Fundamentals of Portrait Drawing From Beginner to Intermediate

1. Introduction: Are you fascinated by the art of portrait drawing? Do you aspire to master the skill of capturing the essence of a person's face on paper? Look no further. My comprehensive class on drawing realistic portraits with pencils is here to guide you through the process step by step. In the first chapter, you'll learn how to maintain facial proportions in your drawings. Understanding the correct proportions is crucial for creating a convincing resemblance in your portraits. We'll explore techniques to accurately measure and sketch facial features, ensuring your portraits are both anatomically correct and visually appealing. Moving on to the second chapter, you'll explore the principles of drawing a face with a black pencil. From shading techniques to creating depth and texture. You'll learn how to bring your portraits to life with the power of contrast and light manipulation. Join me on this artistic journey and unlock the secrets to creating stunning portraits with pencils. All you need to get started are the Simpleus tools, an HB pencil, a B six pencil, and some paper or cardboard. Don't miss out on this opportunity to master your skills and elevate your artwork to new heights. Enroll in my class today and embark on a rewarding adventure in the world of portrait drawing. 2. Full Face And Half Face Proportions: Hello, welcome to a new episode of Sketching Tutorials with me. Well, as it turns out, it's time to create a complete phase. But before we do that, we've got to go over some rules and to see how the measurements are in a complete phase. How we should start a complete phase. And how we should figure out the distances between the eyes, the nose, the size of the two lips, and so on. So first of all, I consider my face as the shape of a circle. Say okay, this would be the circle of the face. This circle is actually forming and shaping the measurements of the face. I just divide this circle into four parts, Two parts horizontally and two parts vertically. Right in the middle. And the parts should be equal. Then I consider two, three of this area and I come down as the size of two, three of it. I'll create the chin up to here would be the nose. This area would be the placement of the eyes. Now from here I'll come down over here. I would also have the ears almost parallel to the eyes. Here would be the placement of the ears. It would be like that from both sides. Just like that my face is made just as easy as that. Let's do it one more time together. First we create a circle, then we are going to divide it into different parts. This time, I want to create the face with all of its parts. See, after creating a circle, I divide my circle into four equal parts, horizontally and vertically. Two for each. As the two, three, I come down. This is the placement of the ears. This is the jaw line which connects to the chin. Something that you should remember is that the face that I'm creating right now is in the front view. If the view changes, some things might be a bit different. This is the placement of the hair, I've already placed the eyes, it comes all the way to the forehead. Then I've got to place the nose over here. This is the placement of the nose. From the eyes to the end of our nose would be the area that we can place our ears. This would be the eyes, and above them would come the eyebrows. We placed them as you can see over here, I'd be placing the the distance between the two eyes should be as the amount and as the size of another eye. It would be like you have three eyes, but only you create the two ones on the sides. I'll just complete the nose a bit more showing where it goes. Let me just do it with a darker pencil so you can see it more clear and better. The eyes, the eyebrows over here. Moving to the nose. That has almost a very line of shade. I just want to give it a color, give it a shade around the eyes. As I told you, this line would be the area of my model's nose. And from here up to here would be the placement of the lips. See, the lips would be placed over here. And then you can completely shape your face beautifully. See, it's all done very easily. You just have to know your shapes and where each thing goes. Okay. Then from here I would have my model's hair on her forehead or his forehead, doesn't matter. I can just continue the hair down as much as I want. Okay, here it goes. Just as easy as that. With knowing about the proportions of the face, you can create so many different faces in so many different angles and views. All right, so these were in the proportions of the face when our face is in the front view. All right, then let's see how it is in another different angle. Again, my circle, I've created my circle like this. It's going to be a side view this time. Again, it doesn't matter. I divide my circle in the exact same divisions that I had in my previous one. The dividing method and sizes are all the same, exactly as I did before. Okay. I determine the placement of everything. The eyes, the nose, the lips, and of the chin. Here would be ending of our head. Now, if right from here, I consider this area as the ear of my model. This would be models, as I told you, from the eyes to the nose. From here we have the start of the jaw line. From here, that would be the front part of the chin. If I want to create it more specifically for you, this would be the eye area here we go to the nose area. From the nose, it comes down to the lips at last. It's got a curve and it comes out for the chin. This is the base of a side view face. We can see only one of each thing and not some things completely. We've got the eyebrows, the eyes in their own placement, It doesn't matter. It's just that this part should go toward inside a bit more. It should be more curved. All right, and the nose area. All right. Now if I want to do it with so much details exactly like my second model in the front view, again, I'll create a circle. I'll divide it into a half from each side. Then I'll divide it like this. Again, the eyebrows, eyes, nose, lips, and of course the chin. I'll do the basics exactly like I did in the previous model. Here would be the ear, the jaw line, and chin up to here. Okay, If the forehead comes toward inside, it shapes the scant basically then until the ending part of the ear would be the nose. Then it comes in again to create the lips show them more prominent. From here we've got the chin of our model like this right from here. Because I've got my models here all the way to here. I can have her here. We can actually see more of her hair because she's in the side view. Okay, I'll just erase these extra lines inside of the face so I can add my details in it and can create each part of the face compartment separately and completely from here we've got the eyebrows, the eyes, which should be placed like this. And then over here, the lips. Of course. Here I've got the area for the lips and then the chin. Don't forget about the ears as well. Now we've got two different views and two different angles, the front view and the side view. 3. Triangular Face Proportions: Now if I want to create my face in the three faces view, how would that be? This time I create a big circle so you can see better. It felt like the other four were a bit too small. I'm just going to create this one bigger. Yeah. This time inside of my big circle, I create another circle inside of it, which looks like an oval as well. I create an oval on one side. And then while I want to divide my circle, I do it equally horizontally, in a horizontal way. But when I want to divide it vertically, as you can see, I've considered two, three of the circle. And then I've divided that will be two third and one third. Then from the side we come down, we bring it to the jaw. This would be our jaw line. That oval inside of your circle would be basically the ear. This is a three phases view of my face. Now I want to start working on the face compartments and face parts. In this view, we want to see how it looks like in this view. All right, now at the end, at the bottom of the ear would be the bottom of the nose. So that there goes the nose from here would be the placement of the circles from the top of the ear. Obviously we'll have the eyes and above them obviously eyebrows. It's very clear. The placements are the same. It's just the angle that has changed and just a part of the divisions are different. Maybe we can see more one side and of the other side. So the nose area that goes in this way here we would have the area of the lips which are going to be created. All right. Now with my B six pencil, I'm going to fix and edit my model's face. Working on the eyebrows, the eyes after that. And here it is. Okay. And that's what I'm talking about. You say it's just easy. When you learned it, you've learned it. We are almost near the end moving on the jaw line and creating the basics of the face. Now this upper part of the face, the forehead, I can have my hair line and the hair, of course, here it goes, completing the hair. Then I'll erase all of these extra lines of my work so the main parts could show themselves better and more. And you can see it's actually coming together just as easy as that. You can create your faces in lots of different angles and views. That's how easily you can create a face in the three faces view, or the side view or the front view. I've told you all the basics that you need in order to do them. From here on, you just have to practice over and over again to get a handle of it and be more comfortable with it. Whenever you want to create a face, don't worry if the first or the second or the tenth draw of your came out wrong. Here are the proportions of the face in three different angles. 4. The Primary Sketch of the Lady's Face: Portrait Drawing Basics: Hello and welcome to the new episode of Tutorial with me. Okay, in this part we are going to create a whole face together and we are going to start from the scratch and we're going to learn how we can shade a complete face. Okay, so first of all, in order to save time, let's just copy our primary sketch. And dark in the back of our work, we're just going to copy this sketch. If you want to have a 100% similar face, then your printed model, you should definitely copy the primary sketch of yours and transfer it that way. But if you want to create your own face, or the faces which are imaginary in your head, you can do the primary sketching by yourself. Basically, the goal of this course, and even the goal of this episode, is for you to learn how to shade different parts of the face and in the whole face. The goal here is not to sketch and draw each part of the face by itself. I've darkened the back of my model, I've blackened it. Now it's time for me to fix my work from the top and the bottom. And then I start going and moving over the main parts of my models face. Just be very careful to create the eyes exactly as they are, the eyebrows as well. The area for the eyebrows, we just want to have a very normal and easy shading for this face. As you can see, it doesn't have any special textures or any specific out of the ordinary feature. It's the simplest one that you can work with. I should also move over the nose, the lips, obviously. Here we go. Don't forget about the jaw line which leads to the chin over here. I continue this line right until I get to the hair. Now from the top of her head, I start just going over some parts of the hair and specifically the part that the hair has started to grow, the scale part of the hair. Then I go over some of the hair and just bringing them down and I want to go over each one of them. It's not necessary in my primary sketch. I'll just check it. If I see all of the parts are transferred fully, I can start my work. I should work on this side a bit more. 5. Draw Eyes And Eyebrows: Okay. Now first of all, I'd be starting with my model's eyes. I'm just going to stick my model next to me so I can keep an eye on it while I'm drawing. But I can actually do it like this. I can fold my paper to focus on the eyes. I'm using my HB pencil at first and I start shading her eyes. My dear friends, I want you to tell you also some hints while you're working on the face. As you can see, I'm working on the pupil which would be totally dark. Then also this upper area and the surrounding line would be darker. Then with my HB pencil, I'm going to shade around this area to fulfill the pupil and the iris with the proper shades. Okay, then I'm going to complete the I. We're here as well, my dear friends. We are not going to use any other tools than pencil and eraser. I mean that we are not going to use any fader or anything This time, I want to show you that even with a simple pencil and an eraser, you can easily fade and shade your work. This is the line for the upper eyelid. I shade I at the same time toward outside. See, I'm shading lightly over here. Just continue like this. Also from the lower eyelid. I'm going to do the same. I'm going to shade it, very faded. It's going to be shaded as you can see, but it is faded. At the same time I'm using some faded shades. Then I'm going to switch to my B six pencil. With my B six pencil. After I've sharpened it, I'm going to apply some more darkness, a stronger darkness for the eye. I start from these parts corners, the edges also this line over here, should be darker. The line for the upper eyelid should be darker. Then of course, I start creating the eyelashes. I create the eyelashes with my B six because they should be darker. Creating the eyelashes in a face and in the eye would be the last part actually to do in working on an eye. Do not ever do this mistake. Do not ever make this mistake that you first create the eye lashes and then work on the rest of the eye. It's not going to work first. You should complete your eye, especially the upper eyelid and so on. And then you should bring the eye lashes into your work. Be careful not to make that mistake. So from these sides, I start creating the shades for the lower eyelid, and of course it's eyelashes. Okay. As you can see, I'm doing it. All right. Then I start working on the eyebrows. I pay so much attention to the shape of the eyebrows. That's important here. When I've got that, I'm going to create my eyebrows with creating and sketching short and small hair. It should be like a hair texture. Then I switch to my normal pencil, which is lighter. I go over all of them. So it can also be a bit faded and blended. And also there would be no space left in between the hair. So I can also drag the darkness from behind the eyelid a bit upward, by the way. I'm sorry if I make some mistakes while I'm talking, because I'm just you there to concentrate on my work. Okay, now I'm going to move on the other side for the other E Again, for here I start from the iris and the pupil of the right eye as well, exactly as I did for this other E. The frameworking of the E and then the iris. And the pupil, I start with six here and only apply more darkness around my work. So here it goes. Okay. Then I switch to my normal pencil in order to create softer shades into my work. All right, from these parts I'm going to bring the darkness to inside of the eye, then all faded toward the surroundings of the eye. Do not forget about the corner of the eye. It should be darker and the darkness of it should be dragged a little toward inside of the eyeball that I move on to the upper eyelid, determining it with the line, then I am doing it with my normal pencil. After I've done it, I'd be shading it outward. And a bit of inward, it should be shaded and faded both sides. Also over here, I'm going to do some shades. And as you can see, my shades are actually being created with constant and very close hatches right next to each other, which creates a very soft shade for me. Okay, then I start creating the eyelashes. Here we go. Here we go Again, I'm going to create the other eyebrow, as you can see. Again, I'm creating this other eyebrow with the hair texture. It means that my lines are sharp at both ends. But of course, again, with my normal pencil, I go over it to make it more blended, leaving no white spots, and keeping the whole thing altogether. 6. Drawing Of Skin Texture: I'm bringing these shades from the corner of the eye and its surroundings toward the iris. And I also spread it from below the eye, even below the lower eyelid, creating this very faded and small line for the lower eyelid, separating it from the wrists of the face, then from the corner of my model's face, basically from the right edge of it on the right side of it. I start shading very generally. In this stage of shading, two things are very important. Pay a lot of attention to the direction that you're shading. And keep your hand pressure totally steady during this stage, so you can have a very general and cohesive background shade for the face. You don't want your face to be created in spots. You have to keep your hand pressure very steady. The only part that you can move darker is basically the edge of the face on the sides. As you can see, I'm constantly changing the direction of my shades based on the part that I'm shading. Okay, here it goes. I apply the shades and pallet stage by stage. I increase the darkness in my work and increase the color in her face. But I'm doing it layer by layer, not all of a sudden. So I wouldn't create any spots there, especially around the face and around the forehead. Okay, Now I come a bit lower on the sides and the bones and so on. I'll be shading the edges of the face so I'd be working on this darkness on my model's cheekbones. I also use this part for my model's nose. Say all the shades should come together. I'll just continue this way so I can get and I can reach the color and the shade that I want for the face. Here we go. Then I use the side of my pencil to shade all of her face with my normal pencil, and then I switch to my sketching pencil. And then little by little, I apply the darkness, which should be and the darkness, which I want in the places that I want. You're okay. Here it goes. Then for those, I'll do the same thing. Then with my normal pencil, I start shading from the size of the nostrils toward outside and create a very faded shape. Okay. Then little by little, I work on the darkness of the nose, the nose bridge, the tip of the nose, and it would be done. Okay. So here we go. Okay. This side of nose has more darkness. Therefore I'd be shading it more. Okay. So I am making more darkness over here. Also on the jaw line over here, even over the lips. Doing it all very slowly and only with constant had change shading. I create the dark shades I want as I told you before, I don't create the darker shades with the change of my hand pressure because that would leave spots and stains in my word. I'll create them with adding more layers of shade onto that area. See, for example, I'm going over this part again to add another layer of shade, and I can make it darker, so that's how it's done. Again, with my HB pencil, I move over my work in order to blend everything together and leaving no white unwanted spots. Okay? Basically, when I move on the shades with my normal pencil, I want the shades of my B six pencil to get softer and smoother. That's why I do this. Okay, here it goes. Here we go. So basically the same. I'm just working on different parts, but the process is the same. Just like me trying to bring the shades into your work very slowly, not all of a sudden. You can also add summer shades from the corner of the eye and making it just a bit darker. 7. Drawing Lips And Hair: Let's work on the lips, which are the only part left inside of the face. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the hair, but let's do them together first, I'm going to start with the line between the lips and a little dark area which shows the inside of the mouth. Then I go over and around the lips, I follow the line for the lips, and then I start with a normal pencil, shading these areas, basically shading my motto's lips. As you can see, I'm working more on the lower lip. Now you see even in each lip, I'm trying to shade both edges and keeping it lighter in the middle. Because that shows the prominent shape of the lips and the fact that the middle of the lip is definitely more prominent than its edges. We don't want to have flat lips. All right. Then I switch to my sketching pencil and then I apply the darker shades that I want over here. Then after that, with this pencil, I work on the chin as well. All right. So make sure to shade everywhere and don't miss any parts. As you can see, I've also kept a part of the chin lighter comparing to the parts surrounding it because I want to show that the center of the chin is a bit more prominent. That's why. Okay, now let's work on my model's hair. Before working on her hair, I should apply a darker shade over here for the side of her neck coming down. And it would be like this. Okay, We'll do the same thing on the other side as well. It should be symmetrical. I'll start shading from here too. As you can see, it would be darker beneath the chin and the jaw line because there we actually have a shadow of the face on the neck. That's why I'm doing darker around there. As I move down, it's going to be lighter. It's obviously darker on this side as I see it in my model. I'll do it and I apply it. Here goes the neck. Then I would also use my sketching pencil a bit more here, making my lines darker and maybe even a bit of eraser should be used. I'm applying the darker shade over here, that's why I'm using my sketching pencil. This contrast over here can also show the position of the head, which is definitely more in front, comparing to the neck. The neck is in the back, This area would have a strong and high contrast. Okay, after that, I start applying the hair. My models here, which come from both sides of her. Both sides of her should have here. I'm just going to first determine the placement, the general placement. Then I'm going to create them one by one. Here it goes. So I'll work on it like this. Still working. And there goes the rest of the hair. Okay, it should come down. As you can see, I'm bringing the hair down, it's moving all the way down. Try to keep the hair texture while you're creating it as well. The end should be definitely sharp. Be really precise about that. It's very important. All right, and here we go. Should also work on the direction of the hair as well. Okay. They bring some other lines over here, some of them are not even properly organized because, you know, some of the hair actually may come out of the wrist. That's what I've tried to show here. They shouldn't be all straight and all coming down. Try to do the same on this other side, creating some more here. As you can see, we have created a very simple phase and a very simple model with only two main tools, which would be the pencils and the eraser. That's all we've needed for here. Of course, I'm using this for now as well, but even with eliminating that, you can get your work to come together. This is just last and final touch ups. Okay, Now I'm going to use my Eta eraser at last for the last step so I can create some more light hair just to give it a better shape. I also use my black colored pencil here, just a little for emphasizing some of the dark hair among the rest. Almost we are done. We are done with it. And that's it. Okay. My dear friends, I hope you've enjoyed it and you can follow us in the next courses.