and let's get cracking. 2. Class Orientation: Yes. Hey, guys. Thank you so much for enrolling in the class. It's lovely to see here. Whether you're a beginner or have a little more experience, there'll be bundles for you to learn, I'm sure. If you're a complete beginner, please try not to feel overwhelmed. I've kept you in mind throughout the whole process and have included little projects along the way to help you gain confidence before the main project itself. Furthermore, the main class project is split into many small segments so you can enjoy the process without becoming overwhelmed. So, the main class project is to draw a photo realistic portrait using the reference photo provided in class resources. So you may choose an image of your own and apply the same techniques taught within this class. I chose this particular image as it has a few elements that will really help your drawings stand out whilst not being overly complicated. We have a four ng of values, soft and hard elements, for example, in and out of focus, and some relatively easy detailing. Before we commence, we'll need to get ourselves some equipment. The following class will go into this in much more detail. I've added PDFs in the resources have below this video to print tail for easy reference. I've listed all the items that I use in the PDF. You're welcome to take this class without investing in them all. However, some are essential if you want to get the most out of this realism class. I've separated the materials in order of priority as unmindful that some students may not have the budget to purchase everything straightaway. A few things to aim for as you go through the class would be solid even tones, smooth skin transitions between light and dark value and keeping certain areas appearing in and out of focus as per the reference photo. And the most important of all is keeping all values in harmony with one another throughout the whole portrait. It's possible to take a photo of each project and upload them to your class project page for feedback answer. Each student gets one project page per class, but on that page, they are able to upload all the projects within the class along with text. There's even space for a thumbnail photo at the very top of the page where you can add a drawing from the class that you're most proud of. The thumbnail picture is what will appear on the main class page for everyone else to see. Students can press on a thumbnail picture, which will open your projects page to show all the wonderful drawings you made throughout the class. So before we move on to the next lesson, some encouragement for you. Now are 2.5 years between these two drawings. My journey was self taught, so it took me a very long time to figure everything out. Completing this project along with me will speed up your learning process immensely. Even more so if you create a daily drawing habit. Drawing daily will be so beneficial for your journey, and over a relatively short period of time, this practice will become a habit. You'll notice a shift in your attitude towards drawing after a few weeks and actually start to miss a day without it. I hope you're as excited as I am to get started. I have bundles to show you. The next class will cover materials and equipment and will take you through my whole setup. So have a think about your space and your setup and try to imagine all of your tools displayed in such a way that everything is easy to find so everything will flow during the process. Yeah. 3. Workspace & Materials: So during this lesson, we're going to run through my complete workstation setup. We'll cover all the materials and learning what goes where, there'll be tips and demonstrations, all sorts of goodies. Things like what kind of paper do we use for realism? What pencils do we use to get those stunning deep blacks, blending tools, types of brushes, all the different erasers, and much, much more. Okay, so let's have a little look at this setup and see what's going on. I have all my pencils stored away in the drawers, charcoal pencils to the right, and graphite sets to the left. The easel is smack bang in the center with a mole stick and clamps to hold the paper for if I use a different easel. The mole stick I made myself, which you'll get a closer look at in a bit. And I don't trust sticky tape anymore, is it can rip your paper and leave residue, which is a bugger to get rid of and which you only know about when you go to cover it with graphite at the end. Have the pencil sharpeners, blending tools, and enable erasers at the front of desk and all working pencils and brushes standing upright, spaced out and in order in a clear plastic holder. Also, some other bits and pieces like mechanical pencils, more brushes, more erasers, and battery erasers in the pot back right behind that beautiful plastic plant. My ipad sits on the screen at the back as does some kitchen roll. But you can secure your phone to the easel with one of the clamps if you don't have an iPad or do yourself a reference photo printout. I keep my ruler and homemade value scale chart on the right hand side, and above that is the bubble wrap to cover my portrait when I'm not working, so I don't accidentally spit coffee all over it again, my camera rig and ring light for overhead demos. And I always keep some kitchen roll and paper close to hand, kitchen roll to wipe away excess dark value from a brush and paper to try out drawing techniques if I'm not quite sure how they'll look. And voila, that's pretty much it. Oh, the plastic plants are just for you. Mm. I think the most important consideration when choosing paper for realism is the texture or lack of it. I always look for super smooth paper. This really helps with all those tiny little details like the corners of the eyes, et cetera. Generally, I use two papers when I draw. They're both fairly similar in weight and smoothness and are both fantastic papers to use. The first paper, and the one that I'll be using for this class is the Strathmore Bristol Smooth, a 300 series paper. At 100 pound weight, it's a good weight paper for professional use and has a wonderfully smooth surface. I'll be using a nine by 12 inch. The second the arches hot press watercolor paper. Hot press, by the way, is a term used for smooth surface in the watercolor world. It blends graphite unbelievably easy, which does help with the smoothness of value transitions. However, the Strathmo bristle smooth is so smooth that you get a fantastic finish with no visible texture. Therefore, no grainy finish. Be careful not to purchase a vellum surface, so as they look identical, vellum has a medium texture. Although I love blending with arches, I think the Strathmo probably just tipped as my favorite because of the smooth finish it provides. Okay, so on to pencils, I use three types of pencils when I draw with graphite. They all perform slightly differently on paper and are essential for me to achieve a full range of values. They are the Sedler Mars lumograph blue graphite only pencil range. I use four H through to five B from this set. I bought the two H to eight B set with an additional four H add on. Then there's a Stedlar Mars lumographblack, graphite and carbon mixed pencil range. I use a four range of six pencils from this set, HB through to eight B. And the conti Paris pier noir, three B charcoal pencil, it's quite difficult to find a charcoal pencil that you can use on top of graphite, but the conti works wonderfully well. Something to note about the Stetlers, the black range of graphite carbon mixed pencils behave slightly differently on paper than the graphite only ones. They do not blend and smooth out as easily as the graphite only, so we need to make sure that we use unbelievably light pressure, especially with the darker values from this set. Sometimes it feels like it's just a weighted pencil alone touching the paper. They're also not as forgiving as the graphite only pencils and do not lift as well, so we need to bear this in mind with regard to pressure in case of mistakes. On to pencil sharpeners. I use two types of pencil sharpeners, the Jacar brass double hull wedge shaped sharpener for the stdlers and the conti pari wooden sharpener for the conti. The conti Charcoal pencil is slightly thicker than the others, so this sharpener is ideal. I always have three sets of brushes on hand when drawing, a soft bristle, medium bristle, and a stiff bristle. I prefer getting them in sets as all the different sizes do come in handy for different parts of the portrait. I have a soft makeup brush set by Bestop. They're just a generic brand bought cheaply from Amazon. I have the master touch reflex Filbert brush set. They're a medium stiffness brush, and the Dala Rowney Georgian short filbert brush set, which is a stiff brush set. Also use a following as I find it really good for blending. I use this brush extensively. It's a generic brand called eig show. If you can't find this one, then a similar soft, short shaded iron makeup brush will do. None of these brushes are expensive and they don't really need to be brand names. The main thing is that you have varying degrees of stiffness as they all play their part. We have some additional blending equipment here. You can grab a box of soft tissue or lou role. I normally fold this to a point and use circular motions when blending. If you go back and forth in a straight line, you'll probably end up making darker patches at every change of direction. Cotton pads do a great job. Try to also use in circular motion whenever you can whilst using these. We have two types of cotton buds here, rounded and pointed. The pointed ones can be good to have laying around for detailing and blending tiny areas. And finally, dent blending stumps are great to use as they are a little softer than most. Some of the generic stumps can be too hard, and I find that they do not blend quite as well. Whatever you decide to get, at the very least, we'll be needing soft tissue, rounded cotton buds, and the dent stumps. Oh Okay, so let's take a look at some erasers and how best to use them. I use several different erasers when drawing? All have a part to play and are needed for different jobs during the process. The kable putty eraser by Faber Castle, you may not realize it yet, but this simple thing will become your best friend. I'm constantly using this to help create those super smooth skin blends. Sometimes you get unintentional dark marks caused by graphite buildup. I'll use this eraser to make a point and gently dab the area to lift up the graphite and then re blend to create a smooth finish. It can even be used to create different effects or textures like a mottled background, for example. Mono zero eraser is a pencil eraser with replaceable two millimeter rubber leads. This tool is so important for creating things like fine strands of hair, the patterns of the iris, and even skin paws. You can use a craft knife or scissors and make a diagonal cut to get a really sharp edge. But for speed, I just run it along the sandpaper block at an angle. The T u battery powered eraser is another great tool for detailing. I use the sandpaper block once again to bring the tip to a fine point. This is great for pores of the skin and those tiny highlights around the eyes and the lips, et cetera. It's also the best tool to erase errors if needed. And finally, we have the curry naw and Faber castle pencil erasers. They're fairly similar, albeit the curry now has a slightly softer rubber. Both are great for detailing and to lightly bring up a layout or two of graphite. It's good to have both at hand, but if you only want to get one, then I'd recommend the Curnw. I have an artist's sandpaper block sitting by my easel. This comes in handy for things like sharpening the mono zero eraser, sharpening the Tehu battery powder eraser, cleaning your blending stumps. And you can even make some powder from your pencils to use for detailing with your cotton buds or stumps, et cetera. I always give my finished portraits a couple of coats of Windsor and Newton fixative spray for protection. I find using a male stick a really convenient way of eradicating finger and palm smudges on your work. It just hooks over the top of your easel if you're using one. I made it very easily using a strip of wood, a couple of screws, and a bracket, which I bent, or you can just use a sheet of paper. And a few extra items that may come in handy, but not absolutely necessary for this class. So we've covered all the materials that we'll need during this lesson, but smooth paper, the correct blending tools and the different pencil compositions needed to achieve a full range of values are the three main ingredients needed for creating realism. So as we close out this lesson, it's time for you to gather all your materials, set up your space, and get everything ready for when we start drawing. I look forward to seeing you in the next lesson where we'll learn all about value and contrast and how important they are to your drawings. I'll see you there. 4. Understanding Value & Contrast: Hi, there. I'm welcome back. During this lesson, I'd like to talk a little bit about the importance of value and contrast and how clever manipulation of both can have subtle but striking effects on your portrait. Okay, so, what exactly is value in relation to art? Well, value is an element of art associated with the relationship between light and dark. Essentially, how light or dark something is on a scale of white to black. Good drawing and rendering skills will use differences in value to help create an illusion of depth. Artists are able to create the illusion of light using different tonal values. Clever gradations of tone also referred to as value are used to create light and dark areas to give a three dimensional illusion of form to the subject matter being drawn. The bigger the range of values, the deeper and more realistic the drawing will look, as you can see here? So, amongst other techniques, value can be carefully manipulated and used to create a focal point within a drawing, which leads us to contrast, the more tonal variance in an image, the lower the contrast, whereby higher contrast images have fewer tonal values in between strong values like black and white. That's why reference photos with dramatic lighting can look unbelievably good as drawings as the lightest areas sit side by side the darkest areas. Contrast is achieved, posing visual elements are arranged in juxtaposition to create meaning and intensify the characteristics of the work. There are quite a few techniques of contrast that can be applied to art to make something stand out. For example, you have dark and light elements, warm and cool colors, colors that are opposite each other on a color wheel, textures, hard and soft shapes, for example, focus and unfocused areas and detail. Even opposing subject matter can create emotion, as we can see here in this banksy mule. Like value, contrast can add depth and dimension to a work of art and enhance certain areas to direct the viewer's eye. If you take a look at the following image, you'll be able to notice how the artist has used a varying tonal range to separate the foreground from the background, thus given the illusion of depth. They've used high contrast in values, for example, a strong white next to a deep black to emphasize and draw your eyes to the books in the foreground and a lower contrast in tonal range, white next to gray for background books. Subjects stand out when contrasting with the surroundings. So one can use high contrast in values to emphasize parts of the drawing. That you'll want to draw the two and low contrast in values to a dimension, foreground and background. It doesn't matter the type of art you're creating. As long as they are dark values in harmony with light values, your portrait will most likely look aesthetically pleasing. Okay, so now you know how important a role value and contrast can play in art. And we've seen how both of these elements can be used and manipulated within a piece of art to make certain areas stand out or to direct the audience's eye. Armed with your new knowledge, try finding some art that inspires you and see whether your eyes are drawn to a particular place within that piece, or if anything seems to pop off the page and see if you can figure out why that is. And next lesson is all about what makes a fantastic reference photo to draw from. Once you learn this little bit of knowledge, you'll already be halfway to creating beautiful portraiture. I'll catch you there. 5. Choosing a Reference Image: Welcome back people. During this lesson, I'd like to talk about some of the elements that I look for when trying to find a reference photo to draw or try to incorporate. If drawing a commission, there can be quite a few things to consider that will really help give your portrait that extra pop. I think it will be good for you to understand them if you want to take your drawings to the next level. Things like how important the full range of values are in relation to realism. How light value next to dark value can really make your drawing dramatic lighting, shallow depth of field effect reflections, and reflective materials and shadows. Okay, in the previous lesson, we already covered how important the full range of values are in relation to realism. And how light values next to dark values can help make our drawing pop. And how this translates to reference photos with dramatic lighting. So there's no need to explain in detail again here. But some of the things that I look out for when choosing an image to draw are the shallow depth of field effect, which means some of the image will be out focused and blurred and some sharp. This would allow us to see firsthand how this simple technique will really help create depth between the foreground and background and draw the viewer's eye to the face. It will also help us think in layers, enable us to see the effect of different background and foreground layer can have briefly explained. This pertains to how much of an area is in focus within a field of view in front of the camera. Lens depth of field is the area of acceptable sharpness in front of and behind the subject matter to which the lens is focused. Let's imagine that you were looking through a camera at your subject and there was a wall behind your subject. The broadest depth of field would be the distance from the camera lens to the wall. Your subject will be positioned somewhere in between. And everything in view through the camera will be in focus. If you only wanted to keep your subject in focus and anything in front of or behind your subject blurry, you would change the aperture setting on your camera to close the amount of field that's in focus, Making it shallower and shallower until only your subject was in focus. If we were to use this technique on a smaller scale, like a head, you would change the aperture so that only the face was in focus. So anything in front of or behind the face, like hair or shoulders, for example, would be blurry. This subtle change in technique within a drawing can look stunning. Reflections or reflective material can also add a really interesting element to a drawing and trick the eye to thinking a drawing as a real photo. Reflections on glasses are great for this, as is a reflective material on this coat. Jewelry is another interesting facet to look out for for the same reason. Shadows are another great way to add depth to your drawing and can really catapult your image off the page. They can be on a wall behind the subject, as you can see here in this stunning drawing by Kelvin Oquefor. They can be over the face or even under the chin, for example, which will help frame the face. Something to be aware of. When choosing an image to draw, however, is under or over exposure, you do not want this. If you take a look at the following images, you'll notice that there aren't a huge R values in either of them. This will translate to your drawing and it will just end up looking flat and lifeless. Okay, so we now have a greater understanding of what elements help make a great reference photo. They may seem small things in essence, but can have dramatic effects when drawn and really help give your portrait the well factor. For our main class project, we'll be drawing the provided reference image that's in resources. But I'd like you to practice finding good reference images to use in the future. And the more you do this, the greater your understanding of what makes good portraiture will be. So go ahead and find as many reference images as you like and save them to use for your next portrait, where you can apply everything you've learned in this class to your own unique image. Feel free to share your reference images with me in the discussion on this class page, as I'm sure all of your fellow students will be really interested to see what you can find and I can give you some feedback on your options if you like. In the following lesson, we'll be making our very own value scale chart. Learning how important this piece of kit is and why it's important for us to make our own. I can't wait to see you there. 6. Making a Value Scale Chart: Hey guys, welcome back. We have a fantastic lesson for you Today, you'll be using your pencils and blending tools to make your very own value scale chart. Although a relatively simple exercise to complete this chart will become an essential part of your everyday work as a portrait artist and speed up your proficiency in determining value immensely. In time, you'll have a much quicker understanding of what value is needed at any given point. This particular lesson is important for two reasons. Firstly, we'll be using the same pencils as we used throughout the class, so you'll have your first taste of how they behave on paper. And secondly, you'll have a value chart with an authentical value reference to your medium. You can buy a cheap one online, but it'll be much more beneficial to you if you make your own. Using the medium you're working with, Your eyes can sometimes play tricks on you when trying to ascertain a value. So I find it helpful to have a value scale which represents a true reflection of the medium I'm using. If you pause on the following image for a little while, you'll see exactly what I mean. Okay, so let's get cracking with the first project. I've included the image on screen now in the Resources tab below video, so you can easily refer to it when completing the project. In it includes all the information you'll need to complete the charts. For example, all measurements and pencil grades along with the pencil grade layers in sequence. We'll be using pencils four H to five B from the blue graphite only, Std, lar range, and H B to eight B from the black carbon graphite mixed stedlarrange. We'll also be needing our conte three charcoal pencil, cotton bud and a brush. I use the Georgian Short Filbert number six brush by day roundy. So the idea with this project is to use very soft pencil strokes, then blend to a smooth saturated finish. Using the blending tools, it's okay to use different directional strokes. The important things to remember are to always apply very light pressure and to get an even cover with each layer. Before blending, we'll be adding three to four layers of value to each box. Blending each layer as we go. This will saturate the paper and create a solid tone. Okay, so I'm just marking out the lines for the chart here. Each rectangular box is 1.9 centimeters across and 3.5 centimeters down with an additional 1 centimeter at the bottom for space to write the pencil grades in. We'll be starting light to dark. As if we go dark to light, we run the risk of darker values seeping into the lighter value during blending. As I mentioned earlier, we want to use really soft pressure here to create an even layer of graphite before smoothing out. It's okay to use different directional strokes as they will all blend together nicely when using the cotton bud. Using different directional strokes will help keep your graphite layer even. You can use slightly more pressure on the second and third layers, but it's still very, very light. We use several layers of light pressure instead of one layer of hard pressure because we're trying to simulate the effect we get when drawing as this will give us the best value match for a scale. Okay, I'm happy with this layer. It's the same value all over with no uneven dark patches. So I think it's time to blend out. I'm using a tissue here, but you'll notice in a minute that I swapped back to the cotton bud as I didn't want to run the risk of smudging darker value onto the value in the lighter boxes. Don't forget to add several layers in each box whilst we build to our desired value. Smoothing out with each layer, this will help you achieve that saturated tone, which is ultimately what we're looking for, a nice, solid, saturated skin tone. Try to make sure that each new box is just ever so slightly darker than the previous box. You'll get a chance at the end to go back across them all to make sure you have all the boxes even liquidated. You'll know when it's time to move on to the next box. Because after a few layers, you'll start needing to apply heavier pressure, which we don't want to do when you can't see it getting any darker. After about three layers and it's a solid tone, then you can move on to the next box. So remember under all the Stadler black pencils, we lay down the five B from the Stadler blue range first. This acts as a sort of an undercoat to help keep the tonality between the two pencil sets. Otherwise, I find applying the black range straight to the paper without the five B blue underneath can look too stark compared to the graphite. Only pencils also remember, use the lightest of pressure with a black set and try not to leave any visible lines before smoothing out. You'll see me smoothing out the Stadler blacks soon using the Daly aly, Georgian Filbert brush. It's a stiff brush which is good for this pencil set as it gets right in amongst the black lead to blend it altogether. Tissue doesn't really do the trick as they don't blend as well as the graphite. Only blue pencils, you can use medium to hard pressure for this during the process. We wouldn't always go from the five to eight B black pencil in one go. In most cases we'll have a few more grades in between to help with smoothness and transition. Last two boxes consists of first layer, the five blue pencil range, second layer the eight from the black pencil set, and the last box, an additional layer of Conte three B charcoal pencil. I'm now going back over to make sure that I have even gradations between the lightest and darkest values. You'll notice that there's quite a big jump in value 2-4 B blue. I want to make that as evenly gradated as the rest. Be careful not to blend light value using the brush that you've just used and it's still got darker value on it, wipe it off onto a tissue before blending. Now it's your turn, create a value reference chart to use for this project. Once completed, use it to try to determine what sort of value you think is needed for different areas of the reference photo. For example, the forehead may have several different values. You may need a full H for the lighter side or HB grade in the middle, and the shady side may need your darkest value. The quanti charcoal pencil. As I mentioned previously, the name of the game here is to make the value blocks in your chart as smooth as possible and to have even gradations between white and black. For our next lesson, we'll be learning how to transfer our outline to paper. I'll catch you. 7. Transferring Outline: Hey guys, welcome back. During this lesson, I'm going to show you a couple of easy ways to transfer your reference image outline to paper. If you'd like to freehand your outline, then please go right ahead. Freehand practice is beyond the scope of this particular class, but I always encourage daily freehand drawing as it's a fantastic skill to acquire and one that will get better and better than what you practice. You'll be amazed at how much you improve with a daily practice in just one month, okay? So let's start with a trace method. If you have access to printer, then this will be the easiest way for you to transfer your outline to paper. Just normal printer, paper is best, the thinner, the better. If you don't have access to a printer, then the grid method that's coming up in a moment will be perfect for you. I think it'll be a good idea if we outlined the blending page first. If this is your first time transferring an outline, then it'll be good practice for when we get to the main portrait itself. It's pretty easy to do and we'll be needing it for the upcoming blending lesson anyway. First of all, we want to print out our subject. Make sure you set your printer to use the entire four sheet with no border. A good tip to remember is that if you ever feel your image print out was too dark and maybe you're having trouble seeing important lines, then try lifting the brightness a bit on your phone before printing. Then grab your five B Steadler blue pencil and completely cover the back side of the printout with graphite. Make sure not to leave any gaps. We will then want to securely attach our printout over our Strathmore paper. A clamp of some sort is best, but if you don't have any clamps, then low tach tape will do. Just be mindful that some tapes leave residue. So, try to cover as little of your Strathmore paper as possible. We'll be okay with this image as it's not 100% four size. We have space to secure at the top and bottom, then outline as follows. So when it's time to outline a class portrait, just follow the same procedure and you'll be fine. Although I should point out, pay extra attention to important areas like the corners of the eyes and lips, et cetera. We want to be mindful that we're not overloading those areas with too many lines. As it can become confusing. There's a time lapse of me making my outline. Next I'll talk you through which lines are make y here I'm making any pattern lines. I can see on the jumper, I'm not marking every bit of detail. I'll see just the main lines that will help me keep track with regards to value changes and detail during the rendering process, marking out block value changes on the neck area. Here, try to look at areas in a portrait as a whole to see if you can spot values in blocks rather than independent lines in here. Try to mark out the hair strands at a point where value changes. Don't worry too much about the loose strands of hair as you can add these during the drawing process if I'm drawing busy here. Like curls, I'll make a point of shading in some of the dark patches as it helps separate all the lines. I block out the brows and then add a few brow directional lines. I'll add a few light lines at the top of the hair to remind me where the light changes with the eyes. Make sure you trace the corners perfectly. Try not to overload these areas with too many lines as it can be confusing when drawing. Now blocking out the shaded right side of the face, you can see the shade line running from the parting in the hair at the top down to the chin onto the lips. Like the eyes. Pay attention and mark exactly where the corners of the lips are and make sure the teeth are perfect. The eyes and smile are the most important areas of any portrait. Now adding some lashes, pupil and highlights of the iris. If you're struggling with the nose, try to focus on just putting the line of the nostrils in and then this avocado shape here. If you can find and mark out that shape, it'll really help with all the value changes around this area when rendering. Okay, So now I want to transfer all those lines to my paper. You notice that the four H pencil is sharp, but I'm using it at an angle so not to make any indentations on the paper below. I'm constantly lifting the paper to double check the pressure and also that my lines are being transferred. If you're using the grid method, I recommend downloading the drawing grid app. It's free and really easy to use. Just upload your image, change the amount of squares you'd like to use, change the line width to one pixel. You can change the color of your lines and even add numbers if it helps measure out the lines on your Strathmore paper so they correspond to the ones in the drawing Grid app. And you're good to go one more thing. When you're ready to outline the reference photo, you should be thinking about finding lines that separate changes in value, Direction of hair, direction of thread patterns closes, et cetera. Also looking at the portrait as a whole and trying to find value changes in blocks. We can focus on the detail within those blocks later whilst drawing. For example, look at the face first for block lines, then the hair, then the portrait as a whole. Try to determine at which points the light source changes to shadow across the whole portrait. So to recap, we've learned to try and view values in blocks as opposed to independent lines. We've also learned how to trace our image. Just remember to set your printer to use a whole four paper with no border and to use thin photocopy paper and a hard four H pencil to draw the outline. I've shown you which lines to make and explain why we need to pay extra attention to the corners of the eyes and lips. Also the best way to attack the nose. We covered the best way to use a grid method. The bonus of using this method is that you're not restricted to an A four size printout. So in the future, if you work out new measurements, you can use this method to fit the width of any size paper you choose. If adding the numbers on your grid, you only need to add the top line and one line at whichever side suits you, and not for every box inside the grid. Now I'd like for you to decide which method you'll use and outline the blending page that I uploaded in resources. Ready for the exciting lesson we have coming up next, which is blending practice. We're going to be drawing a few shapes and creating some super smooth value transitions. This practice will really come in handy for when we get to those beautiful ski blends in our portrait. I can't wait to see you there. 8. Rectangular Blending Practice: Hey guys, welcome back. We have some fantastic exercises to get through. Over the next four lessons, I've put together several small projects for you to complete that will really help you when it comes time to achieve those super smooth skin blends in the main class portrait. First for this lesson, we'll be outlining a couple of rectangles and using our tools to create a smooth even blend. In one box we'll use the graphite only blue pencils for a lighter blend. And for the second box, we'll get to grips with the Stadler blacks. The name of the game for all forthcoming blending studies is to make your value transitions as smooth as possible. Firstly, we make a smooth transition by varying our pencil pressure. Then we blend and smooth out using our blending tools and using our razors to lift up any graphite irregularities that interfere with our smooth blends. As always, we'll be starting with our lighter values and build up layers until we reach our darkest value. By doing this, we'll saturate the paper with graphite, which will really help create that super smooth finish that we're after. Remember, I want you to use very light pressure throughout all exercises. With this particular exercise, I'd like for you to lighten the pressure even more as you get to the end of each layer within the rectangle. So it blends nicely with the lighter value below. When I'm drawing the lightest part of each layer, it feels like it's just the way it a pencil alone touching a paper. I've uploaded the blending page in resources for you to print out if needed, which includes three of the blending studies. You can outline them all at the same time if you like, as they'll come in handy for the preceding two lessons. To outline your blending page, I recommend using a technique that you intend to use to outline your portrait. For example, trace method, grid method, or free hand method. If it's the first time outlining, it'll be good practice for when we get to the main class project. If you're using the trace method, please do not press too hard. This will leave indented lines in your paper, which will be very noticeable when rendering your work and quite difficult to cover with graphite. Before we begin our blend, I'm dabbing my outline here with the needable eraser to make it lighter. We're going to stick with just the graphite, only blue pencils for this box. I'm starting with the lightest grade pencil, the four H. Remember, super light pressure and we want an even layer before smoothing out with the tissue. I lay down a couple of passes before moving onto the pencil and try not to go outside of the box. As we come to the end, lighten the pressure about 1 " from the end as we want to fade out to just the paper. Also, remember to use circular motions whenever you can because we don't want to leave dark patches if we blend out going backwards and forwards in a straight line, using the moldable eraser again to make sure the graphite fades to the white as a paper. Now onto the HB pencils, I'll be using six pencil grades for this blend. The four H B 24.5 Just remember that with each pencil grade change to cover a little less of the box and to fade out sooner using lighter pressure, this will ensure that you achieve an evenly gradated scale from light to dark. Now a couple of layers of two B, then onto the four B blending out in between each layer. Lastly, a couple of coates of five. If you see any dark graphite spots appear like I've noticed here, just mold your needable eraser into a point and very lightly dab the spots to lift that dark spot. If you leave a white spot, then you're probably dabbing too hard or your point needs to be finer. The same goes for any lines that interfere with your smooth gradation. You can use this technique and then re blend to make it smooth again. Or using the stiff brush to push the graphite around can sometimes blend away unwanted lines. A quick eating up around the edges using a pencil eraser and we're finished with this box. Now on to the Stadler Blacks. Remember in our previous lesson I explained that I always lay down a five blue under all the black pencils to help with consistency of tone. My first layer in this box is to cover the entire box with a five blue pencil. I'm using the show short shader brush to blend a five B. I'm not overly concerned with this layer being perfectly smooth as I'll be covering it with all the black pencils later. First up is the HB pencil. Remember what we discussed in the previous lesson? You need to use even lighter pressure with this set of pencils, as they do not blend as well as a blue set. We do not want any visible lines before blending. Use loads of different directional pencil strokes to alleviate this. Or small circular strokes, a combination of both is good. I use a stiff, bristled daily roundy Georgian short Filbert brush to blend these pencils. It leaves a beautiful finish especially for skin blends. Please have a try with all of your blending tools to see how each performs and see which one you prefer. You can use medium to hard pressure using this brush on the blacks. In a moment you'll see me using really hard pressure to push the graphite around. As I blend the HB black into the five B blue. The transition is a bit too heavy for my liking at the moment. Now, onto the two pencil, I still think the transition between HB black and five B blue is too heavy. It happens too quick. So I'm gently using a pointed needable eraser to lift some of the darker layer, which will help lengthen the blend, so making it smoother. Now onto the four then 6.8 pencils. And to finish off this box, we'll use the three Conti charcoal pencil. For the deepest black value, I use the pro art mid stiff master touch reflex brush to blend the Conti as this pencil has a beautiful soft lead. Okay, so now let's see what you can come up with. Take your time. Pay attention to your pressure and shorten each new layer bit by bit as you go. Make sure you have an even cover with each layer like we talked about before. And use your erasers to lift any irregularities like value lines or graphite spots. Before you smooth each layer, I can't wait to see what you create. I'll be getting ready for the next lesson, where you'll be using your new blending skills, but with curves. 9. Sphere Study: I hope you enjoyed your first blending lesson. I also hope you begin to feel more confident in your tools and your abilities. So we're now going to move on to something slightly more difficult for this lesson and add curves to your blending practice. We'll be drawing a sphere shape, which will be good practice for when shading curved elements within a portrait like bones, chins, or shoulders, et cetera. Again, the name in the game for this lesson is to make your value transitions as smooth as possible by varying your pencil pressure. But this time when you lighten the pressure as you go from dark to light, I want you to concentrate on maintaining the spherical shape to reflect the curvature of a ball. Remember, when drawing the lightest part of each layer, it feels like it's just the weight of the pencil alone touching the paper. Okay, we start off using the four H pencil from the blue range to make an even cover, then smooth out using our tissue, I use the H B blue for my second layer. With this layer, I start to create the lightest spherical highlight area. You'll also notice that I'm not covering the reflected highlight line, bottom right of the ball, decreasing the pressure. The closer I get to the main highlight area. Once again, try your blending tools. This is the cotton bud here, but I still think you can't beat soft tissue when you come to blend graphite. Now we're getting to the darker values. You'll really start to notice your highlighted areas pop. Now using the two from the blue range and onto the five B. The cast shadow is quite dark, so I'm starting with the five B, blue. Do you remember my advice on not pressing too hard when tracing your outline? If you look closely, you can see the indented outline I made whilst lining my shapes. This is very hard to cover with graphites. Take a little time in figuring out your outlining pressure if tracing your images. This is something that you really want to try and avoid. From my next layer, I went straight in with the six black here, which I think was a bit too dark. Try to four black and see how you gets on the cotton bud is great to smooth out in smaller areas, as is the blending stump. Having laid down the mid tones on the ball, we now focus on the core shadow using the two B black with super light pressure. You can notice here that I've switched to the stiff Georgian de la uni brush to blend out the blacks. Now a tone darker with the four black softening the edge of the cast shadow. Using the cotton bud. I'm about to net it up the edge of the sphere. So I'm just sharpening the mono zero eraser using the sounding block. And we'll erase auto graphite that has been smudged over the line. It's really important to remember that whenever you use an eraser to make sure that it's clean, otherwise you'll leave a smudge on the paper. Rather than using another pencil to draw over the highlighted area. I'm just using what's on the brush at the moment just to really bring that blend together nicely. I think the outside edge of the cast shadow needs to be a tiny bit brighter. So I'm just stabbing with a mono zero eraser to pick up a little bit of graphite and then blend with a lighter pencil. Now it's your turn. This lesson is a little trickier than the last lesson. So I want you to pay extra attention to your pressure as you go around the sphere. Try to maintain a curved value change as you go. Make sure the outline of your ball is sharp and be mindful not to use a grade of pencil that's too dark. Drawing an outline always comes out darker than when shading with the same grade of pencil. So try a few grades lighter when neatening an edge. We have a champagne flute study coming up next, where you'll get a chance to put all the techniques you've learned so far into one drawing. It's gonna look awesome. I'll see you there. 10. Champagne Flute Study: Hello people, Welcome back. So I hope you're feeling proud of what you've created so far. I also hope that you're beginning to feel inspired. And your motivation is building along with each completed study. For this lesson, we're going to be drawing a champagne flute. It's a little more challenging than the previous two lessons, but you'll still be able to nail it. I'm sure you'll get a chance to utilize all that you've learned in the last two exercises. Lots of subtle pencil pressure changes, lots of value changes, and blending small areas. But this time, before we start, I want you to pay some attention to all the different value changes within the reference photo. Again, it'll be good practice for when we start the main portrait. Okay, so you'll notice that our darkest shadow value is at the top inside the flute. The next darkest value is on the base of the flue. At the back front of the base is a shade lighter, running down the stem. And the center of the body is a shade or two lighter. The mid tone is far left and middle right of the body. And the light tones are running down the right side of the cup with some strong reflective high lights to the left side. I'm now going to use my value scale to give me an idea of which grade pencil matches which value on the reference. The darkest area inside the flu is maybe a seven black, the base looks like it could be a two black at the front and maybe a four or six black at the back. The darkest value running up the stem and body could be the five blue. Either side of the five blue could be a two blue. And the lighter right side could be any of the four H F grade blues. Depending on the pressure used. I actually intended to start with a four H blue pencil, but accidentally picked up the F grade pencil and didn't realize until I shaded nearly all of the right side of the cup. But by using unbelievably light pressure, I was still able to keep a very light tone in accordance with the reference photo. What this tells us is try not to get overly fixated on using exactly the right grade pencil as you can get many different values from one pencil just by slightly changing the pressure. Okay. Starting with the grade pencil, I lightly lay down the lightest value to the right side body of the flute. I then increase the pressure ever so slightly to lay down a slightly darker tone for the middle and left side of the body stem and base. I'm changing the pressure as when needed to replicate the change in value as per the reference as I go. Then smooth out with the tissue. Now the B grade pencil for the mid tones, the soft wins blending stump works fantastically well here, as the areas we need to blend are quite small. Circular motions work wonderfully well. Pay really close attention to all the subtle changes in value, no matter how small. I'm using small circular motions to make the B to F grade pencil transition smoother here by pushing the graphite around, that's already on the page. Back to the B grade pencil here as we build the darker layers and then sharpening the outline using the mono zero eraser. Now onto the five blue for the darkest value running down the center of the glass, straight in with the five blue to create the rim of the glass here, as it's quite a dark value. Then the blue, five blue, then 2.4 black as we fill the inside of the glass. Now the 6.7 black to finish off the inside of the flute. Back to the two B from the black range here. This is the four B from the black range. If you look closely at the reference photo, you'll notice that there's a little bit more lighter value to the right side of the base. Nearly all of our values are down now, so I'm just going to spend the remainder of the time neatening everything out and making sure everything is smooth and good. Just neatening off the edge with the grade pencil. Make sure that all of your edges are sharp. Don't use a pencil that's too dark. But when your edges are sharp, it really helps your drawing to pop off the page. This tiny angled makeup brush from the makeup brush set really comes in handy for those tight areas to complete this drawing. I'm just finishing up, making sure that all lines are sharp, all values are correct alongside each other, and all blends are smooth with no imperfections. So this lesson has provided you with lots of practicing pencil pressure blending in tight spaces using the stumps and lots of value changes. It's also taught you to start paying close attention to the subtle changes in value within a reference and how to relay them to your project. Now I want you to use this new information and create your own champagne, and I'd love to see you upload it to the class. We have a fun little exercise. Next we're gonna be drawing some water droplets which will literally jump off the page. It's a simple project, but one that I think you're going to love. I'll see you there. 11. Water Drop Study: Hello guys. So we have a quick and fun lesson for you today, we're going to complete a small drawing of some water droplets. It's a relatively easy and quick project to do, but you'll be amazed by how much they just jump off the page with just a few subtle changes in value. You'll be familiar with all the blending and lifting techniques by now, so I just want you to focus on values and keeping your outline sharp. A crisp, sharp line will really help differentiate the droplets from the background and make them pop. Keep your pencil sharp for the final outline pass. But remember to use a pencil that's lighter than what you use for the body of the water drop. And do not press too hard. Okay, let's make a base using the five B, blue. I'll make about eight passes with a five B. Then use the H B to make three circles for the water droplets. Also adding lines for the cast shadow using very light pressure. Once again, I use the four B black to start building the contours of the water. Decrease your pressure to lighten the four value as you move away from the upper outline. And then fill in your cast shadows. Making sure all lines are sharp, neat, and tidy. Using a pointed needable eraser to very gently dab the reflected highlighted areas, the battery powered hoot eraser, to bring up the highlights. Watch as the water drops. Pop even more as I'll add a very light layer of seven black to the base layer. Now strengthening the dark value with a six black, the posca paint pen really brings out the highlight, just tidying up the outline, using the soft rubber in the thou eraser. I'm not actually turning it on though. The devil is in the detail as the saying goes. And it makes a huge difference with the finished piece when you spend time on all the little imperfections. Okay, so I realized that I've taken up a little too much value from the reflected highlight within the droplet here. So I need to reapply using the HB just to give the effect that there's a little bit of the background showing through the highlighted area of the water drop. I hope you had fun drawing notes. It was just a quick little exercise to give you a chance to use all of your new skills to create something cool. It doesn't take long to make a two D drawing bounce off the page, or once you know how. Our next lesson we'll focus on studying our reference image before we begin to draw. If you do this before you begin any portray, it will give you a clear understanding of the project you're about to begin and provide you with a kind of mental roadmap for your upcoming endeavor. I do this before every portrait I draw. 12. Studying the Reference Photo: Hello people. Welcome back. We're nearly ready to start our main portrait drawing, so I wanted to give you a quick preview of the mental notes that I make before commencing any portrait. I'll find this procedure really helpful as it provides a mental roadmap for me to take. During the process, I look out for things like where's the best place to start any block values. I use my value chart to gain an idea of what grade pencils I'll need For light, mid, and dark areas, I determine the darkest areas which will need the three B pencil. I look to see if there are any blurry or sharp elements. I then decide how I'm going to process the layers to create the different contrasting effects. Which areas of the portrait, if any, are lighter than the background scanning, which areas are darker or lighter compared to other areas in the portrait. Also having a closer look at any super detailed areas like skin pores et cetera, for example. Can I notice any patterns in the way the pores flow? Using these techniques, Let's apply them to a main project now so we can break it down and have a better understanding of how to approach it. First of all, I try to decide where I'd like to start. Personally, I find it really helpful to start in an area which incorporates a good amount of mid to dark value, where I'm able to lay down a little of my darkest value not long after I've started. Because I already know my value range, I find it far easier to determine all other values once the darkest value is on the paper in this portrait, the background has a good mid to dark value with the darkest value on the right side of the hair. I'll be starting this portrait by completing the background first, then the right side of the hair, then the forehead, and work our way down. These areas are a great place to start as they aren't overly complicated or detailed. So they will get you warmed up for when you get to the more important areas like the face. We discussed this in the previous lesson. But I also look out for any block values that will help me break down proportions. I use my value chart extensively during this stage to gain a much better understanding of which values are needed and where I determine the darkest areas which will need the Conti Freebie pencil, I make a note of which areas of the portrait, if any, are lighter or darker than the background. In fact, whilst drawing, it's good practice to keep checking how light or dark certain areas are in relation to other areas in the portrait. This will help keep harmony between values. We have hard and soft elements in this portrait. The neck line, jumper, and most of the hair are out of focus and blurry, while the whole face is in focus and sharp. If you take a close look at the left side of the hair, we can see that the back of the hair is blurry and that it gets more in focus the closer it gets to the face. We want to try and replicate this when drawing. There isn't enough detail captured in this reference photo to be able to see the pores of the skin. The fact that we're only drawing on four size means that there wouldn't really be enough space for us to dial in on this element of a portrait. But if I'm drawing an three or two size portrait, and I'll have a high definition photo that captures all the details in the skin. Then I'll check for skin pores. Skin pores sometimes flow in certain directions and this can be really helpful when trying to navigate all the tiny details. And the wave like patterns can look amazing when drawn. Just something for you to look out for in the future. Now that we have a better understanding of how to mentally process an image before drawing it, and we know how to figure out and maintain correct values whilst keeping harmony between them. I'd like for you to find a different portrait and use your new knowledge to scan every part of that portrait to try and figure out how you will go about drawing it from start to finish. For example, where's a good place to start? Which values are needed and where? Which are the lightest and darkest areas and how do they relate to other areas in the portrait? Are there any areas which need to be kept soft or sharp? Have fun looking at your images from a different perspective. And whilst you're doing that, I'll be getting things ready for the next lesson and I'll see you there. 13. Patience and Progression: Hi, I'm welcome back. I remember how daunting it was when I first decided to embark on my artistic journey. So I'd like to give you a couple of pieces of advice on how to get over hurdles you may face as you progress along your own journey. I didn't have the funds at the time to buy finite courses or to attend college, so I was never really sure if what I was doing was correct, which led to me double getting myself quite frequently. I realize now that a huge part of creating fine art comes down to patients, which can be even more difficult to master than learning how to use your materials. Once you have a good understanding of how to work your medium, you can then find a way to work on your patients. For example, I see many hyperrealistic artists working grids, completing many small segments separately until they reach the end of their project. This way of working helps the artists stay laser focused on one small section at a time, allowing them to capture all the tiny details like skin pores, without becoming lost and overwhelmed, especially on bigger pieces. Looking at larger projects as a whole can make it seem a near impossible task to complete and difficult to maintain focus on the thousands of tiny details within it. If you're struggling or you lean more towards hyperrealism, using this technique may be of interest to you. It all comes down to finding a strategy that will help you achieve your goals with a method that suits you. I could always spend a day drawing a portrait, but as soon as I packed away my pencils for that day, I had no desire to pick them up again the following day. But over the years, as you begin to learn more about value and layers, you begin to realize that achieving the results that inspire you takes time and patience. So you push yourself that little hard with every portrait. I've now progressed to spending four or five days on a piece, or even a week on a large piece. The 12 or 300 projects still elude me, but they're in my sights, I'm sure you'll find, as did I, that every time you push yourself to complete a better portrait over a longer period of time, you will immediately raise a bar. And that new bar will become the norm for all of your future projects. That's why it's so important to remember to trust the process when in the midst of a long project, when you've been drawing for quite some time, you'll undoubtedly have days where your enthusiasm wanes and you struggle to draw or to even start a new project. I find that on those occasions, if I just sit at my workstation and study the reference photo for a while, like what we did in the previous lesson, imagining how I'm going to approach drawing a portrait. After a few minutes, I'll start to feel inspired and naturally want to make a start on the project. Also, what never seems to foul is breaking the task into small steps. I'll tell myself that I'll just do the outline today or I'll start with something easy, like the background of the neck, somewhere with not too much detail. Picking up your pencils to start a small task or something relatively easy, we'll tap into your creativity urges every time. If you ever find yourself feeling overwhelmed with the task, start small. Either break the task into small, easy chunks, like an outline or background, or pick a small area with lots of value and complete that area in full before moving on. Once you complete a small area fully, you'll be dying to complete the rest of the portrait. I really hope that by now you've gained confidence in your new tools and your new abilities and are really starting to feel excited to get stuck into our main class projects, which will be making a start in our next lesson. So put your game face on and let's get corrected. 14. Background: Before we start, I just wanted to give you a huge pat on the back for getting this far and to say, well done. We've covered quite a few topics and I really hope you've enjoyed following along with me and excited for what's to come. So starting with the background, I want you to focus on making the whole area as smooth and as even as possible. If you use your value chart as I'm doing here, you'll get an idea of which pencil grade to aim for. I'm not sure if you're able to see in this video exactly what I see in the flesh as there's some light reflecting off the graphite. But my chart is telling me that the bottom of the background is somewhere in the region of HB or B grade blue pencil, and the top is similar to maybe five B blue. This means that we're going to have to make a smooth, even transition from five B to B, or thereabouts. Similar to what we did in the rectangular blending session earlier. Remember what we discussed in previous lessons? To achieve a solid, saturated tone, we're going to need layers. And we always build from light to dark. So I'll start by applying two or three layers of two H blue. Then the same again with the F grade. Then a couple coats of HB, or blue gray pencil. This will give us our base layer, that being the lightest value in the background. Once the base layer is down, we can then begin moving up the page using our darker grades as we go until we hit our darkest value, the five B blue or thereabouts. You'll notice that when you smooth out the first layer of each grade of pencil, it may look a bit patchy. This will lessen with each additional layer. However, if you notice any patches that are particularly dark, use your needable eraser to gently lift the patch before moving on to the next layer. You can blend using tissue or cotton pad. Try using both of you, have them to see if you prefer one over the other. Okay, so we begin laying down the two H blue, notice that I'm holding my pencil at quite an acute angle. This grip helps with control by using your whole arm from the elbow. But before we do this here, I'm making the outline darker, so I don't lose it whilst smoothing out. Be mindful not to outline any areas that aren't as dark as a HB black though the HB is good to use for this as it doesn't smudge During blending, Smoothing out between every layer using circular motions. You can notice that I have a dark patch bottom right of background, which you'll see me lift in a moment using a pointed edible eraser, two coats of two H, and now the same for the F grade blue. Also same again for the B grade blue. And repeat the process for the other side. Now we have the base value laid down. We can begin the darker values to create a smooth transition using the two B here and lightening the pressure to fade out at around halfway down the page. Using two to three layers of each grade pencil will help that value look saturated and solid. Same again for the five B blue, but this time we fade out at around a quarter of the page. I've noticed some dark marks here and from, I think, a blemish on the paper. So I'm just going to spend a bit of time with the eraser here trying to lift them up and making it blend more with the background layer. Then just keep playing around with a two B and a five until you achieve that real smooth transition from dark to light. Lifting up any tiny imperfections as you go with the top few layers. It's possible to use a little more pressure to get a slightly darker tone, but it's still quite light. Well done, guys, for completing the background, I hope you're 100% happy with your transition. During this lesson, we've learned how to create a solid, saturated tone. One that incorporates a super smooth transition from dark to light with no imperfections. Don't worry if at this stage you feel like your background should be a bit darker. We'll get a chance to welcome it again a bit later. We'll be moving on to the Here next, which will allow us to lay down some of our darkest value to anti free B. Once we have a little of that on the page, we'll find it much easier to gauge all other values from here and in. I'll see you there. 15. Hair: Hi, welcome back. Today we're going to be drawing the hair I chose to draw here next as it incorporates a good amount of our darkest value, the Conti Freebie pencil, as mentioned previously, land down some of our darkest values sooner rather than later will really help you determine all other values within the portrait as you proceed. We'll also break the hair down into sections as this will help you keep track of value changes throughout the procedure. The goal of this lesson is to create an outer focus effect for the hair at the back of the head and the plat. And to gradually bring the hair into focus as we move nearer to the face line. Also, I would like for you to apply your pencil strokes in the same direction as a hair, as this will really help with authenticity once we start to hone in on the single hair strands. Firstly, before I proceed, I break the hair down into these four sections and make a mental note of all the lines. This helps me to keep track of all the subtle changes in tone whilst building this side of the hair. I use the same technique to make sense of all types of hair, especially curly. So the first thing I do is lay down an undercoat layer of five B, blue to all the darker areas of the hair. This will separate the light and dark areas and will provide a much clearer view of hair flow. I pay close attention to all the mid and dark tonal variants within this layer and will change the pressure slightly to replicate this. As I go, pay close attention to which direction the hair flows and try to replicate this in your pencil strokes. You see me using the show short shade of brush here to smooth out the five B pencil. Once all the five B blue is down, I then apply a coat of two B black followed by eight black. Use the Igshow brush once again to smooth out each layer. My main concern here is to keep an unbelievably light pressure and to get an even tone before blending. When you reach the parting of the hair, work your pencil strokes going towards a highlighted area, lightening the pressure to taper off. This is the two black. Now for the eight black, now the conte three B pencil. I find the master touch Filbert brush, a great brush to smooth out a Conti. This pencil lead is really soft. This mid stiff brush is great for spreading all the loose bits of charcoal around a page to leave a really smooth blend, I build this little section using the two black, then the eight black, and then the conte to finish off building the darker strands of hair here using the six black pencil. And then picking out a few highlights using a sharpened mono zero eraser. I always use the brush here just to blend the ends of the highlights that I'm making. This tiny section here is a bit lighter than the rest of the hair. On the right side, I'm using a six to build this here. I'm using the 46.8 B blacks to build value. On the left side, pay close attention to the directional flow of hair and all the subtle changes in value. Remember to use the eg, show brush to soften every pencil stroke that you make. This stiff Georgian short filbert brush has almost worn down to the metal. But it's still a pretty good brush to work the medium into the paper or soften hair strokes and to keep the outside edge of the hair looking blurry. Bear in mind that you can achieve a variety of values using just one pencil by changing your pressure, as I'm doing here. All of the highlighted strands of hair in this section are mid tones, which is why I'm not concerned with covering the whole area with a brush. If there were any pure white reflections, I would make a point of drawing around them and not covering them at all with graphite. Now, sharpening the mono zero eraser just to pick out a few highlights for the lighter portion of the hair. Here I'm using the five blue and two black. Don't too much. If you go too dark, you can always use your needle eraser to lift up a layer or two of graphite. So as the set of time lapse runs out, you'll see me switching between all the tools and techniques just used. Gradually adding and lifting value until I'm happy with the likeness to reference photo. The stiff or short number two brush to blending stumps are great tools to keep the outline looking soft, blurry, and out of focus. We will cover more in this in a later lesson. Things may change as we progress throughout the portrait. And we may need to make minor adjustments towards the end. But for now, I'm happy enough to move on to the next part of the portrait. Remember, brushes and blending stumps will help soften the value changes and keep parts of the hair looking blurry and out of focus. As you move forward towards the face line on the left side of the hair, gradually start to make the value changes thinner, so they begin to look more like strands of hair. Then as you need a face line, combine using the pencil and mono zero eraser to create sharp strands of hair. Coming up next, we get a chance to dial in on those super smooth skin blends. I'll catch you there. 16. Forehead: Hi guys, Welcome back. Now we've completed the hair and have a good amount of our darkest value on the paper. Let's move on to the forehead. This part of the face is a relatively easy part to start with as it provides quite a large area for you to practice blending before we get to the more difficult areas of the face. Another area that's normally good for the same reason is the neck. We'll try our best to complete the forehead in, but I always find that as progress throughout the different stages in the portrait. I constantly need to come back and touch up previously worked on areas in order to bring harmony to the values in the portrait as a whole. The main focus of this lesson is to keep the subtle changes in tones as you build layers. And to make the transitions as smooth and as saturated as possible. Okay, before we start, if you studied the forehead closely for a moment, you'll notice that we have several value changes within the forehead as I'm showing here. I want you to keep this in mind as you're building your tones. Okay, so the first thing that I do is to darken the outline of the eyebrows so I don't rub them away. When I smooth out the forehead. Always be mindful of your outlines as you build darker value. As you don't want to lose any, pay close attention to the directional flow of the hairlines. I'm using my ipad to view the reference photo. As I find it shows a sharper image than a printout. However, the ipad is back lit, so it shows the lightest part of the forehead which is just above the left eye as we view it being a four H blue. I'm going to start with the four H blue, but may possibly go darker as we progress switching to the grade blue here as we want to keep the change in value. Now the blue for the darker areas now using a folded tissue to smooth out small circular motions wherever possible. This is a second coat of four H, and now beginning to go a bit darker using the B blue. And now for the five blue, for the darker areas, remember to adjust your pressure where needed to fade into the lighter value below. And smooth out every single layer that you apply using a two B blue here, just to make the transition between values a bit smoother. Notice with the blue that I'm shading around the lightest part of the forehead. Now using the five blue and then the six black for the right eyebrow, I use the eye show brush to smooth out as the bristles on my brush are really short due to it being old. A blending stump or the small angled brush will do the same thing. I begin marking the hairlines of the left eyebrow using the five blue. Mindful that the left brow is lighter than the right. I'm also mindful that the tone in between the eyebrows is ever so slightly darker than the forehead above. So as you can see, I'm just switching back and forth between my pencil grades, starting with light grades and gradually getting darker and darker until the correct value is achieved. The stiff bristled Georgian short field, but number two size brush is a great brush to work the medium into the paper. This one is completely worn, so it works a bit different to one with full length bristles. Try using a small angled make up brush, or stumps to blend press slightly with the stump, so small circular motions will soften the edge. As you switch to using the black set of carbon pencils on the skin, use the lightest possible pressure you can. You do not want to be seeing any visible lines at all. You can use straight lines in all directions or small circular motions to get coverage. But remember, they do not smooth out. As well as the graphite only set, you can start to apply a tiny bit more pressure in the real dark areas. Try all of your brushes to get a feel of how each of them feel. Blending the black pencils, you will understand that you need to be more careful and spend a bit more time using your pencils to create the transitions with this set before blending. Using the two black to soften a transition here. Sometimes if I don't want to go any darker but feel an area needs a bit more saturation, I'll use a lighter pencil grade and blend them altogether. As we apply the darker tones of the forehead, we can see that the right side of the face isn't quite as dark as the right side of the hair. We need to make sure that we don't go quite as dark. You may not be able to see in the video, but I'm using the needle eraser here to again, soften a couple of small areas to make for a smoother transition. Using the pencil eraser to lightly bring up a layer and then blending out with these stumps, making the hair lines here in the left eyebrow, using the two black as you finish the forehead area. Take quite a bit of time making all of your transitions as smooth as possible. Use your needable eraser to lift any hard transitions, or a lighter pencil to smooth them out, along with the filbert brushes to smooth them out afterwards. They're great for this. I normally spend quite a bit of time just using the filberts to push the graphite around. It's already on the paper until I'm happy. The Conte three B charcoal pencil here has a really soft lead which leaves some residue, so provides an ultra smooth transition when blended with the brush. To summarize covered how to separate all the values in the forehead and how to build layers whilst maintaining all the subtle variations in tone. Throughout the process, you've learned which blending tools to use to create super smooth transitions and have seen how to blend the carbon mixed pencil set into the graphite only pencil set. So have fun drawing your forehead. I'll be getting ready for the next lesson. That being the eyes and nose. We'll see you there. 17. Eyes & Nose: Hey guys are welcome back. So for today's lesson, we're going to be concentrating on the eyes and nose. I think the most important things to bear in mind when working on these areas are line weight around the eyes, the shape and thickness of the lashes, and keeping the shape around the nose. You'll notice in our reference that the bottom line of the eye is quite a lot lighter than the top line. This is something we definitely want to keep an eye on as we build a line that's too heavy at the bottom will throw the whole eye out of balance. The same applies with the bottom lashes. They are thinner, lighter, and smaller than the top lashes. We also need to be mindful that the whites of the eyes aren't exactly white with the nose. I really want you to focus on the block shape that we made in outlining. This will really help break down the changes in value for you. If we look at the shadow side of the nose, we can see that the middle part of the shadow is a slightly lighter tone than the top and the bottom. We can also see that those top and bottom areas aren't quite as dark as the iris on the eyes. Just like the whole right side of the face is a little lighter than the right side of the hair. We need to be mindful of all these subtle changes in value throughout the process. Okay, so as we begin the facial features wherever possible, I lightly outline any parts of the brows, eyes and mouth using the HB black. This is a great pencil to use for deepening the outline as the graphite carbon combo in the HB is quite stable, won't smudge when blending the skin around these areas. Something to bear in mind though, the darker grades of the black range smudge quite a bit. You have to be a bit more careful if blending near them. Also, be careful not to outline parts of the eye that aren't as dark as a HB. Sometimes the bottom eye line might not be as dark. For example, here I'm starting to define the dark shades with the first layer of five B blue. Using a blending stump to lightly smooth out the iris, et cetera, is perfect as it has a soft point to get into all the tight spaces. Also laying down the first layer of blue for the surrounding skin. Using a cotton bud to smooth out this area is great as it's small enough to get into the corners. This is the two blue here just to help smooth out the transition. Now using the six black to start laying down the dark lines of the eye. Not for the lower eye line though. Don't forget to leave out the lighter parts of the iris. Okay, you should have a good idea by now how to build value. Gradually I'll let you follow along without too much interruption from me. However, I'll flash up the pencil grade changes as we go. Now the eight black for the darkest areas of the eye, then very lightly add the upper lashes using the two black. Be mindful not to go too dark with these. Okay, we begin building the darker contours of the eye using the two black. As mentioned in the previous lesson, the whole right side shadowed area of the face is slightly lighter tone than the right side of the hair. So, be mindful of this as you proceed. I'm starting off with the HB blue for the corners of the whites of the eye here. I'm using the HB blue here to mark out the rest of the darker tones around the nose. Be mindful of the thin light line that separates the right nostril from the shadow below the nose. Now the five B blue to darken. Starting with the four H blue for the lighter side of the nose. A sharpened mono zero eraser is great for adjusting any lines of the eye you need to make using the stiff La Ali Georgian felt number two, brush here again, okay? So to summarize, the key takeaways of this lesson are to focus on the natural directional lines of the lashes to keep an eye on a difference in line weight between the upper and lower eyelids, that the whites of the eyes are adequately recreated. Also, to concentrate on the block shape of the nose that we made an outlining to help us keep track of value changes. The next lesson focuses on cheekbones. I'll be getting set up for that whilst you finish the eyes and nose. Take your time and I'll see you when you're ready. 18. Cheekbone & Nose: Hello again. For this lesson, we'll be moving slightly further down the face to the cheekbones. Whilst touching up the nose, every now and again as we go, you'll probably feel some areas already previously laid down, like the nose, for example, may begin to look lighter as we build value around it. Can you remember the image I showed in an earlier lesson? The one that tricked the IR guiding tone? It's a similar effect. That's why I'm constantly going back and forth between areas of a portrait as I build to keep harmony between all the values in the portrait as a whole. Building the cheek bones is similar to the sphere study that we completed earlier. Both the cheek bones have their lighter areas in the middle of them, so we want to lighten our pressure with every layer as we get closer to the center of each cheekbone. Also, just like in the last couple of lessons, we need to keep the shadowed right side of the face slightly lighter than the hair on the right. I'm just touching up the lower parts of the eye here and then we'll lightly mark out the smile lines with the HB black. And then add two passes of two H blue for the first layer. Following this, I use the five B blue to mark out the shaded part of the face to the right, smooth out with the cotton bud. Now using the H blue to cover the whole of the right cheek bone, as this side is a bit darker than the left. But then I use a H blue to start building the contours of the left cheek. I use the H, B blue to start the contours of the right cheek, followed by the five B blue to add a bit more detail around this area. Straight in with the seven black for the darkest side of the face. Don't forget to use really light pressure and smoothing out with the eye. Show short shader brush, just creating detail to the right side of the eye here using the five B blue. There are some smile lines to this area. So we want to lightly add those, making the nose area smoother. Using the Eg Show brush. Pay very close attention to the darker value lines around the mouth area as these are unbelievably important when trying to recreate a smile. And don't forget to use your needed ble eraser to lift any value needed. I'll probably be adding some darker tone to the upper half of the background sometime before we finish the portrait, But I'm happy with the lower half of the background compared to the reference image. I'll be using that part of the background to help gauge the lighter left side of the face. I know this side of the face is a little lighter than the background. You can see a very slight change of value running along this smile line in the chin. So we want to add that also, If you look closely now, you can see that my pencil stroke has smudged some of the black value onto the cheek. I'll need to use the inedible eraser to gently dab this up. Don't forget the outside edge of the cheekbone here. It's only a subtle change in value, but an important one. Nonetheless, I constantly line parts of the portray up with other parts of the portray to help with accuracy. For example, how far over the corners of the eye does the eyebrow fall? Does the highlighted area on the nose end at the upper eyelid or eyebrow? Gently dabbing the hu battery eraser or the curry gnaw pencil eraser can be great for adding small bits of detail. Using the six feet black to very gently create some very small lashes to the bottom eye line. These are a lot more sparse than the lashes on the upper line of the eyelid When adding the lashes to the eyelid to try to keep the curve of each lash going in the right direction As the direction changes as you go around the eyelid. There isn't that much room on an A four piece of paper to really focus on lashes. But we still need to get the direction right now for the eight black, for the darkest parts of the eye, be very careful not to go overboard here with the eight B, I'm softening the edge of the dark value here using a six black just to help smooth the transition using unbelievably light pressure. And then smoothing it out with the Georgian Filbert brush number six. So to recap, you want to be thinking about the sphere study we did earlier in the class and try to use a similar technique to recreate the cheekbones. Also when you're happy with the cheekbones, re evaluate the nose and see if you need to make any changes of value anywhere we have the mouth and chin coming up next. So have fun and I'll be waiting for you there. 19. Mouth & Chin: Hey guys, welcome back. For this lesson, we're going to be tackling the mouth area. We have a beautiful smile to draw, and the things we need to focus our attention on here are the smile lines and teeth. A lot of people have difficulty with replicating teeth, mainly to do with achieving the correct shape and tone. Regarding tone, we can see a couple of tiny highlights in the corners of the front teeth. So that will give us an idea of how much darker we need to go for the body of the teeth. We want to keep these lines in mind as we build the area. All the main value changes happen around these lines. The first thing I do when starting the mouth is to use the HB black to darken the appropriate lines. Then the five B blue for the lines that are slightly lighter. Now applying a five base layer for the darkest parts of the inside corners of the mouth. Pay extra attention to the width and shape of each tooth. Now a couple of coats of four H blue to the upper lip. Now start building all the smile lines and begin separating the values using the HB blue, followed by the five blue for the darker parts, and now is six black. Making sure that I outlined the bottom row of teeth, two B, then four blue for the left side of the upper lip. Then starting off the bottom lip with the two H blue, Pay extra attention to all smile lines as these are some of the most important lines to make line these areas up with other parts of the face to make sure they begin and end where they should. For example, does this highlighted area here line up with the bottom of the nose or just above the corners of the mouth. This area of the chin here is a tone lighter than the shadowed right side of the face, using the five blue to begin adding some detail to the bottom lip. Once again, you should have a good idea by now of the tools and techniques used to build value. So let you follow along for the next few minutes without much interruption from me. Now I'm going to add a little darker value to the top half of the background. And gradually lighten the blend into the tone that's already on the page. I use a two first lightening the pressure to fade out around the eye line. Then the HB black at the bottom of the blend just to make the fade a bit smoother. And then a touch up at the bottom of the two blue and the second coat of the two be black. For the top couple of inches, I'll make a start on a neck, but I'll talk about that in the next lesson. As we begin the teeth, I lay down the first layer using the four H blue. I use the blue for the subtle variations in value, then the blending stump to smooth out. Once I'm happy with the shape of all the teeth, I use the HB black to eaten all the edges and the four B black for the darker areas. So that brings us to a close for this lesson. To summarize, we want to pay special attention to all the small lines. Making sure if need be, to use other parts of the face whilst adding value to help determine the correct shape and proportions. Try to make sure your teeth are the correct shape and also smooth, and when you're happy with them, take care to give them a sharp outline along the bottom edge, as this will really help them to stand out. Have fun whilst you complete this area. We have the neck coming up next. I'll catch you there. 20. Neck: Hello people and welcome back. We're going to be drawing the neck today. I'm once again using the reference photo to evaluate value compared to other parts of the portrait. For example, I can see that the lighter tones on the left side of the neck look pretty similar to the lower portion of the background, but a little darker than the highlighted side of the face to the left. The shadowed part of the neck looks a little lighter than the darkest hair value to the right side, but about the same tone as the shadowed part of the face. The neck in our reference is similar to the forehead in regards to building value, but in addition to this, we want to make sure we keep our neck line blurry where it meets the background and jumper, but keep the chin line sharp also, as always, make sure our skin blends are smooth. I also have a little trick that I want to show you at the end of this lesson that will give you something to experiment with in future portraits to make them even smoother like before. To begin, I want to make my outline a bit more stable. Using the HB black, I use the blue to begin the lighter tones of the neck. Slightly adjusting the pressure to differentiate and maintain the changes in tone. Now going slightly darker with the HB blue, I begin marking out the darker tones using the blue, the straight onto the five blue, onto the 6.8 B blacks to lay down those really dark tones, smoothing out with the E. Show brush as I go. Now you see me using a few of the midtone pencils from the blue range to begin deepening the values. Notice how the five B blue helps smooth out the transition. Here, lots of brushwork. Using the show, you can use light, mid, or heavy pressure with the brushwork. Heavy pressure will help push the graphite around and smooth out transitions. There's some very subtle detail running down the center of the neck, which I'm picking out here with the needable eraser. Okay, so I'm happy with the next. So far I'm going back to work on the face for a little while just to strengthen and smooth out some of the tones. I'll flesh up the pencil changes as I go. And we'll see you in a couple of minutes. Were I'll show you a nice little trick for you to practice in the future if you want to make your values even smoother. Okay, so here I'm using my pencil and sandpaper to make a little powder where I'll use a relatively soft brush to smooth out. I wanted to show you guys this technique to give you something to practice on future portraits. The only thing I will say is that I used a B blue to make the powder for the right side and blue for the left. I think they were ever so slightly darker than expected. Maybe try the H grades first and see how you go or failing that, you could try with Jakars, a sorted gray set of compressed charcoal. I don't use this technique too often, which is why I didn't include equipment in class resources. But this set is fantastic. However, I will only use powder for the very last finishing layer, as I find interchanging graphite with charcoal whilst building layers doesn't mix at will. And turns out, looking a bit messy. I also wouldn't necessarily use this on lighter skin tones, just on darker values, as the graphite blends really well on its own. I'll use the craft knife to make powder and then I'm good to go. Lastly, the B grade blue pencil at the bottom just to help smooth the transition. As you can see, I've already completed the jumper and come back to the outline to make it look blurry. To do this, I'm using the five B blue to make small circular motions just over the outline. Then I'll use either a brush or blending stump to blend. Okay, so as we close out this lesson to summarize, when drawing a neck, it's fairly similar to the forehead, so I want you to focus on keeping all the different changes in value as you build them throughout the whole procedure. Make sure they look saturated and solid, and to make sure all the appropriate lines look blurry and out of focus. Where needed, we get to grips with a jumper. Next, I'll be waiting for you. 21. Jumper: Welcome back people. So the least lesson we'll be completing the jumper. I want you to focus on the pattern of the jumper here. It's very subtle, but you can just about make out a couple of knitted ribbed lines to the left shoulder and body. We'll want to mark out our pattern lines before we start and keep our changes in value throughout the whole process. Everything in the jumper is blurry. So there'll be lots of brushwork and some light pencil razor strokes. Okay. So the first thing I do is to again use the HB black to mark all the important lines. Then I use a five B blue to lay down a base layer for all the darkest spots. A slight change of pressure for the lighter areas. Then blending the whole area with the Eg show makeup brush. Here I'm using the seven B back to make the lines of the jumper a bit darker so I don't lose him when blending. You'll notice that already I'm starting to replicate the pattern of the knitted jumper now for the Conte Freebie charcoal pencil for the darkest right hand corner of the shoulder. Smoothing out with the mid stiff master touch reflex brush, starting to make the patterns of the ribbed part of the jumper using the seven black. These patterns don't have to be exact, so long as they give the impression of thread direction. Now for the eight black to really strengthen those dark values and still using the show brush to blend with every layer, I use the Conti free charcoal pencil to just lightly dab some of the darkest areas in the corners. You don't want to overdo it, so use it sparsely. Using the stiff Georgian brush here just to soften some of the edges. You can use the a pencil eraser to pick out some highlights in the thread or the soft in the hu battery eraser is great for this. I don't turn it on, no, as it will give you a line that's too harsh. I then go over with the show brush so they aren't too bright. Using the two B blue just to touch up the lower portion of the background, I want the transition looking just a tiny bit smoother. I begin the left side shoulder using the seven B black, changing the pressure to mark the patterns of the jumper as I go. Now that the jumper's finished, I readjust some of the values in the plate. So now it's your turn. Remember to make your pattern outlines darker before you begin and then mark all the differences in value using the five B blue. You can then start to build darker tones while keeping the patterned value changes intact as you go. Have fun drawing a jumper. I'll be waiting to see you for the final adjustments and detailing in the next lesson. 22. Final Adjustments & Detailing: Welcome back guys. For this lesson, we'll be spending our last few hours making sure that we're happy with all our values and then adding the final details like flyer wear, hair strands, and freckles. I always spend quite a bit of time finishing my portraits, depending on how detailed the reference photo is. If I'm drawing a commission for someone before I add details, I'll probably take a photo of the drawing and try to make the image as close to the reference photo as I can. Then I'll place them side by side to see if anyone needs adjusting. But more about that in the next lesson. For this lesson, I want you to focus on creating depth between the hair strands and realistic looking freckles. We create depth by making some strands of hair blurry and out of focus, and some sharp and in focus. When you place the focus strands on top of the blurry strands, the blurry strands will look like they are behind the focused ones and more towards the back of the head. We make our freckles look realistic by adding size differences, tonal differences, and keeping some soft and sharp. Okay, so let's get into it. So I'm just spending the next 40 seconds or so making small adjustments to the portrait. Then we'll get onto the good stuff, That being the loose hair strands and freckles. I hope that by now, by watching me continuously go back and forth, strengthening values, you're beginning to understand just how important this is in helping to create a solid, lifelike drawing. And now for the good stuff, I'm going to use a five blue to create some soft outer focus hair strands smoothing out using the blending stump. Pay extra attention to the strands of hair that cross one another as this may create a slightly darker tone in those areas as they cross, we want to replicate these small changes in value as it'll add more interest for the viewer. Also, there will be changes in the thickness of the out to focus strands. We want to try and recreate this. I use the HB black to lay down some strands that are in focus. Pay close attention to the direction of these strands and make sure to recreate them. Also, some strands will look like they start and end in mid air, taping off at each end and be ever so slightly thicker in the middle. The HB black here. Once again, I'm making some in focus strands. Once again to go over the outer focus ones. This will give the impression that the outer focus strands are further back. Be mindful not to overdo it and draw too many. Now the two B black. For any dark areas within the flyaway strands, I use a sharp angled mono zero eraser to pick up the lighter strands of hair. If you look closely, these strands are not bright white. So I use a brush to go over the top and dull the brightness down if needed. Using my Georgian stiff number two short Filbert brush to help make these strands look out of focus. As mentioned before, the bristles on my brush are completely worn down to the metal, so it's good for this. If yours are still quite long, then you can use the blending stump, strengthening the deep blacks in the mouth with the B black. Starting with the freckles. Now for the first layer on the lighter skin tones, I'll be using the blue. I'll be changing the pressure a little to create lighter and darker freckles and making sure they are different shapes and sizes. Then I'll add several darker freckles using the HB blue. I only make a few just to add a little more detail. You don't want to overdo it here if you look closely. Some freckles have soft edges and some are a little more sharp. I use a blending stump to soften some of them, not all of them though. On the darker skin tones, I use the same technique, albeit with darker pencil grades. I'll start this side using the two blue. The idea is to create three to five different freckle tones throughout the whole face, making sure they are all different sizes and softness. Just remember, be careful of the amount of darker freckles you make. You don't need to add as many as the lighter ones. I'll let you follow along as I finish the freckles. I think the eyebrow overruns a tad here, so I'm using the T o eraser to lightly lift a couple of millimeters. I'm not turning it on, just gently dabbing. I feel the hair at the bottom here is a little dark, so I'm using the needle ble eraser to lighten, gently dabbing The tho eraser is a great way to make a few highlights. It's not turned on as I'm not looking for bright white highlights. The mono zero eraser will do the same if you don't have the tho, if you need to soften highlights a bit, you can lightly go over with a soft brush using the H blue to strengthen the subtle details on the neck. You'll notice I use the TTu eraser just to make some subtle highlights along the detailed lines of the upper lip. If you've used tape to secure your drawing, remove very slowly and at an angle perpendicular to the line it's secured. Otherwise, it can damage your paper like here and you do not want this, especially if it's a commission. Lastly, a couple of coats of fixative spray to help secure the graphite and you're done. Leave to draw between coats. To recap, we've learned how to create depth with the flyway strands of hair using soft and sharp elements. We learned how to lay out the freckles using different grades of pencil, creating several changes of tone, size, shape, and appearance. So enjoy finishing off your portrait. I'll be showing you how to capture the best photo to use your socials next. 23. Image Edit for Final Photo: I always spend quite a bit of time taking the final photo as I want an image that represents my work as I see it in hand. For this lesson, I wanted to give you a few tips on capturing a beautiful photo. So you can either upload it to your socials or send it to clients. If you're taking commissions. The incoming daylight has the ability to change it dramatically. Even if I place a drawing under an overhead lighting rick, it can end up being too bright and highlight the grain in the paper, making the whole portrait look gray and nothing like the smooth blended portrait I've just spent days trying to achieve. Even natural daylight can sometimes give a strong blue or orange tint to the whole photo. Depending on whether the day is overcast or bright morning or evening, Sometimes I find I get a really good result which needs no editing at all. If I take the photo just a couple of hours before sunset. More often than not, I find I need to first find a location in the studio which provides adequate lighting, take a photo, then make a few minor adjustments with the editing tools on my phone to get that image looking as close to what it looks like in hand. I actually go through this process before final adjustments and detailing as well, because I want to be sure that my values are spot on before detailing, especially if someone has commissioned a portrait. Once I've captured the right photo and made a few minor edits, I'll place a reference photo alongside the photo of my drawing either on my desktop or an app like layout and study the images for any discrepancies between the two. And then adjust where needed. In my studio set up, I find I get the best results. If I place a drawing a couple of metres away from the window and turn it slightly away so it's not facing direct sunlight. Unfortunately, the only way you're going to find out what works best in your own space is by trial and error. Everyone's working environment is different. So once I've captured an image with the right lighting, I always first reduce the warmth by about 35 to 40 and then increase the tint by the same. I don't like changing the image to just black and white. As to me, it seems a bit too harsh and doesn't give a true reflection of the work. If the high lights aren't as bright as they are in the drawing, then I'll increase the high light or the brilliant a little. For the dark values, I'll increase the shadows, or the black point by only around five to ten. Be careful not to change the darks too much as the image can begin to look a bit pixelated. Same goes if changing a contrast. The contrast can either make an image more vivid or can mute the tones for a more subdued feel. To recap, we now know that direct light or bright daylight is maybe not the best condition to take a photo. When you're ready to take a photo of your portrait, first find a position around the workspace that doesn't provide too much bright light. If it's an overcast day, that may well be directly in front of the window. But if it's a bright day, you may need to find an area slightly away from the window. Once you capture a good picture, first talk of the warmth and tint on your phone. And then adjust to highlight some blacks until you're happy. Have a play round with your photo and see what appeals to you. I'll be waiting for you in the next video where we'll conclude the class and remind you of just how far you've come throughout this process. You should be super stoked at your achievement, seeing a bit. 24. Conclusion: Hey guys, welcome back. Once again, as we conclude this class, I just wanted to give you a huge pat on the back and congratulate you on making it through the whole class. It was a massive undertaking and I hope you found a process as rewarding and enjoyable as I have teaching it. We've covered so many topics that I hope will help set you on your path to becoming a great artist. You've learned how important patience is in regards to realism and how to use and layer different pencil compositions to showcase a full range of values and consistency in tone. The latter is not only important for commission based portrait work, but is a great skill set to have for all kinds of pencil art. You now know how to achieve super smooth skin blinds and authentic looking here. And you have a greater understanding of what makes a good reference photo and how to study that reference photo before drawing. You also know how to make and use a value scale chart and how to evaluate values throughout the process. But out of all the topics we covered, I think the key takeaway that I'd like for you to focus on going forward is patients. If you master patients, there'll be no limits to the realism in your creations. So please don't forget to upload your drawings to the class. I'll be so excited to see them as will your fellow students. So can't get some love. Also, if you'd like to come introduce yourself on Instagram or Facebook, hit me up. I'd love to hear from you. I'd also love to follow your journey. And if you send me a photo of a portrait you completed before you took the class alongside this class project, maybe I can post them together on my socials. I'll be uploading more classes over the coming year, like how to draw curly hair, how to draw pets, and possibly even hyperrealism. If any of those interest you then do feel free to give me a follow so I can keep you updated. But in the meantime, have fun putting your new skills to work and take care.