Transcripts
1. Welcome to the class!: Portrait sketching doesn't
have to be perfect. It just has to start somewhere. Hi, everyone. My name
is Anakashivdas. I'm an artist from India and also a self taught
portrait artist. For past two years, I've
been working with portraits, and honestly, in the beginning, it was a little intimidating. But with time, I discovered a few methods that made it
much more approachable. So that's exactly what I'll be sharing with you
all in this class. This class is all
about helping you take your first steps towards the
world of portrait sketching. We'll go through three beginner friendly methods to
sketch portraits, namely the grid method, the Loomis method, and
the free hand method. This class is for anyone who's
curious about portraits. Whether you're a
complete beginner, someone who's just started sketching or even if you
just want to give it a try. This class is close to my heart because
being self taught, I know how confusing it can be when you're figuring
out things on your own. I have been through
that process, and now I get to help you
find what works best for you. You don't need to
know anything about portrait sketching
to join this class. Basically, we'll be starting
from the very scratch. I'll walk you through
everything step by step, so you don't have to worry
about any pre skills. Each section will begin with a short explanation
of the method, followed by a hands on portrait sketch using that
method as your class project. By the end of the class,
you'll have created three unique portrait
sketches and you'll start to discover which
approach works best for you. Now, without any further delay, let's move on to know
more about the projects.
2. Project: Let's talk about the
most exciting part of this class, your projects. So throughout this
class, we'll be creating three different
portrait sketches, each based on one methods
that we'll be learning. So basically, one we'll
be using grid method, another using Loomis method, and the last one using
free hand method. Each time we learn
a new technique, you'll also be
sketching along with me to apply what
we have learned. So these step by step portraits are going to be your
class projects. Once you have finished
the sketches, I would love to see them. So in order to
upload your class, scroll down to the
Project and Resources tab right below this video. Click on the Create
Project button, give your project a title and feel free to upload
photos of your portraits. You can even share your thoughts
on what you have learned during each method that's
always lovely to read. Don't worry about
making it perfect. This class is all
about experimenting, learning, and
finding your style. I'm really excited to
see your portraits and how each of you would
interpret these methods. So pick your pencils
and let's get started.
3. Materials: So before we dive into
the sketching part, let's take a quick look at the materials you'll
need for this class. You can keep it really simple. Any sketchbook or paper
will do for this class. So I'll be using this watercolor
sketchbook from rostro. It's 25% cotton, cold pressed, and also is of 200
GSM thickness. Now, as you can see, it has a pretty good texture that I personally
love to sketch on. So if you look closely,
it's not that smooth, but it's quite textured. And instead, if
you would like to go ahead with a smooth surface, you can use any drawing
sheet instead of this. And if you're not a
fan of sketchbooks, feel free to use any loose
sheets that's available. Now for the sketching part, I'll be using these
two main pencils, namely the two H and B pencils. I'll also like to keep
a mechanical pencil nearby just in case if I
need to add any details. For erasing, I have
this kable eraser. It's great for lifting heavy strokes and also
for correction purposes. But if you don't have one, you can use a regular eraser. And finally, a scale
will come in handy, especially while
you're working with grid method, and
that's all you need. So keep your tools ready, and we'll begin with the first
method in the next lesson.
4. What is Grid Method: The grid method is a practical
tool to help you break down a complex image into
small manageable parts. It involves drawing a grid over a reference and recreating the same grid on your paper to copy what's inside each
square of this grid. Well, this method helps you capture proportions
accurately, especially if you're just
starting out or working on a commission piece where
likeness really matters. It's often used for realism, painting prep, or any portrait where precision is the key. So you'll find the
grade method most useful when you're working
on a detailed photo, when you want to
scale a portrait from small to large or
even vice versa, when you need accuracy without relying on structural
drawing methods. Here are three key
things that you'll have to remember while
using this method. Keep your grid lines
light and clean. Make sure the number of rows and columns matches
the reference. Focus on each square as
its own little drawing. You don't need to think of the whole phase at
once at this point. Simply break this down
into small squares as you have seen in the grid and copy it the same way as you see. Now, as you can see, I had made a grid manually
on the reference, following which I did the
same one on the sketchbook. Using these squirs,
I then worked on the portrait
squire by squire. So these squires are going to be your ultimate guidelines
in this method. So if you're a
beginner, make sure you don't rush at every squire. Take your time,
analyze each squire, and then sketch your portrait. And now that you understood
how grid method works, let's move on to applying it. So we'll be using a reference
photo and using that, we can sketch a portrait
square by square.
5. How to make Grids: Now let's first understand how to make the grid and
set it up properly. First, using a ruler
and a light pencil, you can start by drawing a rectangle where you
want your portrait to be. Here, as you can see, I'm taking the full length
of 14 centimeter. My grid will have 1
centimeter on each sides, so I can divide this without much calculations into 14 parts. Similarly, for the width, it will be up to 12 centimeter. That's the maximum space
I have it on this side. So I'll draw a rectangle with
these measurements that is 14 centimeter in length
and 12 centimeter width. Now using 1 centimeter
measurements, you can mark small points
at every 1 centimeter, both lengthwise, as
well as widthwise. So while using your ruler, make sure that your marks
are straight and even. These squares will be
your basic guidelines. So make sure you
draw them neatly and in a way that's
more clear to you. Now, once you have
finished marking, you can connect these thoughts. The horizontal
lines are now done. Now for the vertical ones, I'll mark the 1
centimeter points again and then connect
them vertically. Once the main grid is done, to be even more precise
with the details, let's add the diagonal lines. In the same way, you can
mark the diagonals of any particular square and then elongate that line
throughout the grid. Always make sure that the line
that's passing through is connecting at every diagonals of the squares that's present. So I'll start off from here. So again, here, you'll
have to make sure that the diagonals are
in a straight line. So before marking the line, make sure your scale
is aligned properly. By following this, I'll cover
one side of the diagonals. As you can see, I'm
not working too much on the corners or sides
of the total grid. That's because I know
that the reference would be concentrated
in the center. That is the details of the face would fall
around the center part. So that's where I'm keeping
the diagonals right. Once this diagonal
part is complete, I'll move on to the other side. Following the same steps, you can go ahead and mark the diagonals and
then draw the line. Once all the grid lines and
diagonals are complete, mark the numbers on the grid. You can number all
the 12 columns and 14 rows. As
you can see here. This will make it easier
to refer while sketching. So not just the two sides, I'll also mark on
all four sides. Now that the grid
is set and we know our portrait will fit
inside this rectangle, let's move on to
preparing the reference. The first step is to
choose a reference image. Once you have downloaded
your reference, the next step is
to crop the image. To do this, measure the
height and width of the space where you want to sketch on your
sketchbook or paper. Then calculate the
ratio and crop the image using an online tool
or your phone editing app. Now for making the grid, I'll be using this
drawing grid application, which you'll get it
for free on any store. Now that we have the app
and the cropped image, let's talk about how
to add the grid. The first step is
to load your image. You can upload it
from your gallery or wherever you have saved it. Once the image is loaded, the first thing
you need to do is to turn on the Squires option. After that, add the number
of columns and rows. As discussed earlier, I'll
set it to 12 columns. Now, the rows will be
automatically set. Next, let's set a
visible grid light. A light sheet should do. Also, you can reduce
the line width to the thinnest or
lowest option available. You can also add digal lines as well as grid
numbers if you like. Once everything is set, you can now export your
image for your final sketch. Now that the reference is
also ready with a grid, you can mark the
important points. You can start by marking
the key features. So based on the columns, around the third column, you can see that the year is starting and around the tenth
column, the year would end. So accordingly, I'll mark
on both the opposite sides. Now, among the rows, the first row is where the
top of the head would end. Now, around third row, you can mark the hairline. Around the sixth throw, you'll have the eyebrow line, and the seventh, you'll
have the eyeline. Around the ninth and tenth, you can mark the nosline and
around tenth and 11th throw, you can place your mouth. Finally, around the 12th
throw, you'll reach the chin. Now that you have all the
important guidelines, let's start the sketch.
6. Project 1: With the grid created, let's start sketching the reference. There is no rule
that you'll have to start from one particular
point or side. It's completely up to you. So you can either start
working from left to right, top to bottom or anything
that's comfortable to you. So based on the marks
we made earlier, I'll start off with this ear. Here you'll have to
treat each box like a small square and sketch inside it based
on the reference. And also, in case you want
to keep it more precise, you can consider
the triangle as we had divided the square
further diagonal. If you find the entire
reference a bit complex, forget about the full
picture for now. Just focus on one
square at a time and fill it in a way it
appears in the reference. So here I'm simply not
going from left to right. I'm first trying to figure out
the outline of this space, and following that,
I'll add the details. As you can see, I had first
started with just an outline, but later on, I realized
it was a little tricky. So instead, I'll be
working once again from the other ear with
more details now. Now before moving on to that, you can slowly see the head
shape coming together. You can keep checking
by comparing with the grid box numbers in case
you feel missing something. Again, you don't have to
just simply draw outlines. If you come across
any shadows or any prominent minute
features in your portrait, make sure to add them
on your sketch as well. So these will actually help you to understand the
proportions even better. So you can see that I'm
marking the shadows as well. Now, after finishing
the basic phase shape, I'll move on to
sketching the eyebrows. You can carefully check the grid numbers to place
the eyebrows correctly. Now, when you reach the
prominent features of the pace, make sure you look into the grid properly and analyze it before
you even start sketching. You can also take the midpoint of the box or the diagonals that intersect in between
the square as a guideline to draw various
elements in your sketch. Here, not just the diagonals
and the straight lines, even a single dot or the
midpoint of any diagonal or any square will serve as a guideline for you to
mark these features. So as you can see, I had used this point to define
the eye properly. And most importantly,
do not rush. This technique requires a lot
of your time and patience, so just don't rush with it. You can relax a bit, take your time, and then
sketch it out. Now, as you skitch
through the grid, always keep cross checking
with the numbers in the box in case you
feel something is off. And most importantly,
don't forget the shadows. Now, after completing the eye, I'll move downward,
connecting the grids, and finally reaching
the nose part. As for the nose, notice that it does not touch
the bottom line, so it lies somewhere
in the middle. Make sure you don't miss these minute parts
because this can play a crucial role in assigning the features properly
onto your sketch. So by taking your time and understanding the
correct grid placements, you can sketch the nose part. And most importantly,
do not forget the shadows as it
is very important. And they also bring the
portrait to life in most cases. So make sure you mark that
as well in your sketch. After the completion of nose, I'll connect the lines, and as you can see, it's connecting
towards the other I. The same way, I'll mark the
I just like we did earlier by identifying the
referral points and sketching it accordingly. Most of you might
have noticed that we started with one eye
went down to the nose, and then we're back
at the other eye. So basically, I was
connecting the lines, not just the lines, but also the shadows to reach still here. So I'm just stressing
it out once again that shadows really help
while using this method. So in the same way, I'll
finish off the eye. Whatever you feel is needed
for your sketch, be it, outlines or shadows, go ahead and replicate it by following
the grid carefully. Mm. Now, once I mark the overall details in
the upper part of the face, I'll slowly connect
the nose towards the bottom part in
order to mark the lips. Now for the lips, notice
where the center of the lips is placed and how the corners
line up just above it. Now, before finalizing the lips, I'll add the connecting shadows to build a better structure. Once the entire
sketch is complete, if your pencil strokes
are light enough, you can go ahead
with a able eraser to gently erase the grid lines. But if your guidelines
are too dark, just like mine, you can use a normal eraser to
remove them completely. Now after cleaning up, I'll switch to a darker
pencil and start shading over the sketch
that we have just made. As you can see, the paper is quite textured as a result of which even a simple shading is bringing a huge difference. So wherever I find
light and dark shadows, I try to market using
my pencil here. You can simply outline your
reference that would do, but here I'll go ahead
with the sketching part. You can follow along or you can wind up at this step itself. As you can see, I have used different levels
of pencil strokes to get this shading effect. So let me break it down to
you in a simple way possible. Here are the three main values. The lighter shade was
around the nose area. The mid tone shade was around
areas like ears and eyes. The darkest shade was
for the deeper shadows, like for the eyes, hairs,
and also the lips. Now with that our first project using the grid
method is complete.
7. What is Loomis Method: The omis method is a
classic technique used to construct the head and
face using basic forms, starting with a
circle and building out the structure step by step. It's one of the most helpful
approaches to understand the anatomy and proportion
of the human face. So here I'll be using the
skull to study this method. Don't worry, I'll help you understand this method in
a step by step format. So if you look at the skull, the top part of it resembles
a part of a sphere. Not completely, just the top
portion appears like that. So that's going to be
our first guideline. Using that, I sketch a circle around the
skull in this manner. Now, as I proceed,
you can see that the side part of the
ears is quite flat. If you slice the
sides of the sphere, that's how these
sides would look. But before we do that, let's
mark the central axis, which passes through
the middle of the face, connecting the middle
of the eyebrows, the nose, and also the chin. This line is what's going
to be the central axis. Now if you divide the
circle horizontally, you'll get the guideline
for the eyebrows, which I'll call the brow line. Now, as I had mentioned earlier, let's chop off the sides. It's roughly going
to be two thirds of the circle on both the sides. Additionally, if you drop a vertical line
from these ovals, it's going to give
you the part which will be visible to
us from the front. I'll mark that part later on. Now, by connecting the top and bottom part of these two ovals, we'll give us the guidelines for the hairline and the
nose line respectively. Now for a proportional phase, it is said that the distance
between the hairline and the brline is the same as the distance between the
brline and the nose line, and again, the same from
the nose to the chin line. So these three are
vertically equidistant. So that's how we can
get our chin line. Now, dividing the
entire vertical line into half will give
us the eyeline. And for the mouth, if you divide the bottom part that is from
nose to the chin into half, it gives us the line
where the mouth ends. And generally, the years would lie between the
prose and the nose. Oh You can also see that the cheeks are on different plane in
order to show that you can connect the end of the eyeline towards
where the chin ends. So this is the basic approach
to the Loomis method. This method is not just helpful for understanding
portrait references, but also for sketching portraits
from your imagination. Now using this method, I'll quickly show
you a demo of how to do it for
imaginary portraits.
8. Project 2: Now let's start with
our second project. So here's the reference.
First of all, let's start with
studying the reference. As we discussed earlier, the lumous method starts
by drawing a circuit. So the center of the
circle will be at a point in between the eyebrows. Now, around the center, you can mark equal distances both vertically
and horizontally. Notice that the circle
won't reach near the years because that
area is quite flat. You can also measure it in order to get an
accurate reading. Now using these points, you can make a circle. Before you start
practicing this method, you can do a few
boom up sessions by drawing some
free hand circles. Drawing free hand
circles would actually help you improve with
your free hand sketches. Next, once the circle is ready, you can draw a central axis. This will actually pass
through the center of the eyebrows and
goes down the nose. Once that's done, I'll draw the eyebrow line which
is across the eyebrows. Once you have completed
till this much, you can then chop off the sides for that
you can start from the tip of the eyebrows and then start by drawing
an oval shape. You can continue the same
on the other side as well. Once that's done, we can
divide the sides vertically. So basically, that will give you where the face would end. Now, if you connect the top and bottom parts of these ovals, you'll get an idea
where the hairline, as well as the nose
line would be. Now you have all the prominent guidelines except the chin, so you can mark the
chin line accordingly, and following that, you can understand their relationship. For that, you can measure the distances between the
hairline, eyebrow line, nose line, as well
as the chin line and understand which
one is bigger in size. So as you can see,
the first part is quite smaller
than the second, while the second one is further smaller
than the third one. Now, if you divide
the entire length into half, you'll
get the eyeline. Similarly, if you divide
the bottom part into half, you'll get the central
line for the lips. Again, the top part
if you divide, you'll have an idea
where the lips would start and on
the other half, if you divide it further, again, you'll get an idea where
the lips would end. Next, you can
connect the jaw line and make sure where the jaw actually takes a bend that is approximately near
the mouth line, so you can mark it accordingly. Once it's done, you can start
by marking the features, that is the eyebrows, for the eyes, you can
simply mark the oval shape, and now from the corner of the eye, that is
the inner corner. If you drop up perpendicular, you'll get the
width of the nose. Further, if you bring it down, he'll get where the
chin would end. The corners of the
lips are roughly aligned with the inside
edges of the iris. You can drop a straight
line down from the iris to get the measurement. Now you can add the
remaining features. I'll mark the neck here. And similarly, you
can mark the years in between the eyeline
and the nose line. Once that's done, you can give
the shape of the hairline. Now for the final part
that is the cheek plane, you can draw a curve extending
from the eyeline down towards the chin on both sides in order to
have an idea of it. With that, the
guidelines are complete. Now we can move on to
the sketching part. So you can follow
the same guidelines, but this time in
a larger format. So I'm drawing the
circle quite big so that the entire portrait fits
nicely within the space. Once the circle is
done, you can go ahead and mark the central axis. In order to find that, you can start by marking
the central point of the circle and you can draw a straight
vertical line through it. So this would give
you the central axis. Next, if you divide the
circle horizontally, using the same central point, you'll get the eyebrow line. Now, if I divide
the upper half of the circle into
three equal parts, the second point will show where the sliced part
of the head ends. The same happens for the
bottom part of this circle. So by dividing this way, I'll get both the hairline
as well as the nosline. Basically, these are
the points where the oval shapes
would actually end, the ovals, as in the
ones we had chopped off. If you look at the
demonstration, I hope you'll understand
it much better. Following that, you can now
divide them vertically. As we had seen earlier, the forehead section that is the first part is smaller
compared to the second section. So since here the
forehead looks quite big, I'll slightly reduce its size. Now for the chin, I'll
extend it a little more because the bottom part needs
to be the biggest one here. Next to mark the eyes, divide the vertical
line into half. So that's where the
eyeline would fall. Following that, if you divide the bottom part again into half, you'll get the central
line for the lips. In the same way you
can add the ears. Once you have finished this, you can slowly shave the hair. Now, one by one, let's
start placing the features. First, you can start by
marking the eyebrows, which ends approximately
at the tip of the ovals. Now for the eyes, I'll go
ahead with this oval shape. And as we had seen, if you
drop a perpendicular downward, you'll get the width
of the nose as well as the width of the chin. Now with these, I'll
add the jaw line. Here again, you can connect
the features that are nearby. So I'll also mark the neck. As we saw earlier, if I
divide this part into half, I'll get where the top
part of the lips would be. And if I divide the bottom part, you can see this is where
the lips would end. Now I'll roughly mark
the iris like this, so I'll have an idea where the corners of the
lips would be. In the same way, you can check the reference and add
the remaining features. As you can see, I'm
adding the hair. So here is an
important reminder. It's completely okay to make mistakes because as you can see, I noticed a small
proportional mistake, so I rubbed off the entire
top part and corrected it. So I want to remind you that mistakes help you learn better. So always feel free to fix them. So correcting your
work means you have understood the concepts a
little more clear this time. So feel free to make
mistakes and learn from it. Now, just like the guidelines as well as the reference that
we have just studied, I'll mark the features. So it's not just the prominent features like the eyebrows, eyes, nose, and lips. The shadows also play
a very crucial role. And most importantly,
from time to time, try to understand the
proportions of your reference. In case you find any
mistake in between, make sure you correct it before
you proceed any further. You may not notice it now, but as you can see, the
nose is pretty long here. It should have been
a little shorter, so I've decided to remove that
part and shorten the nose. So in this way, I'll add
the details for the nose. Since every feature
is connected to one another in some
way or the other, it's always important
to cross check with the other features if you change anything which you
have already done. So as you can see, the bottom
part has now changed a lot, so I have to erase it off completely and start
fresh once again. Now, as I proceed,
you can see that it looks much more realistic
than the previous sketch. Instead of saying realistic, I would say that it's much more identical to the reference
that we have started. Now, if you look closely, the corners of the
lips are quite dark, so you can mark a dot this way. So wherever required,
you can add the shadows. I have a small trouble
sketching eyes, so I normally keep
it at the very end. Even though I give some shape
for it in the beginning, I try to modify it
towards the end. Now, as soon as you see
the eyes completed, you can see that the picture
is coming into life. Now for the cheek side, you can simply shade that area. Next, you can proceed
with the hairstyle. So you can look at the reference carefully and break it down into simple shapes so that it would be easier
for you to sketch. For the hair, as you can see, I'm drawing it with
a textured look, so I'm using this technique
to add depth to the hair. Now, as you can see, these
are not straight hair. Instead, these are braided ones, so I'll use this texture
to fill in the hair. And most importantly,
I'll give some space between them so that it
looks a little real. For the bottom part as well, I'll carry out the
same technique. Now we have almost
finished our sketch. Now you can remove the
guidelines using an eraser. Once that's done, you can
further add some details that is a final touch before
you wind up this project. I'm also using a
mechanical pencil to make it even
dark at some areas. So this actually enhances
the contrast of the sketch. So here's something
important that I want you all to
keep in mind that the final picture that
you're drawing may not be 100% identical to the reference, but it can be close enough. So remember, it takes
time and patience to make it look
even more accurate. So simply focus on
understanding the concept, and once you keep practicing it, you can see improvement in
your sketches day by day. So don't worry if your sketches aren't exactly like
the reference. Giving it a try is
all what matters.
9. What is Freehand Sketching: Freehand sketching is all about trusting your eyes
and also the process. It's the most intuitive
and flexible method of sketching where you directly observe your
reference and recreate it on your paper using
visual judgment. Freehand sketching builds
your observation skills and also your visual memory. You become more confident
in identifying distances, angles, shapes just by
looking at your reference. It's also a great way to explore your personal
sketching styles, as well as keeping things
spontaneous and also creative. Freehand sketching is
perfect when you're working with quick
portrait studies, when you want to sketch
without any technical setup, when you're capturing
a moment or emotion rather than
exact likeness. It's all about
connection and flow, not just precision
in this method. You can see the one I'm
sketching right now. It can be considered as an
example of this method. There was no guidelines drawn. It was simply a direct approach. So I usually begin with features that are
close to each other, so it helps me
connect them easily. But in a simple way,
I can say that I use these features as
my ultimate guidelines. I try to read the reference using the X and Y coordinates. These coordinates are to
be understood visually, not by working it out manually. So as you can see, I have started with the nose
which became my anchor, and then I move
towards the eyes, keeping their distances in mind. Then I extended it upwards to the forehead and
sidewards to the ears. From there, I sketch the mouth, just below the nose, and slowly build the face around
these anchor points. So basically, it's all
about how you relate each feature with respect
to their distances, angles, and also orientation. Will definitely take
some time to master it. But once you reach
there, it's probably going to be a great method
to sketch portraits. So even if you're
not able to reach 100% accuracy right away, make sure you practice, and you can slowly see
the difference. Now, here are a
few things to keep in mind while
sketching freehand. Take your time observing
the angles and distances, so don't rush as soon as
you connect the features. You can use one
feature to relate the others like
from nose to eyes, eyes to mouth, and so on. You can use light
guidelines to mark approximate places during
your initial practices. And most importantly,
don't aim for perfection. You can aim for flow
and proportion instead. Now that you have
understood how freehand sketching works and
how to approach it, let's get started on a
portrait using this method.
10. Project 3: If you're wondering
why the sketch is already present, well, actually, I had already
started this sketch, but I forgot to click
the record button. So anyway, I'll be
redoing the sketch now, but some of the earlier strokes
couldn't be fully erased. But anyway, let's begin. So here, as I explained, I want you to analyze
the reference here so that you can visualize
it as I proceed. It might take some time and probably only after
a few practices, you'll be finally able to get a good command over
this technique. So don't force yourself to be 100% accurate with your sketch. Instead, try to connect the features in a way
that would help you sketch the reference easily along with enhancing
the prominent features. So first, I shape
the nose slowly. Once the bottom part of the
nose is done, I move upward. Can also add light
shadows as you go to connect the
nearby features. So shadows do play a
crucial role here. Now, to understand how
long the nose should be, you can carefully
absorb the reference. So compare the length
of the nose with its width and the overall
placement of the face. For example, if I
mark a point here, it looks too long compared
to the width of the nose, but if I shorten it a little, it fits much better. So I'll fix that point and
continue with the other side. And most importantly, if you
feel that something is off, it's completely okay to
erase and correct it. So slowly, you can connect the shadows upwards
towards the eyebrows. Next for the eyes, if you look
closely at the reference, you'll notice that
the eye do not start exactly at the
tip of the nose. So they are placed
slightly inward, so you can mark it accordingly. As you can observe that
the width of the nose is roughly equal to
width of an eye. So you can first
mark the measurement and then go ahead
with the details. So again, I'm not using
any guidelines here, just directly looking
at the reference and drawing it as
closely as possible. So this free hand
method might feel easy for some while
tricky for others, but trust me, once
you get a hang of it, it's really going to be fun. So in order to improve, you can practice few
freehand sketches from random references. Maybe limit yourself to 10 minutes per sketch
or something like that. So this exercise will boost
your improvement a lot. So give it a try
whenever possible. Now, as you can see, I have finished the sketching
of the eyes. Feel free to erase any unwanted or rough
lines whenever needed. Now, above and below the eyes, I'll add the folds and shadows to make it
look more realistic. Now, if you observe
the eyebrows, they are not very curve. They run almost horizontally. Sketch the eyebrows following that straight line just like
you see in the reference. Now, after completing
this eyebrow, you can do the same on
the other side as well. You can draw the eyebrows with a lot of details if you want. So based on how it
looks in the reference, you can go ahead and sketch
it in your sketchbook. If you find it time consuming
at first, don't worry. I'll get easier with practice. Now that the upper part is done, let's move to the bottom part. So you can start by
shading the bottom part of the nose and then move on
to sketching the lips. So understand where
the lips bend and how they align
under the nose. So when you're
sketching freehand, you'll have to visualize them mentally rather than
sketching them down. So I'll add a little
shading onto the lips, too, so that it gives
you a nice depth. Also, I'll add slight shadows above the lips to show
the moustache area. Now, normally the
distance between the hairline iruline nose
and chin is almost equal. But if you look at
this reference, the forehead is a little larger. The nose is slightly longer and the chin area
is about medium. So accordingly, I measure and adjust the placements
of the features, especially using the nose
length as our guide. You can connect
any nearby shadows as you observe them
in the reference. Next, near the eyes, sketch the hairline
on both the sides, use the coordinates as well as the reference points to
sketch it correctly. There's an important
thing. Free hand method is actually a combination
of grid and Loomis method. So that's the reason why we have kept it at the very end so that you already have an idea about these two
mentioned methods. So if you know the basics
of sketching well, you can do all these
calculations in your head even without needing unnecessary guidelines on your sketch. So focus not just on
the main features, but also the shadows. They can actually add a lot of value and depth
to your sketch. So as you can see, along with
these prominent features, I have added almost every shadow that I see in the reference. Now, the chin is almost set. I'll mark some
shadows around it. So if you notice
any darker areas, understand that they are
because of an angle. Here around the chin, you
can see that there is a particular angle at which the shadows are being present. So understand the angle first and then proceed
with the shading. Now, once the
shading is complete, you can already see that the
picture is coming into life, and now what's left
is to add the jaling. So take your time
carefully analyze the reference photo and try
to match it with your sketch. Next, you can place the ear. Now, if you look carefully, I'm adding shadows to
the neck area as well. If you look carefully,
this would add a lot of meaning to this area
because of the shadows, it gives you a proper
depth for the neck. So follow the shadows
because it's going to be really helpful for all the methods that
we have learned. So look at the reference
and understand where the shirt is placed and
then add them accordingly. Now just around this area, I'll mark the hair
on both sides. Now in order to mark the hair, look how the hair is
in the reference. As you can see just
about the center part, you have it curved towards one side so you can understand the measurements
and then proceed. Now, once the basic
sketching is done, let's move on to darkening the required areas
using a softer pencil. So if you find this step
a little difficult, just focus on darkening
the eyes, nose, and the corner of
the lips that would actually enhance a
lot in your sketch. Here, as you can
see, I have marked all the prominent
features a little dark. Now for the hair, I
have added more depth by varying the strokes according to the
shape of the hair. So I'm adding all these details in order for you to understand that we can even reach till
this limit of shading. But if you're a beginner, if you don't find it comfortable, you can simply stop
with the basic shading, stop with the basic shading. But every time, make sure you compare the
reference and then understand where
the dark strokes and the light
strokes are present. So accordingly, you can
mark it in your sketch. Now, as you can see,
for the moustache, I'm adding a little more detail. So now with this, our last
project is also complete. This sketch may not
look exactly like 100% copy of the reference, and that's completely fine. What matters is that you
capture the likeness of the reference and slowly improve the free hand skills
as you proceed.
11. Wrap up: Finally, we have come to an end. Thank you so much for
joining this class. It really means a lot
to have you all here. I truly hope this
class helped you take those first steps
into sketching portraits. Whether you tried all
three methods or just one, you have already
made a great start. I'd also love to
know how you felt about this class so you
can drop your thoughts, reflections, or even
your favorite method down at the Discussiontab. And if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I'm always around
and happy to help. So when working on your project, don't put too much
pressure on yourself. Doesn't have to be perfect. Just focus on understanding the method and
practicing it with ease. Every method requires
time and patience, so keep practicing it,
and eventually you can see yourself improving
with each sketch. So go easy on yourself, enjoy the process
and keep creating. Once again, thank you
so much for being here, and I'll see you in
another portrait class, which is going to
be a colorful one.
Anagha Sivadas, Artist, India
