Transcripts
1. Introduction: Are you one of those
people who have always dreamed about drawing portraits, but think only experienced artists
can draw a person's face? Hello, my name is
Matheus Macedo, and I'm a specialist
in realistic drawing. I have been teaching
drawing for years to students of all ages
and experience levels. In this class, I will
show you how you can draw portraits using a very
simple methodology. The goal here, from
start to finish, is to simplify the process
of drawing a portrait. We are going to draw
portraits in in front view, profile view,
three-quarter view, and with the head
tilted it up and down. In each of these videos, I'm going to use
a reference image that will be available
to you to download. All references will be drawn with
pencils and eraser, but I will take the
opportunity to show you some complementary
materials that can help you as an artist. This class does not require from the student a previous
knowledge or experience. If you're not used to drawing or haven't drawn anything
for a long time, this class is for you. After all, the goal here is always to simplify
the process. Are you ready to become
a skilled artist through a simple method
that anyone can apply? So take your pencils
and paper and let's draw!
2. What we are going to draw: In this video, I'm
going to tell you about the project of this class. In this class we're going
to watch a series of videos on how to draw portraits
in varied positions. There will be a total of
five different positions: Front view, profile view, three-quarter, and with the head looking upward and downward. Each of these portraits can
be done in about 30 minutes, at most one hour, depending on the level of
detail you're going to put in. For each position, I'm going
to use a reference image. Each image will be
available to download, but you don't need
to print this image. You can look at it
from a screen like your cell phone,
tablet, or computer. In each of the videos, I'm going to show you
structural lines, and these lines have
didactic purposes. As I said, you don't
need to print the image and draw these lines
over the photos, for example, we don't
need to do that. The purpose of these lines is always to show
you how you can simplify a portrait into
some basic geometric shapes. The goal is that you
internalize this structure and, every time you look
at a person's face, you'll be able to
imagine the structure. So, in these videos, we're always going to
follow a process in which we are going to draw
the reference image and you'll see these
structural lines projected on the reference image on the side of the screen. You'll see exactly what I am imagining when I'm
drawing that portrait. Later, you will be able to imagine
this structure on your own, and you'll be able to draw
any face in any position. What images will be
used in these studies? Well, I chose my own images,
being then five altogether, one for each position, and if you are a beginner or
a little less experienced, you can use the same images I used and draw them with me. Then as you finish this class, you'll be able to take any reference image and
draw it on your own. You will have the structure of
each position internalized and you'll be able to apply
it to any reference you get.
3. Materials: Well guys, In this video, I'm going to talk
about the materials that are used in this class. My goal was to create a
class in which we could draw all these studies using the simplest materials
that everyone has at home. In fact, only two items are
essential, pencil and paper. The paper I'm going to use, it's a common one for
printers in A4 size. The studies in this
class are done in half of A4's dimensions. I'm going to fold
it in the middle, and this corresponds
to the A5 size. This size is enough. If you have a
sketchbook, that's cool. It is cool that you use it
to keep your drawings with you, and you can see your
progress over time. If you want to develop
the habit of drawing, it's a good idea
that you have one. Any graphite pencils for this class will do.
Personally, I have some graduated
pencils here, and I will use the
HB, B, 2B and 4B. If you have a pencil
a little lighter like the HB and a darker one
like the 2B or 4B, they will be handy. However, if you don't have them, you will be able to
draw the portraits anyway. If you have an
eraser, that's great. After all, we all make mistakes,
and a common eraser will do. I like this common
plastic eraser, which is a pen eraser. I like it because it's a
little more precise and I usually shape its tip
using a cutter knife. Since the plastic eraser
leaves crumbs when we rub it, I like to use a small brush
to spread and clean the drawing. I use a flat brush with
long bristles for this. Avoid blowing the
crumbs over your drawing or you risk
to spit saliva on it. This is a kneaded eraser, it's a very interesting eraser. We can mold it in different shapes and clean our drawing in different ways. It has the advantage
of not leaving those crumbs that a common
plastic eraser leaves when you erase anything. On the other hand,
you cannot erase very dark traces
with this eraser. At most, you can
only lighten them. It's a quite cheap item and I think it's worth
having it anyway. So these are the materials
that we'll use in this class. Only paper and
pencil are essential. The other items are optional.
4. Three-quarter view - Structure: Hello everyone! So here we go. Let's draw our first portrait, and it will be drawn in
the three-quarter view. You can do it in
the size you prefer. In my case, I chose
to do it in A5 size. It corresponds to
half of the A4 size. I'm folding the paper
in half as you can see. Then using the masking tape, I'm going to fix the paper on my desk and you can fix
it on a clipboard as well. It's always good
to fix your paper so that it doesn't
move while you draw. At least I prefer to work this way. Now, let's draw. I always outline the sketch
using a lighter pencil, and in this case I will
use the HB pencil, which is what I have here. Before drawing, I like to delimit the space
that the drawing will occupy. That's why I'm marking
the extremities here, the upper and lower, so that
I'm placing it on the paper. This step, we'll set the
size of your drawing and you can use the margins
of the paper as the limits. This procedure will set the
size of your drawing and you can use the margins of the paper as the
limits if you prefer. By this method, we always start
the portrait by a circle. This circle corresponds
to the skull, let's say the upper portion
of the person's head. I recommend that you hold the pencil a little
further back. Not holding it too
close to the tip, but closer to the
end of the pencil. That way you won't put your hand in front
of the drawing, so you will always see
what you're doing and at the same time you'll have more lightness in
your movements. You will also use more the
side of the graphite lead, which allows you to
make lighter strokes, and later we will
erase most of them. It is important that these
strokes are very light. Now it's time to draw an oval that corresponds
to the side of the skull. It's as if we were
picking up a ball and making section in its side. In terms of height, this ovall will have
a lower height than the circle we initially made.
In relation to the width, the ovall we'll
start in a corner of the circumference and it will end in the outer
corner of the eyebrow. Here, I'm going to use the eraser a little
bit to eliminate the excess of lines I did when sketching the
circle and the oval. Now I'm going to draw a
line that corresponds to a vertical axis that cuts
this oval in half. The green points on the
left of the reference are the points I use as a
reference to draw the axis. Then I draw a horizontal line that will cut this
vertical line in half. This line corresponds to the
axis where the eyebrows are. From the lower green point, we're going to draw
another line parallel to the eyebrows line that corresponds to the point
where the nose starts. On the opposite side, in another line parallel to
the eyebrows', we will have a line that refers to where
the forehead ends. In most faces, the distance
between the chin and the nose is the same as the distance from the nose
to the eyebrows' line, which in turn is equal
to the distance between the eyebrows until the
end of the forehead. So you can repeat the distance from the lower point of the nose to the eyebrows line and transfer the same distance down between
the nose and the chin. You can use the pencil itself
to take the measurements. But if you prefer,
you can use a ruller. The next step is to
draw an axis that will pass through the middle of
the face from top to bottom. To trace this axis, I will mark two points. The first will pass
between the eyebrows and the second one is located
in the center of the chin. From the chin until
the eyebrows' line, it is going to go straight. Then it will follow the
curvature of the head. Now, I'm going to sketch the lower portion of the face that
corresponds to the jaw. And you'll observe that I like to use straight lines initially. I do it simply
because it's easier. I'll take care about the
shape of the face later, but right now we're focusing on drawing only the structure. Try to pay attention
initially in two things. First, where the jaw line is being split there
on the left side, and also note that on the right side, the
line starts on the chin and goes up to the
eyebrows line directly. This line that I'm drawing now coincides with the division that exists between the lateral and frontal
planes of the face. It is slightly curved and
then goes from the chin to the outside corner of the
eyebrow on the left side. At this point, I already have the structure of
the head sketched. Now I add the structure of the neck that
supports this head. I go and draw it with straight lines because I
find it easier at first. Remember to keep drawing
the lines very lightly. So, I keep on using the HB pencil. Keep holding the pencil a little further back to have
more lightness. and I'm also using the
graphite lead side. A common mistake among beginner artists is drawing the
neck sometimes too narrow. Don't underestimate the
size of the neck, okay? It will make a difference in the general look
of your drawing. And that's it! We have the basic
structure of our drawing. Now, I'm going to use the kneaded eraser to
remove some lines. But remember that it's
still important to keep these references so that we are going to draw
the face from them. If you're not sure yet which
lines are not important, don't worry about it and don't erase any of them
at this stage. If you believe this structure looks a bit complicated,
don't worry. It's just a matter of
you practicing more. After you draw 5, 10, 15 portraits, you will realize that this
structure we'll stick to your head and you'll no longer find it hard to
remember the steps. At that moment, everything will become more natural
and you will know exactly what
you will be doing.
5. Three-quarter view - Parts of the face: The first part of the head that I'm going to draw is the ear. Notice how it is contained in one of the quadrants
of the oval. Notice also how it goes beyond
the borders of the head. A common mistake is to underestimate its
size. Don't do it. Using this structural lines we have we can draw
the nose as well. The nose is on a plane different from the
rest of the face. It goes beyond the frontal
plane of the face. Before drawing the eyes, draw a line where
the eyes will be. This line is more or
less between 1/3 and 1/4 of the
distance between the eyebrows and the
bottom of the nose. Now I can draw the
eyes and I use the nose as a reference
to place them correctly. For example, if you imagine a vertical line starting from
the nostril on the left, the eye will be on the left
of this vertical line. The mouth isn't it exactly in half the distance between
the nose and the chin. Actually, if you
divide this distance in two, you'll find the point where
the lower lip is, the division between
upper and lower lips is about 1/3 the distance
between the nose and the chin. Here, I'm making
some adjustments in the eyes and adding the
iris and the pupil. Now delimiting the area of the scalp and in the case
of this drawing, I thought the scalp was below
that line I drew up there. After adding some
thickness to the eyebrows, start to delimitate the areas of shadow you see on this face. Now I'm putting some
details on the ear. I will use the kneaded eraser
to clean this drawing a little bit and to remove the
rest of the structural lines. Here we are about
to start to shade. Before that, I will darken these lines because
they are too light. And to do so, I'll
switch the pencils. Since I was using the HB
pencil for the initial sketch, now I will gradually
move to darker pencils, in this case the B,
the 2B and the 4B. You will notice I
don't like to pick up the 4B pencil since the beginning, for example, because I want to feel what each pencil
can do before. Then I can work with
successive layers. This gives me more control over the final result and the
intensity of the strokes. So I start off by the B pencil, then I'll switch to the 2B
for smaller details. And finally, for the 4B for even more specific areas where the black is more intense.
6. Three-quarter view - Shading: I also do the shadows
in successive layers. I start them off by using lighter pencils and then
switch to the darker ones. I shade by the hatching method, drawing successive light
lines close to each other. In this case, I will always follow the diagonal direction. All the lines here are in
a 45-degree angle, and I chose this angle simply because it's more
comfortable to me. If you are left-handed, maybe you prefer
to flip the angle horizontally in the
opposite direction. You can also do the lines
horizontally or vertically. What counts is to be coherent
from beginning to end. So after you choose a
specific direction, keep it until the end. In my case, I will
keep the 45-degree, and only later I may
cross the lines in different directions in order
to cover some areas deeply. So, from now on, I'm going to speed the video up. You'll be able to see
the whole process and the video won't be too long. I'm not going to do anything different from what
I did previously. So you won't lose anything if I accelerate the video. Here I am cross hatching, which intensifies the
covering and the dark values. Here we are at the end of the lesson on
three-quarter portrait. I hope you like it! I will be giving more instructions
in the next video, so stay tuned!
7. Profile view - Structure: Moving on in this class,
now we are going to study the profile view. To recap the process, I'm marking the extreme points
of the drawing. This is how I place
my drawing on the paper before sketching. The highest point of this
drawing is on the hair bun. So the circumference of the skull will be
below that point, closer to the center
of the paper. In order to trace
a circumference, I mark the up, down, left and right furthest
points before. This strategy helps me
a lot because it gives me orientation and a general notion before tracing the circle. The oval that corresponds to the side of the
face, in this case, won't be exactly in the
center of the circle. It would be in the center if it
were a perfect profile view. However, in this
photo we can see a bit of the other
side of her face. Notice the eyelashes and the
second eyebrow, on the left. I chose this photo on purpose
because I didn't want to always give you perfect examples to follow this
method by the book. We need to be able
to adapt this method according to the
reference we choose. Inside the oval, we are going
to place the face axis. First, I drew a vertical axis, and then the horizontal
axis that will cross the oval through
its center point. As you already know, this axis corresponds to the eyebrows. The two following
lines correspond to the scalp and the lowest point
of the nose respectively. Just to remember, I always do the sketch using
a lighter pencil. And in my case, I use the HB, H and HB are the
best in my opinion. Hold the pencil a little
further back to have lightness in your traces and
use the side of the lead. It makes it easier to
erase these lines later. To find the chin, remember that the distance
between the chin and the nose is the same of the distance between the nose and eyebrows. The same distance can be
found between the eyebrows axis and the limit of the scalp. That means the face is divided
into three equal parts. It is important to note that
this is a general model. It doesn't really apply
to every face we see. However, you can
use it to draw every face by adapting these rules. Here there is a vertical
axis that goes from the center of the chin and
passes between the eyebrows. Now using straight lines, I'm going to add the jaw. Only later we are going
to use organic lines. This line that starts
from the corner of the chin and goes to the
corner of the eyebrow corresponds to the edge between frontal and lateral
planes of the face. Right after that, I drew the lines of what
supports the head, which are the lines of
the neck and shoulders. As I said previously, this step is very
important because it will affect the way people
perceive your drawing, even if the neck, shoulders and hairare not in focus
in a portrait. So at this point the
structural lines are done. I only use the eraser here to eliminate the excess
of lines I drew.
8. Profile view - Parts of the face: Now it's time to draw
the organic lines and they correspond to what we
in fact see on the face. We will take advantage of those
structural lines that we did earlier because they
will serve as a reference. In this step, I'll hold
the pencil closer to its tip, which is the way
we usually hold it. I recommend you use the HB
or B pencil for this step. I will keep using the HB pencil, but in my case, this is a Staedtler
Mars Lumograph, and I think it's
still a soft pencil. This HB pencil is
at the same time precise and kind of dark pencil. It's a pencil I'm fond of. I wouldn't use here
darker pencils such as 2B and 4B yet. Besides the fact I believe these pencils would darken the drawing too much for this step. Softer pencils like these can smudge your drawing if
you're not careful enough. As we are at an early
stage of the process, I will move my hand over
this drawing many times and it can make a mess with
the graphite on the paper. Especially if it's a soft
pencil like the 4B. Pay attention when drawing
the left side because the vertical axis corresponds to the frontal plane of the face, the nose, the mouth,
and even the chin, however, will project themselves forward
from this plane. So try to understand how
further this nose goes. Compare the mouth with
the nose projection. Compare which goes further
forward and which stays back. In this case, we can see
the nose is more prominent, and this is what
usually happens, but the mouth and the
chin are not far behind. Besides the
placement, of course, we should also pay attention to the shape of each
part of the face. It's not as simple as
most people might think. So observe them carefully
to capture their shape. It can be a bit
challenging to place the mouth between the nose
and the chin correctly. The division between
upper and lower lips is never half of this distance, but always a little above. Use the distance between
the upper lip and the nose to estimate
this distance. Less experienced artists
tend to ignore it. When drawing the neck
and the clothes, I tried to focus on the
most essential lines. Don't waste your time
drawing the details now, we'll have time
for this later. Here I made some
corrections with the eraser where I thought I could have done that part a
little different. And this is the time
to make corrections. After shading, they will be more difficult to be made. You will notice I always draw the eyebrows before the eyes, and I do so because I use the eyebrows as a reference
to place the eyes. Before drawing the eye, I will take some time to work on the transition between the
forehead and the hair. You'll see there is some
hair over the forehead. At last, it's time
to place the eyes. And for me, the eyes are the most important
parts of the face. They are usually
placed at a third of the distance between
the eyebrows and the bottom of the nose. And from now on, I'll make some adjustments to my drawing. Where I see what is
not quite right. One thing that caught my attention is the
shape of the forehead, how it was compared
with the photo and I thought in my drawing
it was too curved. This kind of inaccuracy can arise due to imprecisions
in the structure we draw. I recognize that
it's difficult to draw a perfect circumference
without any instruments such as a compass. So that eventually can influence the way
you draw the head. Although I
emphatically defend that you draw this structure
before all the rest, after all, your drawing
should correspond to the reference and not necessarily to the initial
structure you drew. Now, I'm going to
darken some lines. And to do so, I'll
change my pencil, which can be the B or the 2B. After that, it will be more difficult to make corrections. So be sure you won't make
any corrections anymore. Considering the
hair, I'm not going to treat it with
too many details. After all, we are not making a very realistic drawing here. I'm going to treat it
as a mass of hair. I'm not really going
to stick its details.
9. Profile view - Shading: Now it's time to
work on the shading. I'll get back to the HB pencil
to mark the shadow areas. Try not to exaggerate
these traces unless you don't want a
more naturalistic drawing. If you don't find it easy to
identify the shadow areas, consider focusing on the
highlights. In this drawing, the white areas are
easier to be seen. In fact, this is a reference
that doesn't really have a very strong contrast
between light and darkness. Here I start to hatch. I'm using the HB
pencil because I want a very light first
layer. The areas I'm not going to shade are those where we can see the highlights. Everything else will be covered. In general, we can
simplify the values we see in the reference
in three types. The first one corresponds to the highlights and they are
the lightest ones we see. Another type corresponds to
the darkest values of shadow. In this case, we
see these values on the eyebrows,
eyelashes and hair. And between these extreme values are the intermediate tones. I'd say this drawing will
be successfully done if we can clearly show these
three types of values. As you may have noticed, I like to start off by
the lightest values and the graphite drawing
these light values right come after the highlights. I will be working on successive
graphite layers. Then the first layer refers
to the intermediate values. For them, I will mostly
use the HB and B pencils until I reach shadow areas that are intense, including the hair. The hair will be done with
2B and 4B pencils. I will try to keep
as much as possible the strokes in the
same direction. And I chose to make these
lines in the diagonal. This will help me to keep
this drawing more consistent. Later, I may change
the direction of the strokes if I
want a homogeneous covering. On the hair and the eyebrow, I chose to follow the direction of the hair strands in general. As I said, I don't have
to be very picky here, but still I tried to follow the movement of
the hair strands. Notice that even
using the 4B, as in this case, the graphite has its limits when
it comes to values. If you want to
achieve a deep black, you'll have to use charcoal. To finish it up, I tried to add some
loose hair strands, those that are beyond
the limits of the hair, and for this, I recommend using a harder pencil
like the B or HB. It is important that
it's well sharpened. And here we are at the end of another lesson, this one
about the profile view. I hope you like it, and soon we will be
studying more views.
10. Front view - Structure: Hello! Now we're going to
draw a portrait in front view. On the Internet
and even on some books, we often find
ready-made formulas on how to make a portrait
drawing in front view. However, in this
video we're going to see how these formulas sometimes doesn't
work because it really depends on the
reference we are drawing. I'm using the HB
pencil to delimit the space the drawing is going
to occupy on the paper. And these two first
lines correspond to the top of the head and
the bottom of the chin. So now I have a notion where
the circumference will be. Of course, these lines belong to a very preliminary
stage and it's very likely they will be
adjusted as I go on and I will need to adapt the
drawing to the reference. If those ovals correspond to the side of the head,
in the front view, we won't see them. In this case, they
will correspond to these two straight
lines I drew here. Here I already had to make
a correction because the line of the chin was
too far from the circle. If I didn't change that, the head would look elongated. Now pay attention to one thing: The person in the reference
has the head slightly tilted. We can observe this,
especially because of the positioning of the ears. For this reason,
the horizontal axis that passes through
the center of the lateral lines
this time won't be straight, but slightly curved. For this reason, I
am drawing this arc. The previous straight line
I drew was just wrong. Now I'm going to delimit the three parts of the face and then we're
going to disobey one rule that many
times has been given when we study a
front view portrait. This rule says that
the bottom of the nose will coincide with the
bottom of the ears. This phenomenon doesn't
happen here because the head is slightly
tilted, as I said. And it also depends
on the size of ears, which may vary depending
on the person. So the message is: don't follow the rules if the reference
doesn't match them. In situations like this, you'll have to adapt them
to what you're seeing. On the other hand, the
rule that says that the face is divided
into three equal parts, does apply to this portrait. Now let's move on to the vertical axis that
crosses the face. The front view portrait is the perfect case to
see how it works. It goes from the
center of the chin and passes centralized
between the eyebrows. Now the lines of the jaw, attention to their
inclination and length. Soon, I'll need to
correct the jaw because I thought
it was too narrow. Here are the lines
that correspond to the turning point between
frontal plane and side planes. Both are straight diagonals. Notice on the reference
how they coincide with the transition from shadow to
light on the left side. Does is caused precisely by the tradition of planes. Here, correcting the jaw and
its narrowness was due to the fact that all
the head was narrow. The sidelines were too close and it caused all these distortions. These corrections are
part of the process. Don't worry if you
have to make them. Actually, they are absolutely expected when drawing anything. Now the neck and shoulders, it is common that the
lines of the neck coincide with the outer
corners of the eyes. It's a general rule that you'll have to check with the reference. In a few minutes,
when drawing the eyes, use the neck as a
reference as well. The more references you get, the better. Finished
the structure, let's move on to the
parts of the face.
11. Front view - Parts of the face: Now using the B or HB pencil, we can start to draw
the parts of the face, adding more organic
lines and giving a more naturalistic
touch to the drawing. To have this step well done you really need to observe
the shapes as they look. For this reason, avoid
some common mistakes. Less experienced artists tend to draw not what they're exactly seeing, but what they're imagining. One of the challenges of
front view portraits is that both sides of the face must
be relatively symmetrical. In fact, the symmetry of the
human face is never perfect. However, both sides should
be similar to each other. For this reason, for
example, I had to correct one of the ears because
I thought they were quite different on
the preliminary sketch. As I draw the nose, I want to draw your
attention to another thing. Notice that often we draw
lines where don't exist. In this case, I
only added a line on the left side on the
bridge of the nose. And I only did so because
the shadow there was more intense. On the right
side of the nose, on the other hand, there is only a soft
transition of values, so I didn't draw any lines. Be are aware of the fact that lines are mere abstractions. They don't exist
in the real world. For the eyes placement
in front view there is a general rule that says that the distance between the eyes corresponds to the
width of one of the eyes. When I was drawing them, I tried to get the distance from the nose I had drawn before. But it is important to know this rule because it's an extra
reference that you have. In relation to
the height of the eyes, also observe the distance between the eye and the eyebrow. It's another good reference
when placing the eyes. Now let's draw the
mouth. One more time, the division between upper
and lower lips are not exactly on half the distance between the nose and the chin, but it's slightly above. When I was to draw the scalp, I realized this
head was too short, so I had to stretch it a bit. Don't expect to get everything perfect since the beginning, you might spot some
mistakes as you go on. I had to correct not only
the size of the head, but also its shape. As soon as you are
satisfied with the placement of the
parts of the face, the proportions and so on, we can move on to the shading. You can also erase the
construction lines now. So let's move on to the final
stage of this portrait.
12. Front view - Shading: Then, let's start the
shading. As usual, I start off by delimiting
the shadow areas, and for this step I use a
lighter pencil such as the HB. Avoid doing those
lines very strong. They should be delicate
to have soft transitions when I'm finished this drawing. For this reference specifically, I chose not to emphasize
much the intermediate tones. In fact, I marked the shadow areas and did them quite intense. Before starting the hatching, I'll intensify the contour lines and to do so, I'll get a darker pencil. As
I was using the HB, now I switch to the B. Then, to intensify
some specific areas, I'll get the 2B. Now with the 4B pencil I will mark some of the darkest
points of this drawing, especially on the eyes, the eyebrows, and the
corners of the hair. Sometimes it's a good
idea to start by the darkest values so that
we can anchor the values. But wait, what does 'to
anchor the values' mean? It means you can establish, since the beginning,
the darkest and lightest values
of a drawing. Then later you work on intermediate tones
based on those values. And that's what I'm doing here. Now I start the hatching and here on the hair
using the 4B, but soon I'll be back
to a light pencil, in my case, the HB. The light pencil is
for the base layer. Then I will follow
the usual process, changing the pencils as I need
to push the values darker. I'll use the B, then the 2B, and
finally the 4B again. So let's watch. As I did in the other studies, I'll keep this same direction of strokes and where the
shadows are more intense, I'll do the cross
hatching. This applies to the area under the eyebrows,
the nose and the mouth, on the neck and on the hair. As a decided not to work much
on the intermediate tones, in general, this drawing will look lighter
compared to the others. Here we are at the end
of another lesson. I hope you enjoyed it and
I see you in the next one!
13. Looking Down - Structure: Welcome again! And here we are going to
study now a portrait of a person in three-quarter
view that is looking down. This view is not so common and you might think
this drawing will be harder. However, I assure you that nothing is going to
be very different. The process is pretty
much the same. As usual, I'll start by drawing the circle that is the
base of the skull, and right after that,
we're going to draw the section that corresponds
to the side of the head. Remember the process of
drawing a three-quarter view. However, in this case, as the person is looking down, the oval is slightly lower
than we usually see. From my point of view, the most important
thing is to know where the center
of this oval is. I will mark this point soon. I will erase the
lines in excess. If you are able to
draw the structure without drawing too many
lines, it is better. The cleaner the drawing is, and the less you use the
eraser, the better. As we draw the vertical axis will be able to place
the center of the oval. As usual, this point
is above the ear. Now the horizontal line that
corresponds to the axis of the eyebrows will be naturally inclined. To get it
done correctly, it's a matter of
using your perception. Observe the reference and bring its inclination
to your drawing. The lines of the
nose, the chin and the hair are parallel to
the axis of the eyebrows. So they will follow
the same direction. As usual, the distance between
them will be the same. The distance between the
nose and the eyebrows will be the same for
the nose and the chin, and the eyebrows and the hair. So you can transfer the
distance when drawing these parallel lines using your thumb and the
tip of the pencil, as I'm doing here. Place also the vertical axis between the eyebrows and on the chin. Pay attention once again
to the inclination. Moving on, let's
draw the jaw and the left side of the face
using straight lines as usual. I'm drawing here the
line that divides the frontal plane and the
side plane of the head. I think it's a good
reference to have, especially for drawing
the eyes later. And then to finish
this structure, Let's draw the neck
and shoulders. So what do you think? Was it difficult?
I hope it wasn't!
14. Looking Down - Parts of the Face: Now that the structure is done, we can start with the
parts of the face. Personally, I would pay
special attention to the nose and to the
placement of the eyes. I believe these are the crucial
points of this portrait. So I'll start by the nose, since everything
else is around it. We need to figure out the way it projects itself
forward and down. Use the vertical axis on the reference to
better understand it. As I finished the nose, I move on to the eyebrows, and it is important
to understand here the shape of the eyebrows. They are slightly curved. There's a point where they turn a little
and become thinner. Eyebrows also may
vary in thickness, so always observe how thick the eyebrow you're drawing is. Now, tracing the contour of
the face and adding the ear... Let's also start the hair. I also mark where
the boundaries of the neck are and the
transition to the clothes. Here, there is some hair
laying on the forehead, and I'm trying to
draw its movement. As I said before, I do this step using a
hard pencil like the HB, so I recommend using the B
or the HB for this step. Now, drawing the eyes and
here on this reference we don't see them open. But anyway, I use the corners of both eyes as a reference
for placing them. So I draw a parallel
line only for the eyes and here it is important to measure the distance from the eyebrows. Then, later, I'll place
the corners of the eyes and even if they are not
exactly on this line, they will be at
least close to it. I say these corners
are not necessarily on this axis because there is a variation of
height between them. So the right corner
may be a little up and the left one a bit down. So I need to operate an
approximation here. Now, I will place the mouth and it's important also to define its limits horizontally, that is, how wide
the mouth will be. For doing so, I used the
eyes as a reference, so it is important that
the eyes are correct. If not, that error will make me draw the mouth
incorrectly as well. In the other direction, we need to check the distance of the mouth from the
nose and the chin. The opening of the mouth
is also slightly above half the distance
between the nose and the chin, as I have said many times, but here I can't really see it. We can't see much of it with
the head tilted down, but do your best at
drawing what you can see. From now on, we are entering the final stretch of
the second stage. I will erase some
construction lines that are not important anymore. I will also redo some
traces, make them darker. For this, I will use the B
or even the 2B pencil, sometimes putting more
pressure on the paper. That done, we can move
on to the final step, which is the shading.
15. Looking Down - Shading: Okay, now let's
finish this drawing. Some people like to leave the drawings this
way without shading. But if you want to go one
step further, come with me. I got the HB pencil and I started to mark
the shadow areas. Avoid doing hard strokes,
keep them light. I'm going to repeat the
process you already know. Starting by a light hatch with diagonal lines using
the HB pencil, which is the basis of
the following layers. First layer done, I got the 4B pencil to mark the
darkest points of this drawing. Most of them are on the hair,
eyebrows, and eyelashes. The darker it is, the more patience the
drawing will require from you. Because it takes more time
to reach darker values. I recommend you work with overlapping layers,
darken it gradually. Don't try to darken it at once
using only one layer, because you are going to use more pressure, which
will get you tired and will hurt your paper. Working with lighter
successive layers gives a more refined result. At least this is my opinion. On the hair, I will do many layers even
with the 4B pencil. Regarding the direction of the strokes on the left side, I'll be doing diagonal strokes as I do in most of the drawing. But in some places I choose to follow the
movement of the hair. All in all, it's a
mix of both things. For the next portrait I'll be taking a different
approach for the hair. So let's keep watching and I don't really have
much to add here. It's more a matter of
observing the process. Here we are at the end
of another portrait, and I hope you enjoyed
this lesson as well!
16. Looking Up - Structure: Let's start the last
portrait of this class, now of a person looking up. It's possible you will find the portrait a little
more challenging, but don't be afraid because
the process is the same. As usual, I'll start by tracing the circumference that will
be the basis of the piece. And notice in this case the face will be almost completely inside
this circumference. Of course, it is caused by
the inclination of the head. For this reason, don't draw
a very tiny circumference, give it some room on the paper, or your portrait will
be tiny as well. Now the side of the
head, drawing that ellipse or oval as
I usually call it. Whenever you draw it, tried to figure the
size it has inside the circumference in order to
get the right proportions. Here I noticed I had to make a small correction on the oval
because it was too small. Here I'm drawing
the vertical axis that passes through the center of the oval; is not really
vertical because it's inclined, but you know what I mean. It's a good idea to mark those green points before
you draw the axis. Those points are to
help you in this task. Now we will cross
this line to draw the axis that correspond
to the eyebrows. Adding here the lines of the lower point of the nose and the border of the forehead. Due to the inclination
of the head, we won't be able to see
much of the forehead. That area between the hair and the eyebrows will
be a bit shortened. That is, even if we have the general rule
of the face being divided into three equal parts, that rule will vary
according to the situation. So you will always
need to look at these rules with critical
point of view because a situation like this obviously requires
an adaptation. Just like the distance between the eyebrows and the end of
the forehead looks shorter, the distance from the nose to the chin looks longer
on in this reference. Now cleaning up this
drawing a little bit. You can use any kind of
eraser for this step. Pick the one you
prefer. To trace, the axis that passes through
the middle of the face, place the reference
points before, one between the eyebrows and the other
on the center of the chin. It's the correct
placement of these points that will give the correct
inclination of the head. So after placing these points, check if they are correct
according to the reference. Now, drawing the
jaw and you will notice how most of it
is inside the circle. Now let's separate
the frontal plane from the side plane of the face. This is an extra reference
and I believe it does help you to
draw the portrait, especially when we are drawing
the eyes and the mouth. When drawing the
neck and shoulders. Notice how important the
neck is in this reference. It occupies a considerable
space in this drawing. So pay attention
to the proportions so as not to draw
it undersized. When it comes to the height, it looks like it occupies
half of the drawing, having it the same height the circumference we drew in
the beginning has. Its width is also similar to
the circumferences', although it's a little narrower. Here we are finishing
the structure. Did you find it hard? I hope you didn't!
17. Looking Up - Parts of the Face: Now let's draw the
general shapes and the parts of the face. As using the HB pencil, now I will switch to the B. As always, the ear is in
one of the quadrants of the oval, the one of the
lower left side, in this case. One thing
that is challenging is to draw it in the correct
size and inclination. I think I underestimated the inclination and drew
it smaller than it is. You may have already noticed that none of my drawings
are perfect, identical to the photo, and this is due to several reasons. One of them is
because I was looking at the reference on
the computer screen. If I had printed the
references or even looked at them on the
cell phone screen, and placed the reference besides my drawing, it
would have been easier to notice the differences
that accumulate as a draw. So if you can place the reference side-by-side
with your drawing, it will be easy to
compare your drawing, with the photo and
spot these differences. I still believe, though
I have achieved a satisfactory result
with these drawings. Don't forget you're a
human being, not a machine. There is a moment that I find
particularly interesting, and that is when the nose is
covered in one of the eyes, you have two options
when drawing this area. One of them is to draw the nose before and
then fill the gaps, drawing the contour of the face. And the other is to
draw the contour of the face before
drawing the nose. And then you imagine that part that is
covered by the nose. I prefer to draw the nose before using the structure
as a reference. When drawing the nostrils, avoid drawing that
stylized thing that is a simple dark circle, as if it were a round black
hole on the face. Observe the shape and
try to bring it to your drawing as it
is in real life. And now, that moment that is
feared by some people, which is the time
to place the eyes. The process remains the same, which is to draw a
parallel line to the eyebrows and
place the eyes there. Then, to define the
width of the eye, compare it with the nose, pay attention to the space
between the eye and the nose. By the way, observing the empty spaces is
always a good idea. Some corrections will
be required here, like the tip of the nose and the contour of the
side of the face. And as I said, the corrections
are part of the process. The procedure to place the mouth is the same
applied to place the eyes. But you can check the
position of the mouth also comparing it with the ear. Now, I noticed how I could have positioned the eye
a little further back, a little more away
from the nose. And I also notice
how the ear could have been placed a
bit lower than it is. Unfortunately, I didn't correct these mistakes when
recording this video. But anyway, despite
these mistakes, I like the way this
drawing looked in the end. I just give you these
tips to help you make a better
drawing than mine. This is another case of a
person with a lot of hair, and this is the
reason I have to draw the circumference, thinking about the limits of the skull and not of the hair. After all, the
proportions of the face, won't change if the person has more hair or is
bald, for example. As usual, at the end
of the second step, I take the eraser to erase some of the structural lines
that are not needed anymore. and I can also darken
some of the lines. Then, when everything
is in place, we can move on to the shading.
18. Looking Up - Shading: As we are at the final stage, let's delimit the shadow areas. I'm using the HB pencil
again, using light strokes, avoiding drawing them too hard because I don't want to
see them when it's finished. I may also make some
corrections here and there. I had to correct the
transition to the hair, After all, the forehead was
bigger than it should be. On the temple, the side of the head, should be
more covered by hair. When delimiting the shadows, understand where the
main light source is. In this reference, it
comes from left to right, from top to bottom. There is a second light source, more noticeable on the neck that comes from right to left, but it's more of a lateral source, it doesn't illuminate
the front of the face. Anyway, this light
must be considered. Adding details to the ear, I also intensified
the contour lines using the 2B pencil. And finally, I'll start the hatching following the same process I
followed before. I'm back with the HB pencil
drawing diagonal lines doing the first
layer of the drawing. I will let you watch this step. Don't forget, I will
change the pencils as I advance and go deeper. I start with the HB pencil, then I change to the B, later the 2B, and finally I use the 4B for
the darkest areas. Regarding the hair shading, I will treat it as
a uniform mass. It means I will largely
ignore the movement of the hair and its
individual hair locks. Actually, I will
keep the strokes in the diagonal direction. Later, I may add some lines that
suggest the hair movement, but in general, I'll treat
it as a homogeneous mass. Although it's a dark hair, it doesn't mean I will
only use the 4B pencil. It has some subtleties
and for them I use also the B and
2B pencils. This procedure will
help to make a more consistent covering. Soft pencils like the 4B are more porous and the surface will look
grainy if you use only them. For this reason, I like to use hard pencils to
fill in these pores. Then I darken some
specific areas on the hair to render
more volume to it, but in general I ignored
most of its details. And here is the end
of this series of videos on portraits
in different views. I really hope you enjoyed
these lessons and they were helpful to you, that
you have learned a lot, and now it's up to you to put all this knowledge you
acquired into practice. Thank you very much for
watching these videos!
19. Drawing as a Habit: You certainly have
heard the quote that says that practice
makes perfect, right? Well, I totally
agree with this quote. Drawing only once in a while isn't
enough if you want to improve, unfortunately. If you really want to get better at drawing, you need to be consistent, and for this reason,
I'm going to give you five tips on how you can turn the act of
drawing into a habit. These tips are more personal. I don't have any scientific
basis on what I'm saying, but I'm just going
to tell you what worked for me may
work for you as well. So let's get right into it. The first tip is
to be realistic. Start small. Don't set goals
that are too ambitious. Even though I recommend you draw at least for a couple
of minutes every day, don't set it as a goal if you can't do it. Perhaps you'll be
busy on the week and won't have free time some days. So don't commit to do something if you won't
be able to accomplish. For example, if you want to save some time to draw
in the evening, don't commit to drawing for
2, 3 or 4 hours every day. This can be quite tiring, especially in the long run. I would set something
like 30 minutes a day, nothing more. For me drawing only one
portrait of day is doable and I can do it
every day, even on Sundays. My second tip is to have a
drawing time in your day. Personally, I
prefer to work with schedules and
pre-established routines. So for me it works if I say that we will draw every
day at 07:00 PM. If you can do it, it will
be very beneficial to you. Schedule a time that you know you will be able to
focus on your activity, that you won't be disturbed
during that time. And if possible, a moment of the day that
you know you won't be too tired, unless you use your
drawing time precisely to rest. Also, scheduled time you know you'll be willing to draw. If you have more energy in the morning instead
of in the evening, then choose to draw
in the morning. If you have some free
time during lunch break, then schedule this time for you and bring your
sketchbook with you. This is my second tip. My third tip is that you
prepare your environment you're going to draw in. If you can draw in the
same room every day, that's excellent! Put your materials there and they will work as a reminder of your commitment to draw. Another thing is that you prepare this environment to help you concentrate on your
drawing activity. Avoid environments that are too noisy, that you won't
be able to be alone, won't be able to focus. Of course, if possible. If you have a desk just like me, you can put your sketchbook and your drawing materials there, and you can pick them up easily. It will become much
easier to draw every day. Still respecting
the environment, if you like to listen
to music while drawing, prepare your playlists and your favorite podcasts
in advance, that is, prepare your
environment to make it more comfortable and
enjoyable to draw. My fourth tip is also
related to the environment, which is to avoid distractions. Any activity is better performed if you're able
to concentrate on it. So be sure you'll be able to concentrate on your
drawing activity. But how can you do it? Well, I really like the
Pomodoro Technique. If you eventually don't know it, you set the timer and commit to concentrate on your activity
until the timer rings. At least for me, it
works like magic. Do it for short periods of time and your activity will
become less demanding, less taxing, because
it breaks down an activity that looks
initially intimidating, like drawing a portrait. And my fifth and last tip is that you keep
track of your progress. Now this is more of a long-term thing. I find it very interesting
when you can get your old drawings and compare
them with the recent ones. Like compare what
you did today with something you drew last week, last month, or even years ago. For this, I write down the
date besides the signature. Another tip for you to keep
track of your progress is that you have a
sketchbook or a drawing folder. It will help you gather your old drawings and keep
them with you as time goes by. Then you easily will be able to compare your recent
drawings with the old ones. You will probably notice
you're getting better. And I find it particularly
rewarding and motivating because you can
see that your effort pays off. You will notice that
even a few minutes of everyday practice are worth because they accumulate over time and creates a
snowball effect. You will become more experienced
and a better artist. I keep a lot of my
old drawings with me, and, when I look at them, I can see materialized the
time I spent practicing. So let's recap the five tips to turn the act of
drawing into a habit. The first one is
to be realistic, don't exaggerate in your goals. The second tip is to have a
drawing time in your day. The third tip is to
prepare your environment. The fourth tip is to
avoid distractions. Remember how important
it is to be focused. And finally, the fifth tip is to keep track
of your progress. So I hope at least one of these tips will
be useful to you. Don't forget to put
them into practice, this is essential.
20. Conclusion: If you've watched all the videos and did all the studies
of this class, I want to congratulate you. It means you're
really committed to your goal to improve
as an artist. I want also to thank you for
watching all the videos. I'd like to ask you
a small favor, which is to leave a
review for this class. Compliments are very welcome, but you can give
tips on how I can improve my next classes as well if you have any. Leaving
a review helps me immensely to reach more students looking for improvement
just like you. And don't forget to post your drawings in the
project section! It will be a pleasure to see your drawings and
give you feedback. So thank you so much again
and I see you next time. Bye!
Matheus Macedo, Realistic Drawing Artist
