Portrait Drawing on Toned Paper

1. Introduction: Hello, everyone, and welcome to my news class. My name is Terran Zlocafo, and I'm excited to guide you through this crash course on portrait drawing on tone paper. Let's about me. I'm a professional visual artist specializing in realistic portrait drawing and painting, and I've had the privilege of teaching here at Scotia now the better part of three years. This course will start with the essentials, the materials you need, how to set up your drawing space, and how to select strong reference photographs. From there, we'll dive into the fundamentals of shape design, how to shade on toned paper, and the simplification of form. Once you build this foundation, you'll be ready to bring your skills together in a fully rendered portrait. Along the way, I'll share practical tips and techniques that will not only make the process smoother, but accelerate your development as an artist. This class is going to be one part of a two part series on ton paper portrait drawing. So once you've completed this course, be sure to look out for the next one. With that said, let's jump right in and start drawing. 2. Class materials: Alright, I'm gonna keep this lesson concise because you truly don't need much in the way of materials for drawing. Chances are, you already have everything you need at home. Whether that's a simple sketchpad or a collection of pencils. This class focuses on creating a polished, frameworthy drawing, but a lot of that has to do with how you use your tools more so than the tools themselves. So make use of what you have already and enjoy the process. If you're starting fresh, all you need is a sketchpad, an eraser, and a pencil set, as well as something to sharpen set pencils. However, there are a few tools I highly recommend if you don't already on them, but one is a sharpening block or sandpaper. This material really makes sharpening your pencils quite a bit easier relative to a sharpener. Number two is an exacto knife. Its function is to remove the wood surrounding the graphites and your pencils so you can sharpen it to the aforementioned chopping block. Number three is a knee eraser. It's a soft, it's amultable eraser, that leaves no residue. You can shape it into fine points or edges for precise lifting of graphites and even use it to creatively draw by erasing tones. I especially love this for creating interesting highlights. Next, we have the mechanical eraser or pencil eraser. It's useful because of the added precision. Some are shaped like a pencil, others a cylinder. And it's perfect for erasing small areas or details. Last but not least is a white collared pencil. Giving up the drawings in this class on to on paper, we need a way to create highlights. Personally, I like the white colored pencil from the Fabric Castle polychroms colored pencil set, and also the Devin drawing Chinese white pencil. The format is better for more subtle lights and the latter for more pronounced highlights. When it comes to graphie pencils, the brands I like are Stetler Mas limograph and the Fabric Castle, 9,000 series. But of course, you can experiment with different brands to find the one you prefer. Bending stumps or bristle brush are optional. I use them sparingly, but they do have an important ancillary role. Well, that's all for now. Let's get to it. 3. How to Pick a Good Reference: Welcome back. And this lesson, I'll be teaching you everything you need to know about picking the perfect reference. Before I delve into the qualities of a good reference, let's start with what a bad reference photo looks like. One quick caveat, bad and good in this context is only relevant to our goals, which is realism. This is art after all, and a bad reference can still be valuable for some. NumeraUo. Avoid blurry slash out of focus Images. Pictures like this make finding of proportions, shading and adding details ten times harder than it needs to be. Your eyes see in high resolution, so you should probably draw from photos in high resolution as well. Number two, are over or under exposed images. If your reference is washed out or it looks like you took it in an underground tunnel, you might have a problem. Some images can be corrected after the fact, but I advise you to take or select photos that are properly exposed. If you have a pro camera, work with the raw files to give yourself the most leeway possible in post processing. Number three, I would say avoid flat slash even lighting. This is not a hard and fast rule, but I find that it's more challenging to achieve great depth and realism in these situations working in monochrome. Fok are unnatural poses or expressions. These can make it more difficult to depict the subject in a lifelike manner. A more natural countenance or expression will lead to a more realistic. Alongside these, avoid photos that are naturally cropped, I E, parts of head, hand, or face cut off. It tends to disrupt the overall composition and reduce the elegance of the piece. So now that we know what to avoid, we can drill deeper into what we do want. To put simply, we want a well lit high resolution photo with good contrast and a balanced composition. You can find photos that fit this criteria on websites like pixels and onspah.com to name a few. Class separation between your lights and shadow shapes and easily identifiable focal points, good dynamic range, and once again, high resolution. You will learn as this class progresses that as great as some of these images are, it is still up to you to manipulate them to maximize their potential. Photos from cameras have their drawbacks. But through practice, we can elevate these images into works of arts. That's all for now, and I'll see you in the next one. Bye bye. 4. Drawing preparation: In this video, I walk you through my process for setting up before I started drawing of any kind. Firstly, I like to get on my paper and tape it to my drawing surface. In this case, there's a clipboard glue to my easel. I generally use masking or altis tape, and I do not tape any part of the paper that will overlap with the drawing itself. Reason being, sometimes you take up the tape and it damages the paper ever so slightly. Ergo endeavor to draw in dimensions smaller than the paper itself. For example, make an 11 by 14 inch drawing on a 12 by 17 inch piece of paper. After that, I grab all the tools I need to draw and put them within arm's reach of my easel. It is fairly obvious, but sometimes you might leave one or two things in a pencil case or in a drawer somewhere and have to get up and grab it when it really should be right there. Beyond this, I like to pre sharpen my pencils before every drawing session to save me some time once I get down to business. It's not necessary, but it definitely helps me get in the flow state quicker at a given session. I sharpen them with an exacting knife and my sharpening block. The technique is straightforward. You remove the wood bits around the graphites with a knife. Once it's sufficiently exposed, you then roll the graphites left to right over the sharpening block whilst rotating it as you do so. You repeat that process until you have a pencil lead that is long and sharp. Sometimes I do this for the erasers, too, if I need them to have a particular shape. At this juncture, we're almost ready to start. If I'm drawing from a pn outt, I will typically tape that print to a surface near me. That could be a table, an adjacent wall or right above the drawing on my eso. This case, I'm drawing from a digital image, so I'll pull up the image on my computer, make any changes I see fit on lightroom, and set it to full screen. With that completed, I'll set up my lights. I use a combination of a portable table lamp in conjunction with the bigger NED light. Having your work fully illuminated is very important. So if you don't have access to good natural light, invest in some quality artificial lights. With that said, we're good to go. I can start making some. 5. Lines and Shapes: Alright. In this video, we're going to go through a couple of warm up exercises designed to teach you how to better utilize negative shapes, see proportions, and maintain symmetry. First in the agenda, we have a store. I find objects like this to be more challenging than more organic material. However, there is a path to accuracy, even with this. I start off with a Rhombus at the top. A four sides are equal and parallel to the opposite side. You could conceptualize it as a horizontal kite to make the task of drawing it a bit easier. Utilize your plumb lines to verify your alignments and a ruler if you need to to help keep those lines straight. Beyond that, I sketch out the legs of the table, which all connect in a triangular pattern. I notice also that the three lines on each leg converge towards a vanishing point. Understanding the importance of keeping these lines straight, I'm using my ruler more often and cross checking my angles to make sure this stool doesn't look like it's falling over. Now I shift my focus to the inside of the stool, wherein I can draw using the negative shapes around the structure to nail the proportions. Sometimes drawing in this way taps into the more abstract aspects of your visual processing, allowing you to see the same thing with a different eye. Up next is drawing please. A chair. Depending on your perspective, this is a slightly more challenging warm up, but the idea is the same, which is testing on hand eye coordination. I'm pretty sure I didn't use a ruler for this one, but looking back, I probably should have. A quick glance at the chair, and we see numerous basic shapes coming together to form something quite complex. I like to start with an envelope shape and then begin to carve into that large shape like a sculptor, wood, a mass cl. Naturally, I want to start with the biggest angles and foundational angle breaks. With each mark I make, I'm scanning my eyes through the other parts of the drawing to make sure that they line up through the horizontal and vertical plane. When I draw a line, I try to draw it all the way through and imagine it's going through the object and its path. This is useful because it prevents awkward, discrete line segments, when you should have one continuous one. Other than utilizing negative shapes to your full advantage, you should also mimic whatever you do on one side, on the other to ensure how many you design. Hopefully, these sketches were able to get you news and excited about the journey ahead. Thank you for watching. I'll see you soon. Bye bye. 6. Understanding Values : In this video, you're going to develop a better understanding of how to transition between values on tone paper. We'll do this through the use of a triangle, rectangle and sphere. The idea is to create gradients from dark to light and blend it smoothly in such a way that it looks natural. This exercise will train your hands and eyes to render values realistically and ultimately create a portrait that looks three dimensional. My approach with the triangle is to start from the darkest band of values, which will be at the bottom of the pyramid. I will go in with my three B pencil and fully express the value here before moving on to the next band of value and connecting the two. Breaking the values into distinct segments allows me to better track how my tones are transitioning. How you apply your values contribute significantly to how it looks. Thus, I exhort you to be consistent with your mark making. I tend to cross hatch initially and then go in scribbling with lighter pencils to fill in the light spots in the values. Time is your best friend. Don't be fooled, but at the speed of this video. Values and graphite require several layers to reach full saturation. You cannot stroke out the process by applying more pressure. All you can do is focus on me deliberate with every stroke. Intermittently, I will use my knee erasa to remove dark spots in my tone and fill in said dark spots with graphite from a lighter pencil than the average value of that region. I'm not taking a brief detour to add my lightest light to my white pencil. Since we are getting closer to the top of this pyramid, I want to make sure I key my values properly. Our darkest value has been established. It only makes sense we do the same for the lights. Very likely, I'll build up the value, soften some of it with my fingertips or a tissue paper preferably, and then add the strongest highlights at the top of the pyramid. Now that that's done, using my two each and forge pencils, I begin to transition from the mid tones to the lightest value, I can create my pencils. Ideally, I want the value of the paper itself to be an intermediary between my graphite and the white pencil. This approach is somewhat stylistic. You could mix graphite with the white pencil and still get a result that is good. However, you do run the risk of getting the white muddy. So through the framework of a triangle, you can see that with the technique, you can achieve good gradations in value without any special tools. If you can do it here, you can certainly do it in the face or in a torso with some more practice. Moving on to the sphere, you can free at it if you want, but for the sake of efficiency, I will use this cover that I found laying around in the house somewhere. The idea is much the same as in the triangle. Albeit to a slightly different execution. Here, the lightest values would be at the center, and from that center, we will get progressively darker. Remember, even in this region, there are differences in lightness. You can think of it as a very bright circle inside a less bright circle that fades into the tone of the paper itself. Do your best to keep your pencil sharp and create as many layers as necessary to achieve full saturation. Next, I'll move on to the darkest values, which will be around the border of the contours. I'm going to slowly go around with my B pencils, creating a band just like we did previously. The level of difficulty is higher here because the shape is less linear and I can't utilize cross hatching as easily, but it still can be done. Once the first band of darkest halftone is built, I progress to the next band with lighter pencils and connect the two by using an intermediate value. Even though this is a circle, I still use linear strokes and build them up almost like a hexagon before rounding off the sharp corners. If you're struggling to get your values to transition smoothly, it's probably because one, the bands of value are too discrete. In other words, there is too much contrast because you're not adding the value in between the values. It could also be you're putting too much pressure as you're drawing, and as such, the values are not smooth or contain too much incidental value. Also, your value segments may not be loyal to the lights efect. So if you're going from light on the inside to dark on the outside, where you have values that are darker on the inside than on the outside, it's not going to look right. I advise you to periodically scrint your eyes and check to see that the values blend optically. If you're on the right track, it will look like there is a spotlight at the center with everything getting progressively darker from there. Precision is everything with exercises like this, and it does take a lot of practice to even be able to see what it is that needs to be fixed. Hard edges are your worst enemy. The only hard edge on this sphere is the outside border. Everything else is soft. So if you see a line or a class separation between one value and another, you have found something that needs to be corrected. You might have to use your eraser to lighten a part of it or your pencil to darken a particular area. Thus far, we've created ingredients in a horizontal plane, spherical plane, and now we will do so vertically with this rectangle. This drawing would also double as a kind of value scale, giving you an idea of the range of tones you will have to work with in the final drawing. The first step is to draw out the rectangle with your ruler. After that, key the lightest values with your white pencil. Put the base first, soften that base into the value of the paper, and then adding the brighter whites on top of it. With the white established, let's move on to the opposite side of the value scale. The technique is exactly the same. Creating band of value. Layer with your dark pencil until that value shape is as dark as you can get and as even as you can possibly make it. Only then do you create the next band and do the same? The most important thing is connecting these bands seamlessly. In order to do that, there has to be overlap in the pencils that you use. So for the darkest band, I'm using my three B pencil primarily, but also going over to my B pencil to get into the nooks and cranies of the tooth of the paper. For the next band, I will draw it using my B pencil primarily, but going over it in the parts close to the last band with my three B pencil so they both can merge visually. I will continue to do this band by band with progressively lighter pencil. Sometimes going over the whole thing with my three H and two H pencils to really smooth out the rough edges and obfuscate the light spots. Whenever you're drawn in graph fights, you're going to get a certain amount of visual noise. So prepare yourself to remove those inconsistencies and tone with your near eraser. Mold it into a fine point, squint your eyes and gently dab at the areas that appear too dark. This value scale is a continuum composed of several discrete segments blended together. Of the core elements separating a lifelike portrait from a not to lifelike portrait is how well the values in the form transition. Your ability to create a smoky effect or as the Italian says, formato, not all parts of the portraits are handled the same. And there are, in fact, some hard and medium edges in the face. However, those edges are not as difficult to render as the soft and lost edges we are training ourselves to handle. At this juncture, I'm going back to touch up the values all around the shape, darkening some areas, lightning others, and unifying the tone. From this exercise, we now understand how to manipulate our values on tone paper to create even tone across the spectrum from shadow to light. Thank you for watching, and I'll see you in the next one. Bye bye. 7. 3D sphere: So far, we've been working exclusively in two dimensions, training our hands and eyes to draw effectively on this new surface. But the time has come to add form to this world of flats. First off, we have a sphere, a basic three D object and one that parallels features of the human face. A good grasp of how to shade a sphere will enable you to render aspects of the portraits, such as the forehead, below the nose, chin, eyeballs, and even the zygomatic arch. Before we add value to the sphere, we need to create an outline. You can do this with a foreign object, as I demonstrated in the previous lesson. However, for instructional purposes, I am free handing the shape to show you how to approach it. I like to define the heights, find its midpoint and mark it. Then along that midpoint, I establish the width, ensuring it matches the heights, and mark that as well. After that, I connect the dots with erblinear lines, and we're good to go. With that completed, the next step is to create the shapes that define the core and cache shadow. You can think of the case shadow as a narrow ellipse sitting just beneath the sphere. It's crucial to take the time to get these shapes correct as they form the foundation for the shading to come. If you need to erase and redraw it 20 times, it's worth the efforts. No amount of shading can compensate for a poorly executed line drawing. When adding value to any drawing, I almost always start with the darkest areas. In this case, that is the case shadow. This approach helps me better estimate intermediate values once I've established the lower limits of my value scale. Accurate values do not exist in isolation. They are only correct in relation to what's already present in the picture. In the case shadow, the darkness isn't uniform. It's darkest where the sphere blocks the most light and gradually lightens towards the tail. Additionally, the shadow edge is sharper, closer to the sphere and softens as it moves outward. This is a subtle change, but it's one worth recognizing. For the form shadow, my approach is to first create a base layer of value with an HB pencil. I then smooth this tone with a brush to fill in the tooth of the paper. Next, I shade the core shadow, the darkest part of the form shadow. I aim to match its darkness to the darker parts of the cash shadow. Building up this value requires several layers, but once I'm satisfied with it, I move on to the areas of reflected lights. Here actuate a gradient transitioning from dark to lighter tones while maintaining soft edges. A light hand and consistent pencil strokes are essential to minimize roughness on hard edges. Regardless, you will likely need to refine with an erasa to achieve a posh finished, but careful planning can make this process much easier. Here are some common mistakes to avoid when rendering shadows. Number one, over blending them. Denting shadows excessively will result in a muddy or overly smooth appearance that lacks any texture. No good. Number two, outlining shadows too harshly, drawing hard, dark outlines around the shadow shapes instead of blading them smoothly into the surrounding areas will create problems down the line that you cannot rectify. Number three, lack of edge variation, using only soft or only hard edges worse yet for shadows instead of combining both. And lastly, using too much pressure with your pencil, applying excessive pressure can create even shading and make it harder to erase or adjust later on. I'll leave the shadows for now and begin shading along the bed book line. For those of you that are not familiar, this is the line separating light from shadow. This area is very crucial for the realism of the piece. The band of value I will create here will be my darkest halftone, half tones, which however, dark, still belong in the Light family and must necessarily be lighter than my lightest shadow value. To ensure a successful transition, start with an even band of value free from scattered dark or light specs. Then use B pencils to methodically shade back and forth between shadow and light, softing the transition and enhancing the spare roundness. Since we're working on tone paper, our mid tones are partially established. The highlights, however, must be created. With an H pencil, light D establish an intermediate value that connects the darkest half tones to the tone of the paper. Subtlety is key if you feel uncertain. Squint your eyes to check if any light areas are competing in darkness with the shadows. At this stage, I introduce the white pencil to carefully create the center lite. After I applying the tone, I use tissue paper to smooth out any rough edges before refining the lights areas. This process is repetitive. I cycle through these steps as many times as I need to so I achieve softness and clarity in the tones. For the highlight, I apply slightly more pressure than usual with the white pencil and then softens edges to ensure it integrates seamlessly in that region. Finally, I take a step back to assess the overall drawing and refine any transitions that need improvement. For me, those are the transitions along the bedbug line and around the darkest halftones connecting to the centats. With those adjustments complete, the sphere is finished. I'll see you on the next lesson. Take care. 8. 3D Cylinder: In this lesson, I'm going to be covering the cylinder. Having drawn and shaded a sphere, you 80% of the way there to representing this object in three dimensions accurately. At the end of this, you experience drawing a cylinder will give you more confidence when tackling areas of the portraits like the bridge of the nose and the neck. To start, draw ellipse to represent the top of the cylinder much like the cash shadow in the sphere. Once that's completed, create two parallel lines at both extremes and another ellipse at the bottom. You're just getting a scrap piece of paper and practicing a handful of ellipses before tackling this drawing. It's a simple but oddly changing shape to create, so don't be discouraged if you don't get it right the first time. I commence outlining the cast shadow, which will fade to the left as the light source is coming from the right. I built up the values progressively, starting with my HB pencil to create a base and shifting to my two B and four B pencils to get the desired level of darkness. Closer the shadow is to the object that's casting it, the darker it will be and vice versa. So make sure that the gradient you see in the drawing on screen is also reflected in your work. As you render these values, you must maintain an attitude of continuous improvement as it relates to the proportions of the drawing itself. It's easy to get so caught up in getting accurate values, but your shapes start to look discordant. In the form shadow, the procedure is not much different. However, in here, we have a core shadow that must be clearly defined. Is shape is rectangular and its value similar to that of the cast shadow. Careful wearing, the right amount of pressure, and some patience is what it will take to create an even band of value that is free from visual noise. Always keep near eraser handy to minimize necessary variation in your values. Once you're happy with the finish of your coarse shadow, you can progress to create the parts of the shadow that is receiving the most bounced light, a, the reflected light. This area will be lighter than the core, but not so light that you're mistaking it for a non shadow value. Its tone is also not uniform. It's darker at the top and lighter at the bottom. Know you've got the values when you can squint and both the core shadow and reflected light merge optically. Appropriate pencil selection will lead to better outcomes. I four B is your workhorse pencil for the core shadow, and perhaps the two B pencil should be that for your reflected light. No At this juncture, my shadow values look as they should, and the logical next step is to build the values in the life family closest to the shadows. Those would be our darkest half tones. As I begin this layering process, I sporadically glance at my reflected light to make sure I stay just below that level of darkness in these half tones. If I fail to do that, I will likely have a finished drawing that looks flat and is missing any real sense of dimensia. Slowly, but surely, I create a value shape here that is even, but still containing too hard edge with the core shadow on the left. Here's where I get on my B pencil and blend very carefully the shadow with the lights. Already, our cylinder is beginning to take shape and hatch in volume. In my two H and forage pencils, I'll connect this band of half tones with the value of the tone paper and showing a smooth transition between the books. Remember to darken the edges of the cylinder on the right as the form of the object turns away from the area of most direct light. Finally, we have gotten to my favorite part, which is bringing out the centilite and giving this cylinder a radiant glow. Lightly shade the middle portion of the cylinder. In doing so, avoid going directly over the graphite you have already laid down. If you get the whites on a little bit of the graphite, it's not a big deal. Just try to keep them separate, at least until you blend with the tissue paper. Bending with the tissue is simple, get a piece of it, fold it into two, gently rub in a circular motion across the pigment you've laid down. Do so until the edges of the white pigment are soft and are fully integrated with the rest of the drawing. At which point you can create the specular highlights right along the center line. This highlight should be elongated as opposed to spherical like we had in the sphere. Is edges must also be soft, but need not be lost like with the centerltes. Congrats to you for making it through this video, and I'll see you in the next one. Bye bye. 9. 3D Cube: To the of the three D objects you've studied thus far, the cube will be the simplest. Begin by constructing a precise square using lines, focus on proportional accuracy and ensure the angles are correct. This will be the anchor for the structure of the cube. Draw a second square slightly offset to the left of the first, insurance proportions and angles match. Using confidence shred lines, join the corresponding corners of the two squares. Repeat these same steps for the square on the top of the cube, and you're all set. Once you're done sketching the cube, erase any unwanted lines before beginning to draw the case shadow shape. There is no formula per se for this because it changes depending on the direction and intensity of the lights. However, it's more angular than the case shadows you've hitherto worked on, and a tail is typically in the shape of a triang. Once you've drawn it out, begin to add value to HB pencil until that area is fully saturated with tone. After that, you can deepen the tone by blending with your brush to give it a softer appearance. Now I can get out my four B pencil and darken the occlusion shadow within the cast. From that occlusion, our shadow will get progressively lighter as more bounced light hits the shadow. Do yourself a favor and keep those pencils sharp. I know it's a pain to have to continuously sharpen your pencil. Believe me, I get tired of it myself. But to achieve a softer gradient like the one we're after, we need precise pencil strokes. Before you leave the case shadow, go around the edges of the tail, to your two inch pencil, and soften it ever so slightly to differentiate it from the parts of the shadow closer to the objects. The case shadow, but you guessed it, we are on to the form shadow. Form shadows occur on the objects where light diminishes, revealing its volume in soft gradual transitions. On the whole, the local value of this region is lighter than the case shadow, and the flow of value is darker on the outside and lighter on the inside. Think of it as a radial gradients. I'm using my two B and B pencils mostly, but they touch at the four B to soften the edges between the cast and the core. The top part of the tube is facing the light more directly, and as such, contains no shadow values. However, it's not getting much direct light, so it's half tones will be fairly dark. Just like on this face, you create a beast of value first before darkening the edges to create that circular gradient. Your choice of pencil should reflect your transition to the lie family, and you must remember to check that you're half tones are encroaching on shadow territory. I know I sound like a broken record by this point, but the key to realistic values does lie in how you create set values. Pay close attention to how lightly I hold a pencil, how uniform my pencil strokes are, how often I go in with my eraser to light in areas that are too dark. This is a process of constant refinement until true harmony is achieved in your tones. The last phase of the cube is receiving the most direct light with the tone moving from light to very light in this direction. I have to be very subtle in this area when using the two inch pencil to avoid getting too dark. I really just want the valleys on the left border to be one step darker than the tone of the paper. After which I can use my white pencil on the right border to bring out that center light for me. I'll apply the white pigment in a few layers before blending it with the tissue paper. Once it's blended, I proceed to add the highlight on top, smooth it out, and touch up any areas I see fit. Crisp pot edges on the outside, soft smooth edges on the inside. And finally, I think I can call it a day with this one. That wraps up our exercise on drawing through the objects and to paper. I hope you're able to get something out of this. Thank you for watching, and I'll see you in the next one. Bye bye. No 10. Block-In: Alright, so the first stage of this portrait will consist of a straight line blocking. Before that, I'll create a square grid. The purpose of this grid is to make finding our proportions easier. And given that this is a beginner portrait drawing, I think it's appropriate. It's only a ruler, a sharp pencil and your sheet before you decide on the size of each square. Smaller ones will offer greater precision, but they will take more time to layout. Starting from one edge of the paper, use the ruler to draw a series of straight, evenly spaced vertical lines, keeping a touch light so they can be erased later. Once these are in place, turn the paper slightly or simply shift your ruler to draw horizontal lines at the same intervals. The crossing of these lines will form a neat pattern of squares, each one serving as a small frame through which you can translate details from your reference image. Starting from the bottom left, I'll utilize straight lines and they connect the dots fashion, simplifying the curves I see and focusing on the major angle breaks and portraits. I'll occasionally use my divider to cross check my marks in relation to the grid and make a correction if something looks off to me. Slowly but surely, I'll work my way around the outside of the head until that envelope shape is fully established. Now is a good time to pause and compare what is on your paper to what is in your reference. If you've done a good job, the similarities between the two should be apparent. At this juncture, I'm ready to start on the inside. Beginning with the shape of the hair, avoid the temptation, be too precise. A handful of well placed straight lines is all you need for the right impression. With the grid, we have built in plumb lines to help us cross check vertical and horizontal alignment as we move through the portraits. However, you should still trust your eyes if the measurement says it's accurate, but it clearly isn't, then perhaps your grid lines are not as accurate as they need to be. The large shapes before the medium shapes and the medium shapes before the small shapes. I tend to make discrete marks versus continuous ones because it's easier to do and limits perceptual errors. Our model has a rather borbous nose with the right wing of the nostril in full view and the left wing partially obfuscated. The bridge blends seamlessly into the ball of the nose before rounding off into the wings as the form turns downward. The shape of the lef have simplified significantly with the overlay so you can understand that the impression is all you need at this point to get the likeness. As long as the features are placed correctly in relation to each other, one does not need to have perfect contours for the portrait to start to look alive. A couple of V shapes on some straight lines, and we're good to go. Next, I'll define some of the muscles in the neck around the shadow there, sharpen the jaw line, and now I will begin to turn the straight line blocking into a closer representation of our reference photo. The main difference is the incorporation of C curves and S curves and just more precise shapes overall. Lightly, erase the initial marks and go over them with more specific shapes. Take your time as you do this and reflect on each mark you make as it relates to the home. That's it for this lesson, and I'll see you in the next one. Bye bye. 11. Refining the forms Pt.1: Like we started in the previous lesson, I will continue to wipe down the initial blocking with my new eraser and replace it with more accurate contours. I want to erase those marks till they are just very visible and use them as a guide to realize and complete accuracy. By the way, I'm using an HB pencil for this stage of the drawing and the previous one. Don't want to use a pencil that is too light or too dark. The former because you want to see your marks clearly and the latter because it will affect some of your shading later on. Attention to detail is of utmost importance here. Find ways to simplify the shapes that you see and compare them with the marks you've already made to verify their accuracy. There are no shortcuts to getting good at drawing, strain your eyes, to make comparisons, and make the necessary adjustments to areas that are in need of fixing. Step back often, dot your eyes between your work and the reference, and ask yourself, what is different? Is the nose too wide or too short? Are the eyes equally spaced? Are the lips angled correctly relative to the nose and eyes? The more questions you can ask and answer, the better your work will be. Once I'm done with the line work, I'll erase all my grid lines and start building up the value in the hair. Notice, I see building because it will take many layers to get the level of darkness I'm looking for in that region. Unfortunately, we can just push harder with a pencil and get quicker. The hair I would simplify as a dark mass with some highlights and flyaway hair surrounding it. When building up the layers, I'll leave some of the grid up the paper showing through for the highlighted areas, and I will try to follow the form slash direction of the hair as I draw it. H. My first day of value established, I'll use this round bristle brush to push the pigment deeper into the tooth of the paper and create a darker, smoother finish. Alternatively, you can use a blending stump, cotton bud, or a tissue paper. It's the same process for the next layer. Only now I'll begin to use my needed eraser to pull out some highlights in the hair to create that illusion of volume. Part of why you keep a light hand when you're layering value so you can do things like this. If you really burnish the pencil into the paper, the eraser will be ineffective in this capacity. Some of the highlighted areas I will go over with a two inch pencil to darken the bits. The lighter areas of the hair should not have uniform value. So parts should be darker and lighter than others. In addition to this, I will go around the borders of the hair to create soft edges with my lighted pencils and add some flyaway hairs in different directions. You don't want to get carried away with this and make her look like she was electrocuted, suggestions here and there will suffice. Your hair may not look good, you fast ituration, but you can continue to modify it until it gives a good impression. Less is more, minimize value variation, indicate your highlights clearly and soften your pinches. Do this and you'll be much closer to a compelling representation. The fast facial feature we will draw is the ear, shadows first in the fossa and concha to key in the lower limits of our value scale, focusing on crisp, dark shapes with soft, smooth transitions into the darkest halftones. I'll leave the ear briefly to integrate the shadows on the spin of the head, the ear. In this region, we have two main values, all of which are lighter than the local value of the hair as well as the local value of the shadows in the ear. Layer until the values are even, I use the appropriate intermediate values to connect the two. Under the under the de We turning back to the ear, I'll add a couch, which is essentially just a base layer value close to the average values of the lights here. Then beginning at the tragus and helix, I'll start sheating in the darkest half tones and softening the edges between them and the existing shadow shapes. Slowly, but surely, I'll make my way around the entire ear, building up my midtones and softening the transitions. Let's see for now. I'll see you the next one. O. 12. Refining the forms Pt.2: In this lesson, I'll begin by adding value to the eyes to give them a strong sense of three dimensionality. As always, I'll start with the darkest areas, treating the pupil, tear duct, and eyelid before moving into the iris and sclera. A few things to avoid at this stage are number one, waiting sharp edges between the different parts of the eye. Number two, introducing too much contrast to the pupil and iris. Number three, allowing the values to become uneven. Take your time as you gild up your layers, keeping in mind that drawing is a process of continuous finance. When shading the sclera, K white in the eye, remember that it is never pure white, but rather a subtle shade of gray. Treat it as a spare, lighter in the center, and gradually darker towards edges. Similar to vignette. Once the bodies are in place, I'll add a few carefully placed marks and so just eyelashes before moving on to the eyebrows. When drawn eyebrows, I approach them first as a mask of form rather than individual hairs, almost like sculpting the shape of a brown. After establishing the underlying form, I'll then introduce texture by suggesting individual hairs with a pencil and eraser. This is not the only way to render brows, but it's a method that works consistently well. The The process for the left eye similar, working from dark to light, establishing dies first, and then softening the transitions. Since this side of the head receives more lights, average value here will be lighter than the right eye. Be mindful of the proportional relationship between both eyes, ensuring they aligned properly along the vertical and horizontal axis. Once the eyes are complete, I'll move on to the forehead. Because this area is among the brightest regions of the portraits, I primarily use harder penso such as TH NHP before beginning to develop half tones along the sides of the forehead and connecting them seamlessly to the lighter tones in the center. Think of this stage as shaping, soft controlled half tone transitions that blend into the gray of the paper. Avoiding hard edges, the roundness of the head is clearly communicated. Be sure to connect the forehead value smoothly into the hairline, the downward facing plane of the pabellaPabllla being the area between the eyebrows. Adding a few flyaway hairs will help cus realism before moving on to the highlights. For highlights, I'll use a white colored pencil. Yeah, I'm working with Darren Drawing Chinese whites, T I sometimes also use the favor castle polychromas whites. Apply with the light hand, gradually building up the saturation. As you leyer vignette the highlights by easing pressure so it transitions naturally from white light gray to the tone of the paper. You can also bend gently with tissue paper to integrate the highlights smoothly into the portrait. Next, I'm ready for the nose. I'll begin by establishing the highlights in the ball of the nose and defining the shadows around Notice the combination of form shadows and cast shadows in this area. They should flow seamlessly into each other or remaining dark enough not to compete with the half tings elsewhere in the portrait. Cav reflected lights in the shadow areas, but on the right wing, it should remain subtle and never two lights. I also deepen the value along the middle portion of the nose bridge, about two steps to talk on the paper tone before working back into the bedbug line. The bug line being the transitional edge will lighten the shadow. This helps to complete the turning of the form of bridge. I have the natural paper tone, several degrees value. Add a small specular highlights, such as dimension, soften the transition lab. With a few final refinements, nose will be complete. Finally, I'll move on to the mouth. Because the lips are a convex form, their values move from light to dark as they curve outwards. As with the nose, I'll first identify the highlights, slap the shadows, finally build halftones with smooth transitions between them. The upper lip is generally much darker overall, so avoid allowing any values yet to approach the birdness we see in the forehead. As you shade, follow the natural curvature of the lips to the cancer strokes, this will enhance the sense of volume, but be mindful not to lay out graphite directly with the white tensile, this can muddy the highlights and reduce its luminosity. Once the lips are complete, we'll return to the larger planes of the head, continue developing the framework established in the previous lesson. That concludes this tutorial. Thank you for falling long and I'll see you next week. What? 13. Refining the forms Pt.3: In this lesson, I'll begin by adding value to the eyes to give them a strong sense of three dimensionality. As always, I'll start with the darkest areas, hitting the pupil, tear duct, and eyelid before moving into the iris and Sclar. A few things I v at this stage are number one, waiting sharp edges in the different parts of the eye. Number two, introducing to what contrast would be build on iris. Number three, allowing the values to become uneven take your time as you guild up your layers, keeping in mind that drawing is a process tuous finance. When shading the sclera, decay white in the eye, remember that it is never pure white or rather a subtle sheaded gray. Heated as a sphere, lighter in the center, and gradually darker, what edged. Similar to a vignette. What's the body sign, please. I'll add a few carefully place mark to suggest eyelashes before moving on to the eyebrow. When drawn on brows, I approach them first as a mask of form rather than individual hairs, almost like sculpting the shape of a brown. After establishing the underlying form, I'll then introduce texture by suggesting individual hairs, both a pencil and eraser. This is not the only way to run the browns but method that works to locks. The Bosses for left eye similar. Working from dark to light, establishing bodies first, and then softening transitions. Says this side of the head receives more lights, average value here will be light than the right time. Be mindful of the proportional relationship between eyes, ensuring they aligned properly on the vertical, horizontal live. Once the eyes are complete, I'll move on to the forehead. Because this area is among the brightest regions of the porpts. I primarily use harder pentil such as THNHB before beginning to develop patterns along the sides of the forehead and connecting the obstinac lighter tones in the center. Think of this stage of shaping soft controlled pathn conditions that blend into the grow avoiding hard edges, the roundness of the head, clearly communicated. Be sure to connect the forehead value smoothly into the hairline, the downward facing plane of bella, developing the area between the eyebrows. I a few flyaway hairs will help csialism or moving on to the highlights. Highlights, I'll use a white colored pencil. Yeah, I'm working with pair on drawing Chinese whites, I sometimes also use the paper Castle polycas whites. Apply with the light hand gradually building up the saturation. As you layer net the highlights by easing pressure. You transitions from white light gray to the tone of the paper. You can also bench and with tissue paper to integrate the highlights. Moving into the pot. Next, I'm ready for the nose. I'll begin by establishing the highlights in the ball of the nose and deciding the shadows around Notice the combination of form shadows and cash shadows in this area. They should foresee nothing to each other or remaining dark of what's piece of the half homes. All forward. Careful reflected lights and shadow areas, par on the right wing. I should remain subtle and never two lines. I also deepen the value along the little portion of the nose bit about two steps do on the pap toon before working back into bedbug line. The bug line a traditional edge with lightning shadow. This helps to complete the turning of the form of bridge out of the natural peptone, so as the pace value. That is small specular highlights, such as dimension, softening is transition into a lab. A few final requirements, those will be complete. Finally, I'll move to the mouth. Because the lips are a convex form, their values move from light to dark as they curve outwards. As with the nose, If identify the highlights, slab Shadows finally build halftones. It's more transition them. The upper lip is generally much darker overall, so avoid allowing any values yet hardness we see in the forehead. And you shed, follow the natural curvature of the lip to the cancer stroke. This will enhance the sense of volume, but be mindful not to lay graphite directly with the white pencil, this muddy the highlights and reduce its huminosity. Once the ellips are complete, we'll return to the larger planes overhead, continue developing the framework established in the precessing. That concludes. Its tutorial. Thank you for flying along. I'll see you next week. Bye bye. 14. Class Project: This video, we're going to be talking all about the class project. Now that you completed the first part of this course on ton paper drawing, it's time for you to put your newly acquired skills to action. Using the reference photos provided in the project and resources section, your task will be to create a fully rendered portrait from one, two, three, if not all of the images provided. The more reps you can get in with different faces on the different lighting conditions, the more well rounded you will be. I suggest before diving into the portrait directly that you continue to work on those preliminary exercises such as shading the cube, the spare, the cylinder, or just practicing creating ingredients from dark to light on tone paper. Once you've completed your drawings, or put them here for feedback, and don't hesitate to ask questions. I'm more than happy to give your feedback and advice to get better as you continue to improve. Remember that I'm here to help, and I'm truly excited to watch your progress and see the beautiful portrait you all create. Thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you on the next one. Bye bye.