Fast & Effective Portrat Drawing in Pencil

1. Introduction: What is up guys? Welcome back to another class. This one is going to be all about how you can get an elegant looking portrait in as little time as possible. By forming the principles laid out in this class, you can get your portraits from looking more like this to more like that dally. This class is for beginners, but if you're not one, you're more than welcome to stay at home for the ride. I'm going to optimize the speed and everything from my choice of paper to draw materials, to my technique on how I start and end the drawing. All in all this drawing take me a couple of hours, but with enough practice these times to potentially be even lower. The materials used in this class will include a set of standard graphite pencils, a few different kinds of erasers, some graphite powder, water, a sharp in tool, and a paintbrush. Nothing extravagant, expensive. All items you can get in your local art store with little hassle. The focus of this class will be cultivating your observational skills and experimenting with the medium we have to work with. I'm not necessarily concerned with the final outcome as much as I am with you enjoying the process and learning how to do things in a slightly different way. It's going to be off for now. Let's get drawing. 2. Class Materials: The first and most important material is of course, your pencils. I'll be using primarily graphite pencils from Stadler, and in particular my HB, to forage pencils to maximize their effectiveness, you want to keep them very sharp with a nice long taper. Next I have my trustee needed eraser. Put simply tomaloble eraser that gives you added flexibility in erasing because of the variety of shapes you can mold it into. This one is from Faber Castell. The items on screen is a regular robie asa, as I'm sure most of you already know, you can find it in any stationary store. It's great for erasing large areas of the picture. My pencil sa I use when I'm trying to erase more precisely, and when it gets to be this small, I combine it with a pencil extender to give me more control for sharpening. I use a combination of my exact knife and this sharpening block by neutron. Once I have some of the lead of the pencil exposed, I roll it over the sharpening block like I'm demonstrating here till I have a fine point. Next material will be very important in this class, and that is graphite powder. This one is by crytic color and we will be mixing it with water later on to create liquid graphites That a byrupsd our materials. So let's get drawing. 3. Value Block-In: In this portrait tutorial, we're going to be focused on rendering the portraits. In other words, turning these two D lines into something three dimensional. For this one, I trace the outline onto paper, but you can free hand or use a grid as you see fit at the start. I want to mass in my darks. There are a few different ways to do this. In this particular drawn, I'll be using a combination of my brush and graphite powder and then some graphites mixed with water later on. For that last part, you want to use heavyweight drawn paper or painting paper to prevent buckling, I recommend 300 GSM or thereabouts. The idea here is to feel in the white of the paper and stay within the bounds of the outline as much as I can. I'm using the polygraphites only in the darker series of the picture, such as the hair, clothing, and shadows on the face. After that, I'll get my six pencil and go over those same areas, increasing the darkness and adding a bit of texture. Keep your pencil sharp often and vary up the angles of your strokes to really feel in the tooth of the paper. As I move into the facial features, I am identifying the large masses of value and developing them slowly and methodically. I'm not concerned with details like eyelashes or highlights, only the big shapes. It's helpful here to squint your eyes and focus on the angle B you see in the nose, we have a cast shadow and a form shadow, both of which are very close in value. Be careful not to exaggerate this difference by staring too deeply into that area. Point is one I will stress very often because it's much more likely, as a beginner, that you're going to exaggerate differences in value than you're going to actually capture how subtle things are in nature. Right there, I'm indicating this light shape surrounded by shadow using my pencil orsa. Before moving down to the right shoulder and adding value to this dark Halton Shep. I like to build my values through cross hatching for the sake of uniformity, sometimes by Scribble as well. Central to getting even values is consistency in your value application. You really don't want to be zigzagging all over the place with a pencil unless chaos is the look you're after In this moment, our value structure is very simple. We have a light shape, in dark shape, and some half tones. However, we must still group our values appropriately. The half tone values we have sketched thus far are lighter than our shadows, and this is a reality we must preserve to p up this video, I'll re establish some details like the earrings, after which I'll migrate to the left shoulder to create that sense of the form turning by darkening the values towards the edges. That's it for this one. I will see you in the next video. Bye bye. 4. Shading the features Pt.1: The blocking is officially over and the marks that will make henceforth will have the finish of the portrait in mind. I'll start by mixing some powdered graphites with water into a bowl. The ratio of graphite to water will depend on how dark you want the values to be. Experiment. To find what works for you, I'll use my paint brush and darken the values in the hair. My goal is to have one solid mass of dark value. With expressive strokes that indicate the presence of flowing hair strands. As I move away from the hair and into the clothing, I'll sometimes use the end of the paint brush on my fingers to move the graphite around before it dries. For some variation in the pictures aesthetic, it's almost impossible to erase this stuff when it, so make sure to leave light areas like the earrings and skin as the white of the paper. There is a temptation to relax and not pay much attention to your reference image when working in an area of the drawing. Simple, don't fall into the trap. At every moment of the drawing, you must be conscious of the marks you're making and whether or not they are adding or detracting from the beauty of the piece. In this moment, I've dialected some of my graphite mixture with more water to add somewhat of a design element to the background to these strokes and the spatter effects I'll create later on. To do this spata, just dip your brush in the mixture. Place the brush horizontally in front of your paper and strike it with your pencil. It's pretty easy to do and can make the piece a bit more interesting to look at. Putting the brush down for a minute, I'll start in the face by the right eye. Putting up the shadow values first with my B pencils. The attempting to increase the specificity of the contours AK, the outline of the eye shape. I'll purposely leave certain areas untouched, like where the eyelashes are catching lights and of course the square of the eyes, also known as the wight of the eyes. The eyebrows are a large mass of hair strands, but I will focus more on the value and shape and not worry so much about the details of it till later on. However, you should endeavor to follow the direction of the hair as you shade it for a more natural appearance. The left eyebrow is substantially lighter than the right eyebrow, so make sure to highlight that difference. In addition, keep track of your alignment using plumb lines. So to ensure you don't create asymmetries as you go in the left eye, the process is the same. Define the overall dark shape. Pull out the highlights of your knee, Teresa. And progressively define your half turn shapes from the darkest, lightest ones. Let's make a detour to the lower half of the face and connect the shadow values from the torso to the head. The shadow from this part of the face connected to the mouth is approximately the same value. So I'll make them the same for the sake of simplicity. In the nose, the cache shadow will be established first. As I darken that shape, I will also modify the outlines to better resemble the actual shape of the motto's nose. The edge of the cache shadow is one of the sharper edges in the face. So I will only soften it slightly with my lighter pencils. Moving on to the form shadow, I want to achieve a few things. First, it must be lighter than the cache shadow. Its edges, on average, are softer, and the shape must be precise to capture the essence of this particular nose. The lips together are a convex form, protruding out from the face. The lower lip is catching more light than the upper lip, and so its values will be less dark. In comparison, the upper lip, not including the shadow, is composed of two main values. A dark band of half tone, and these smaller lights are halftone shapes on the inside. Be careful not to make the values in this region too dark. Our light and shadow families more separate at all times. And halftone that encroach on our shadow will ruin this. The lower lip is basically two values, a shadow and a light shape. Towards the edges of the lip, the values get darker. And in the center we have the high lights. Now of course, there is a lot of contrast in this region. And on the bedbug line, we need an intermediate value to soften the transition between shadow and light. For me, a combination of my two B and B pencils get the job done. Returning back to the eyes, I will begin working on the ha tones inside the sclera. Although it is white technically, it should not be wide in the draw part of it closer and further away from the light source. Pay attention to those differences as you sheet on the inside of your eyeball. Start off with your lighty pencils and build your values gradually to avoid going too dark. Too quickly with the eyelashes, Loose chest marks. Well, you have to draw with your whole arm, and not your wrist, with a focus on brisk pencil strokes that resemble C curves. You don't want to connect three lines to form a curve if you can help it. You also don't need 100 eyelashes to convey their presence. Less sometimes is more in the left eye. Am rounded out the form with some light half tones. As you see, this is a very deliberate process which is belied by the speed of this time lapse. I'm constantly looking around my portrait to compare the values that I'm creating with the values that already exist. My approach to the eyelashes is the same curves in varying directions and bold confidence strokes. Now I'm ready to use my eraser to add some variety to the eyebrows. I'm trying to create the illusion of hair strands as efficiently as I can, and the pencil si is perfect for doing that. I'm sure you'll notice that this light shape has gotten lost in the fog, meaning it got too dark. So I'll lighten that area again and work on the edge surrounding it so it sits back in space without appearing like a shadow. This is the end of the first stage of rendering this portrait. We've established all of our shadows, some half tones in the eyes and mouth, and our outlines are looking as they should. The next stage, we'll begin to expand into a full range of values and draw nearer to a realistic portraits. I'll see you soon, bye bye. 5. Shading the features Pt 2: At this juncture in the portraits, I'm ready to develop the lighter values in the face. I like to create a base value with the twitch pencil and work my way from that base value. In addition, I'll use my brush to spread the graphite around for a more even finish returning briefly to the eye socket, I will darken the values around the eyes to increase the sense of roundness before migrating into the cheek. And adding some darker half tones to turn the form from shadow to light along the bed pot line under D in the forehead. I've identified this half tone shape which is darker than the surrounding values. Keying this value will enable me to better judge everything else in and around the forehead. As I work on the values here, I will pay close attention to the edges connecting to the hair. You want to keep those edges soft in general and perhaps lost in some areas. Use your for pensive to pull out some indications of hair to make that transition appear more natural To under, under, dot, under, under, under. I'll go over the entire face again and darken that as value to make it appear more natural and allow the lights in the eye to stand out even more. With the solid foundation to work from, I'll pull out the hand, life in the forehead by Pansy Leresa. Do my best to emanate the shapes and edges. I see my reference. You can get creative here by cross hatching or scribbling in the highlights. Fish remember to soften the transition between it and the rest of the case. The idea is the same in the nose. The highlight runs along the bridge of the nose and into the hide plane almost connecting to the high light on the left side of the cheek. Paco's attention to where this high light starts and ends to ensure the nose doesn't look out of sorts. On the right side of the nose, we have this dark hat on shape that's similar in value to this part of the forehead and indicates to us a downward facing plane relative to the light source. So make sure to acknowledge that value ship on the nose. I've noticed the transition from the form shadow to the light is too sharp, so I will round the form using the value in between the both of them. All the while keeping in mind the shape of the nose and the subtlety of transition that is required in the next video will continue to build upon this layer and finalize the major aspects of the rendering fees. Thanks for watching. Bye bye. 6. Shading the features Pt 3: In this stage, we're going to continue finding those value and edge relationships we laid down earlier. Right here I'm alternating between using my pencil and eraser to soften the transition between the form shadow and the half tones in the bottom plane of the nose. Once I'm done here, I'll proceed to the chin to do much the same thing. The key to good transitions is using the right pencil and keeping a light hand while doing so. All the while losing track of the contours in that region by extending the value beyond its bounds. This will require some practice. Ultimately, to perfect in the left eye, I'll use my erasers to call out the highlights and go over that section with my two H and forged pencils to adjust its shape and edges. We have the triangular highlights on the left cheek. It's about the same value as all the other highlights and has around its fairly soft edges. Take your time to carve out the ship correctly and integrate its edges with the rest of the face. Below the nose, we have the thotrum, which is a depressed vertical groove. You don't need to do much here other than indicate the highlights around its borders and your brain will fill in the rest. Even a unified tone is important for realistic looking skin. Periodically go around your drawing, remove dark spots with you need s and fill in the white of the paper with a light pencil to harmonize your values better. You want to maintain an attitude of dissatisfaction throughout the drawing process, so don't be shy about going over areas you previously worked on and changing them drastically. If you feel like there is room for improvement, it won't always translate to something better, but you will not know if you don't try this file to the drawing. I'll sometimes hop around different parts of the picture, altering things that call my attention as in need of fixing. It's very important to step back often and squint your eyes so you can see the portrait as a whole and notice errors that might escape your vision. When you're close up, we are always moving from defining our larger forms to our medium forms and ultimately our smaller forms moving away from the face on the left shoulder. The average value of this region is like two steps, two steps darker on the value scale than the average value of the face even though the values are compressed here, meaning the difference between the darkest and lightest areas is small. We still have ingredient from the outside to the inside of the form. I'm doing a lot of crosst, trying to smooth out my values and suffer edges, especially as you move out from. I'm also darkening the values in the hair and modifying the shapes of the earrings to appear more natural. Refinement is the end goal. Scan your eyes across your reference and your drawing, Look for areas of incongruency and make those corrections as you see fit. If there is a problem, it will likely be an issue with the proportions, edges or value. So be patient and trust the process. 7. Shading the features Pt 4: Right now I'm adding some highlights to the jewelry and re establishing the presence of the necklace the model is wearing. As you can see, the reference is all pretty blurry. So you don't want to make those marks stand out too much. Keep the contrast in that region low. I'll continue to soften transitions in the face, especially along the cheek and nose. Using my lighter pencils to reduce some of that grain and give the portrait nye sheen. Not much will appear to be happening on screen, but it's micro adjustments like these that can take your portraits to a new level. So be patient and take the time to go through the entire phase and find areas in need of improvements. On the right shoulder, we have the shadow shape. That's a continuation of the shadows we sketched in earlier. The borders of the shape have already been established, so all you need to do is build up its layers till it's dark enough that when you squint your eyes, it sits back in space and merges with the other shadows. Also, don't forget the hoop earring, which is casting an oval shadow in that same area. The earring itself is an elongated C curve that moves from light to dark, emanating from the center with the highlights in the middle. Its edges also move from sharper to softer, fall on the same pattern, sharper in the middle, and softer towards the ends. The happens in this section are some of the darkest in the entire picture. So make sure to cross reference the rest of your drawing in relations to what you put down here in the background. I'm trying to create some attractions to my new Teresa to add some variety to the marks already present. There's no procedure here, just me moding my Teresa in different forms. I see how that affects the background. We finally made it to the end of this draw. While this was intended as a sketch, the fundamentals of good drawings still apply. The journey is a continuous process of trial and error, repetition and long hours at the easel to get ourselves to a competent place and eventually mastery. Take a day off looking at this drawin, put it aside and return back with fresh eyes and see what else you can improve. For me, this would be the eyebrows, particularly the right eyebrow, which I feel are not well designed. And the shape of the nose, which lost some of its character in the rendering phase. That's it for this video. Thanks for watching and I'll see you on the next one. Bye bye. 8. Class project: Your class project for this one is very simple. Create a portrait of a man or woman with a single dominant light source. Using the techniques you learned over the course of this lesson, your reference photo should be well lit with a clear light and shadow distinction, high resolution and properly exposed. Take the drawing one stage at a time. First completing the initial blocking. Adjust your pencil, and then introducing the liquid graphite in your darker shadows. I suggest using paper with a good amount of texture and a bristle brush for your choice of brush in this drawing should endeavor to always go from dark to light as you build your values and keep in mind the overall light effect as you do so. But that said, like all good things, practice is key, but not just practice, deliberate practice, analyze your work after the fact and make sure to note areas for further improvements. Thank you all for spending this time with me. Best of luck and I'll see you in the next one.