From Zero to Portrait

1. Intro.: Hello, everyone. And welcome to from zero to portrait where I'm going to show you how to draw a pencil portrait from start to finish, I'm gonna show you how to draw the shape of the face, how toe ally new features and how to place them. So they are in proportion with one another. How to add that special detail to create realistic features Eyes, the breathed life and lips. They're so realistic, you could touch them. I'm also going to show you how to joy hair, how to create movements in your hair, how to fill in those hair strands. Overall, you're gonna learn how to draw a very realistic pencil portrait. All you need is a sheet of paper, pencil and eraser. 2. Getting The Shape Right: I'm going to start by drawing a vertical line down the page and then I'm going to place my marking for the top of the head. And then I'm going to place for the end of the eyes or the bottom off the eyes, the nose and the chin. So from the end of the ice of the nose and the nose, the chins roughly about the same and then from the top of the head to the eyes is about double were just estimating for now, then, just below the halfway mark, from the top of the head to the eyes, I am going to allocate where I'm going to place my eyebrows just below the halfway mark. So this is going to be where in my eyebrows will be. This is the end of my eyes or the bottom off my eyes. And then there will be the nose and then the chin and the top off the head rights here And now we're going to draw our face from the top of the head to the chin. I am going, Teoh, draw a curved line because all the way round to the middle don't make it us smooth like an egg, but it is an oval. Shape the shape off the face, Fix your alliance, make sure that they look right to you. And then on the size you have years just roughly draw shapes of ears. We will go back in later. And then this is where my eyebrows that going to starts and then the ends and that will be the knows that will come all the way down to there. I'm gonna draw the eyebrow. It's wider on one end and then slims out as you move to the end to the opposite end, and then you have your eyes below. I'm going to move the way I placed my nose. I'm gonna move that line up because my nose was far too long and then below I'm gonna have my lips. So if you feel like you knows, it's too long or too short, just changed the position and trying to make every feature proportional to the next. So now we have eyebrows, eyes, nose in a lips. This is our face or an idea off the face. And I'm going to join in the eyebrow. I'm going to start by drawing in the little hairs and how you draw these there. Short, curved strokes. Imagine cross blowing in the wades. That is what they should resemble, except they are thinner and sharper. And that is why I'm using a mechanical pencil, mechanical pencils, the best pencil, my opinion for drawing little hairs and last shows because it's very shop and you get that refined stroke. If you do not have a mechanical pencil, just use a regular pencil, but make sure that it's very sharp. So just filling in the shape of the eyebrow with all diesel hairs, they can go in whatever direction you want. They can move from left to rights or from up and down. But just keep them curved because it gives, like, a smoother look to the overall shape and then a thins out as he moved towards the end. And now you're gonna take some tissue paper. You gonna fold it in half like so, and then you're gonna fold it again in half, and then you're gonna fold it again in half, so you have this pointed end unfolded again. It's just like a triangle shape, and it's easy to hold, and now we're gonna dab right onto where we had, where we have destroyed the eyebrow, the little eyebrow hairs you just dabbing and what that does. It's smooth the edges and then we go back in the drawer writes on. So this is a technique for building a layer, and it's gonna give that effect or impression that the eyebrow is fulls with lots of tiny little hairs aside. Then you go back in and you dab again. You might have to repeat this about twice or three times, and then you have an eyebrow. 3. Drawing Eyes and Lashes: he starts with the eyelid folds that is above the I just a lying that copies the top of the I moving across. And then, just below that, I'm going to start drawing the eye, and the eye is shaped like a leaf. One side is rounded, the other side is pointed. If you have difficulty drawing eyes, I have a lesson that teaches you how to easy draw eyes when you are using pencils. See you around in one end and it's pointed more point on the other end. And then you draw lines for inside to draw the corners of the eye inside like this. They just fill that end, shaded in shade in the corners of the eye. And then I'm going to draw the bottom lashes short, curved strokes for the bottom lashes using mechanical pencil. If you don't have a mechanical pencil, he's a very sharp pencil for the lashes. And then I'm gonna draw the iris inside of the eye, and I'm gonna leave a distance between the bottom of the iris in the bottom of the eye. The iris does not touch the bottom off the I inside the iris. I'm going to troll a very small, tiny circle. And then I am going to allocate areas inside the iris whim going to shade in. Pretty likely you want to pick about three areas inside your iris where you're not gonna fill in when you shade in so that it looks as if light is being reflected off you. I and I'm shading in using an HB pencil. Then I go in with my mechanical pencil. So you want to start by shading in with a regular HB pencil because it creates very a very smooth, shaded surface. And then you go in with you mechanical because that will make it's much darker. Or you could just use a regular to be pencil if you wanted. And then with my tissue, I just dab inside the I very gently and softly, because I don't want the I two look flat. I wanted to look talented, so that means that the edges of the iris will be quite dark, and then it will be a lighter shade, as you moved was the middle. Now I just want to fill in the corners of the eye, make the docker and then go back in with my tissue and smooth that in with emotions. So this is to make the I'm look more rounded and then for the top lashes. When you're drawing in the top lashes, keep in mind the word wispy. You want this? You want to movement in your top lashes, See one that's be longer and curved and more with speed. So they're movers of there are very curved and they fin so keep that in mind. And then I just feel in a fickle line rights above on the top line off the of the eye in the top edge of the eye that gives an impression off there being many more lashes than you see. Define the lashes. And then now I'm going to move back to the eyelids. So you have a lying for the eyelid fold that follows the I. And then I'm just going to shade in the bottom of the I very lights lee so that I get that roundness inside the I wanted to look like an eyeball, and how you make things look rounded is you shade in the sides, the bottom and the top and then below the eye. You have that lying that again also follows the shape of the I and then with tissue, is gonna dab right below the eye to create that shadowed area. Smoothing that area outside looks like it's part of the skin s'more smoother but shaded in and then on the corner, off the eye with the nose. It's the I. I mean, you shade in just above the corner of the eye, on the opposite end, close to the end of the eyebrow, and then with my tissue, I smooth all of that out, so it looks more shaded in and you have your eye. 4. Shading In The Nose: now for the nose. First I raised what I had drawn before so we can start a fresh and learn Sure. Curved lying's for the sides for the size of the nose. And then the nostrils aside, I'm going. Teoh, explain later on a bit slower, but I was gonna draw out the shape of the nose. I said, I know how wanted to look. I've been allocated where I'm going to shade in all around here is where my shadows are gonna be. Okay, so now I'm going to draw the nostrils. When a place, some tissue paper over the ice, I don't smudge as I'm drawing. So the nostrils, like a lazy s the stops from the end and comes in to the center and then at the end to shade in a slim oval shape. Just fill that in, and then you do the exact same thing on the opposite end a lazy s that meets in the center in the middle of the nose. So it creates this dip for the nose in the middle. Then you shade in the end for the nostril right here. That's how you do it. And then with your pencil you shade in around the tip, off the nose and just outside the nostril so that it looks as if the darkness is coming from inside some way and flowing outside. It says darkness pretty dark inside the nostril. Then it shades out lighter and you shave around the tip off the nose and just above the nostril. If you make a mistake, he just to raise. So just outside, over here on the sides, right on top and on the opposite side, on the size on the top of the nostril and on the tip off the nose, you gonna shade that in and over here. So on the sides of the nose in the middle, you leave that clear. And then with the tissue I just smudged all around. Creating the shape off the nose is pretty rounded, see shade on the bottom and undersized to create that rounded effect and to make it look more realistic. Then I go back in my mechanical pencil and I define the lines right around the sides and the corners and for the site of the nose. If you see the end, the end doesn't touch. It doesn't touch the tip it just sort of flows into So right over here, it doesn't touch the tip of the nose. Just leave a little bit of space and they want us to be pretty dark right on the tip. And that will create a bit of space between the tip of the nose and the rest of the face. And it makes the nose look more like us, protruding out off the face instead of looking flats. And now I'm going to shade in on the corners. Better on here. And you just follow the shape off the I. It's sort of like a C shape. So it dips in, it comes out. If you make mistakes, you just wrap it out gently. And then I'm gonna fill in with my pencil on the size of the nose and Angulo strokes meaning from side to side. Not circular on the side, off the nose, going straight down, meeting the nostril. And then I smooth doubts and try to create a sloping effects with the shading M. So looks, you know, like the nose goes up, so you just smooth that. Repeat the process if you need to. If you feel the shade your sheeting and was a bit like just go back in to fill it in with the pencil. Take it to shoot a smooth it out again. And it has to look like the sides of, like, a hills its slopes right down. And then you repeat the same thing on the other side, shade in from side to side thes lines very soft and lightly. And in the middle of the knows, I'm gonna leave a strip Clear writes down the middle off the nose and I'm gonna shade in on my sides of the nose and then in the bottom at the tip. And then I raise any mistakes. If I feel like I've shaded in areas where I wanna keep a bit light, sir, I'm gonna go back in and I'm gonna read. Define those lines. 5. Adding Detail To The Lips: just below the nose. You have that area where sort of dips ends to shave it in in the straits, lying that's longer on one side of the site. It's a bit shorter, very simple, very lightly. And then now we're gonna move on to the lips. So I'm gonna first start by just roughly drawing out the shape of my lips. And I want my mouth to be open so I'll be able to see the teeth inside. And, of course, the middle of your mouth. The middle fuel lips should fall right in the middle of your nose and in the corners should be slightly longer than the with off your nose to draw your lips. Go up and then you tips in, and then it comes Stone, and then at the bottom is going to draw a lot of curves right across. And then for the bottom lip. It's less defined when you compare it to the top lip, and then it's a rounded bottom, like a boat, and then you have your teeth to front see than the site teeth and the chief. You don't need to maketh, um, we don't even need to be exactly the same inside the bottom lip. I have these tiny lines, the joy. See, I didn't say tiny, but the curved lines inside the lips. And I also added some bottom teeth. I'm going to start by sheeting in the bottom, off the top, hole it on the edge very softly, a circular motions. So it looks as if you have, like, these little hills that run across the bottom of the top lip. Make sure you can clearly see those lions go up the clearly defined sections so shaped that in and then shade in the top off the bottom of lip very softly and gently. And then the bottom off the bottom lip because you want to create around it, effect you around. You make things look grounded by shading in the sides, the top and the bottom. So I shaded in over here, going to the opposite end to the corner and then I'm gonna fill in the top lip really likely much lighter than at the bottom where first shaded in and I'm moving from the bottom up in those motions. Grab May to shoot, and then I'm going to smooth it out, and you want to make your lips look rounded. See you smoothing it out from the bottom to the top like a rounding and creating 11. Redefined those lines and then just go back and smooth out all of that pencil on the top off the bottom lip, and then you go back in and draw in those tiny lines inside the lip, the bottom lip. Draw them out pretty darkly because we're gonna be shading in a lot. And then also on the top lip, you draw little lines. Very likely. And they would go back in and we smooth them out. Circular motion. Very smooth. Try making your lips look rounded. Go back in and draw those lines again. Repetition In order to create depth and to make the lips look much more realistic, fill in those lips with tie lines. Then you go back in and shade with, um, the regular pencil right across and and I've left the right side clear on the edge. 6. Drawing Inside The Mouth: we're gonna draw the inside of the mouth. I'm shading in with my pencil in between the teeth and again. Your teeth do not have to be identical. That can be irregular shapes in regular rectangular shapes. No one has perfect teeth, so you can even have gaps in between your teeth if you want. I think a gap in between the two front seat would be really nice to give it character men. I'm just redrawing the bottom line here and on the top here just to make it darker and more defined and clear. So doesn't blend in with the teeth when I shake them in, gonna go back in and shade in the corners and inside just to make a docker so you want the corners off your mouth to be darker than the center inside the mouth. So the darkness moves from the corner and from the top and the bottom. That's where you wanted to beat the darkest it. Just fill it in right across and they make sure I don't float into the teeth. I want to keep the teeth white and clear for now, and I want them to be clearly defined and now we're gonna shade in the teeth. You start off pretty lightly because teeth a wise we don't wanna shake in very dark. And you just shade in on the sides and on the top, off the teeth, very lightly on the sides and on the top teeth. A pretty simple to draw adds to shade and and then for the bottom teeth also. And I'm gonna just redefined the line. And then with the tissue bill ended all in smooth. All of those edges go back in and you fill it in again because we don't want the team to love to smooth. It is quite a hard surface. And I want that to come through. There you go back in and you just dab a little bit. You just keep repeating and it will look more like a surface. Here you go. There are a lips 7. Filling In The Face: for the size of the face. I'm going to draw and fill in the cheekbone, and then I'm gonna shade all the way down from the cheekbones to the bottom, off the face running to the chin. If you look at the face, you will have shadows on that side by the cheekbone of someone has very prominent cheekbones. Fill that in and I smooth it out with the to shoot on the side of curved shape by the year , and then a goat dips in and then comes out straight down to the chin. You're not sure of exactly where the place is. Just look at your face or look at a picture and you clearly see where to shade in and where to fill in the face. In order to create a realistic portrait, fill it in and then I smooth it out and you wanted to be pretty smooth. And you wanted to follow the curve off the cheekbone and we only gonna still in on the sides. And we're gonna leave the sheikhs clear just on the side of the cheekbone and on the side of the face, you could start off pretty lightly. You smooth it out petition. You go back in and you fill it and again and right on the size of the chin. That is where you're gonna place your shadows. Two creates a realistic looking face and by the eyebrow on the temple just, um, shorts, strokes and by the chin over here on the side and do the same thing on the other side of the face. Follow that direction off the cheekbone, so starts from the ear and it moves along the way down to the chin, surrounded around the ear and very smooth and by the side off the chin. I have shortened. My chin was a bit too long. Been in a still in the bottom very lightly, and I'm going to fill in, also on the sides of the chin. Then I smoothed that out. As you can see our faces coming along pretty well, and it's starting to look quite. It has a lot of expression, which makes the overall picture quite interesting. Gives it a featuring character, some just refilling those areas with some more shadow. Then I smooth it out and again leave your do not shade in inside, off your cheeks. Only on the outside to shape and give for an impression off the cheekbones. By creating that shape, smooth it out and on the sides off the face. And the key when drawing portrait is not to shade in all over the face, their certs in areas certain points on the face that have more shadows than others. And it's very important to understand where to place your shadows. And your shadows are usually on the sides of your face around the cheekbone, the low the chin on the sides of the knows. That is where you will find the most shadow and just above the corner off your eye and very lightly above the I over here, I'm gonna fill in with Cem shadow on the sides of the face, so runs to the top of the head, so it drowns up the head to the shape of the head. I never want to fill in the shadow at all over the face. When the leaf certain areas unshaded and clear 8. Easy Ears and Drawing Hair: I'm just going to quickly draw the ears in a very simple way. I'm going to draw the outline off the shape and I'm not gonna focus in any detail because the opening off the ears is gonna be covered by the hair with my pencil just shade on the edge. And then I just leave to areas clear just to make it more three d and then a shade the hair . So with the ears, don't think about it too much. Just follow the shape off the ear and then shade on the edges. And now I'm gonna do the hairline with my mechanical pencil. I'm gonna drawer the hairline, and then I'm going to create a sense of parting right in the middle, off the heads for the hair. It's gonna fix my line. Just make sure it's exactly how I want it to look. And if you look on the airline, you'll have, like, little hairs right in front. So I'm gonna add those my mechanical pencil, tiny little strokes. And over here I'm just going to draw random strands. I'm gonna have some strands of lights Earth than the rest of the hair. I guess you can say sort off adding highlights to hair. That's what I'm drawing in. And then, with my to be pencil, I shade right across and then with my tissue, I blur. So it's nice and smooth and blurry. And then I'm just going to outline on the edge with an HB pencil right on the edge here by the face, just to make it easier. Because HB pencil smaller than a to B pencil and then with the mechanical pencil, which is also HB, I'm going to draw strands. Fine strand all across the shaded area and try to follow a direction. If you look, it looks, it's of the hair is curved. Don't you conduce straight if you want, but if you make it curved If make the strands curved, it gives movement to your hair to try and do that. As you draw in those fine strands of here with your mechanical pencil, right across the to be shaded area and then with my HP pencil, repeat the process, drawing more strands right over, make it really quick and with speed, okay, and then I start again with the TV pencil shading and where it's clear. So you started for the to be. Then you go in with mechanical when you go back in with you. HB the to be pencil, you just shade in any pattern a random way that you wanted and you blurt it out with the tissue you draw in the strands of the mechanical pencil and then you could repeat that persists within HB pencil makes it much darker. 9. Finishing Off: and I'm gonna add some shadow below the head right in the corner here. My mechanical pencil. Just a the current line. I know my regular HB pencil. I just shade on the sides and right below the chin, curved strokes right below. Following the shape off the chin and then my tissue, I blended up to create shadow below the head and on the neck, right on the curve in the middle of your neck. You're gonna place that shadow and you only shade from the chin. 23 courses down on the neck. Don't shade all the way to the bottom off the neck. I'm gonna short to my chin. So keep in mind to make sure that all of your features air in proportion with each other right below the chin You have the shadow she just shade that in It will create the impression of a distance between the head and the neck. If you have, like a darker area right below the chin like this and it's always good not to start shading really dark. It's always good to layer in case you make mistakes names to ensure the color line and on the edge of the color you are going to have shadow to show that there's distance between the skin of the neck and the collar itself. That's why we shade around here right on the edge of the color. Just shade very softly, right over and then on the other side, the same thing. I'm just gonna joy in my color with details. You don't have to do this part. You could just draw the head and the neck. That's it. But I'm just gonna add a shirt and with shirt you don't even have to shaded in. Realistically, To be honest, you could just leave it like that empty like draw the lines and then not fill it and was shading. It's up to you. I'm just gonna go all the way. But I'm really happy with the results off the picture, everything came out pretty well and I hope for you it waas justice pleasing to if it wasn't , don't worry about it. Just try again another time portrait. Take practice. They really do. It's about I almost want to say you get what she put in because it really does take practice. But it's absolutely rewarding when you see the finished product, the finished picture, some just shading in the color. And then this is the final results. I hope you guys enjoyed this class. Thank you so much for taking part in its If you did enjoy it, please share it with others. And, uh, if you followed along with me, I would love to see how your portrait came out and really would really, really would you control a portrait of anything that you weren't even draw polish of a picture or if yourself or friends. But just try and use the techniques that would demonstrated in this class. It's is designed to make the process of drawing faces easier. Thank you so much, guys, and take care.