Example 5: Be Creative

Now you’ve learnt how to draw faces, we can sometimes change the layout of the drawing and how you want to present it. You can be creative! I’ve done two drawings with blank squares in them. It looks like parts of the face are missing which I think would create curiosity.

Compare to the normal portraits, all you need to do is before you draw anything; draw up grids on your paper. The size of the squares is totally up to you. In the first drawing, the size of the squares is 4cm x 4cm and I reckon this is the perfect size if your drawing is not large. You then choose which squares you want to draw on and which ones you don’t. Next, just simply start sketching on your drawing paper and follow the steps we have learnt in the previous posts.

In the second drawing, I thought empty squares were a bit boring therefore I added some writings and texts in some of the squares. You can write anything that expresses your own feelings or things about the character you drew. In the picture, I’ve written the date I met the character and words that describe our friendship.

If you do not like squares, you can also use circles, triangles or rectangles!

Example 4: Young man with very bright lights

In the picture above, the hair obviously requires the msot tonal work and time spent on it; therefore we will fo a draft and leave it to the end to complete along with the collar, since they both need very dark shades.

Now look carefully to find out which part is the deepest and most intense, and start from these places (usually start with eyebrows, eyes, nose and temporal bone). However, we must avoid starring at the portrait and drawing on one particular part for too long, as this may cause imbalance in some parts. What to draw first can be considered based on the objevt characteristics, such as the more prominent cheekbones, or some may have thicker eyebrows or eyes that sparkle, then you can decide which parts to start with.

Lighting on this portrait is very interesting as it is so bright and comes from the right side of the character. We can tell that it so bright that we cannot even see the lines of the right side of the face. Therefore, we have to be careful of where to locate the lines that separate the shade and light. As you can see from the picture, there is a very sharp and clear line in the middle of the face, nose and chin to create realistic shadows.

Note: the brighter the light is, the lighter you have to draw.

To finish the drawing, concentrate on the tones of the hair and the direction of it. It does takw a long time to draw the hair part, and sometimes a rubber can be used to create the lights on the hair, which can reflect the shininess of it. For Asians, the natural hair color is black. However, carefully analyse it, it is actually not. It is also light and dark in contrast. Hair is formed on the skull, thus the hair style, light and shade structure must be considered. Therefore, the hair should be drawn in a fluffy and rich texture.

Example 3: Korean Young Man

Again, after you’ve made the draft, do not start drawing the hair or anywhere that needs a very dark shade. In this picture, the darkest part would be the hair or the scarf.

When drawing the eyes, notice that upper eyelids and lower eyelids are different (refer to lesson 4), generally upper eyelids are heavier because of the thickness eyelashes, creating the deep shadow on the eyes, and that is often the deepest point in the whole picture. The lower lid has more contact with the light, thus it should be bright. In the picture above, Asian eyes are different to western people’s ‘double eyelid’ eyes, therefore in this drawing not much tonal work is needed on the eyes.

Characterization is also related to the mouth of the person's face. First, is to determine thickness the upper and lower lips. Then by deciding where the lights come from, shade the lips from dark to light.

At last, finish off the portrait by drawing quickly and smoothly on the hair, creating the realistic look. Also, the scarf should be the hardest part in this drawing as the patterns and shapes are all smudged together.



Example 2: High School girl in uniform

As we’ve mentioned in the previous posts, before drawing, you should develop the habit of brewing your own emotions and observing the characteristics of the objects or a person’s face. According to the object’s occupation, age, temperament, hobbies, etc to consider how you want to achieve as the final results. Do not rush to start, be careful with the composition, always ask yourself “is the space for your object appropriate, do I need more space?” Although it is cliché, but it is the key to complete a perfect, whole picture.

As you can from the picture above, I’ve used a lighter pencil to draft my character (easy to erase which I have mentioned before). It is all up to you which part of the face/body you want to draw first but it is recommended to draw the hair last as it is the darkest part of your portrait and it could be easily smudged.

The character is looking to her right and therefore the lighting on the eye balls should reflect that by leaving most of the whites of the eyes blank. The side of the face has a darker shade since it does not get as much lights as the front of the face.

The picture below is a finished drawing of a whole face.

The final stage of the line drawing in this portrait is to sketch some more of the detail in the hair and the folds on the t-shirt and the tie.

The lines of detail in the hair should follow the direction and shape of the locks as they split into different strands. They should be drawn quickly and forcefully to give a natural rhythm and vitality to the shape of the hair.

The folds in the t-shirt help to emphasize the form and angle of the shoulders. They should be gentle and uncomplicated curves that do not distract your attention from the rest of the portrait.

Example 1: Woman from Magazine

Portrait of a Woman
2B pencil on paper

However, when you draw a portrait from life, you need to record the subtle variations of the features which make that individual's face unique. Such an approach was used to build our pencil portrait above.

There are three basic stages in the creation of this image:

1.   Using line drawing to organise the position, shape and proportion of the features.

2.   Using softly shaded tone to create the form and texture of each feature.

3.   Using larger areas of tone to unite all the elements of the portrait.

Most artists make changes at the start of a drawing. Therefore it is important to draw lightly at first, as lightly drawn lines are easier to erase. You begin a portrait with the eyes as they are the main focal point. Take care where you choose to position them on the page as this will affect the overall balance of the portrait. The size and position of the other features are directly related to the scale and placement of the eyes. If you get the correct relationship between the eyes, nose and mouth, you will end up with a good likeness.

The main features are then framed by the outline of the face and hair, while the neck and shoulders form an angular support for the head. The lines of detail in the hair should follow the direction and shape of the locks as they split into different strands. They should be drawn quickly and forcefully to give a natural rhythm and vitality to the shape of the hair.

Tutorial 5: Hair

To draw the hair perfect, smooth and natural, I personally think practicing is a good way to start. You may try to draw different lines and curves with different pencils, strength and angles. I've always liked to draw on a flat drawing board, but in fact I found out that if you put the drawing board up, it is so much easier to take control of what I’m drawing. At first, you may get tired of holding your arms in the air, but once you practice more and get used to the strength and pressure you put on the pencil and paper, everything is fine. With a steady hand, you should be able to draw out natural looking lines.

Step 1- Identified the darkest areas in the section of hair and draw them in with a 3B pencil. Try to look for details inside the darks, a lot of the time there will be lighter hairs passing through the dark areas so draw around those.

Step 2- Located more dark areas and draws them in, again using a 3B but with slightly less pressure. Also draw light guide lines to show where some of the highlights and mid-tones were to go.

Step 3- Begin shading the mid-tone area that was located in step 2 with a B pencil.

Step 4- Fading the mid-tones into the highlight area that was located in step 2. Again using a B pencil but with less pressure than for the mid-tone area.

Step 5- Fade the dark tones towards the top of head into the highlight area with a B pencil. Then shade lightly over the highlight area with an H pencil. Smooth, fluent shading is key here.

Tutorial 4: Eyes

The eyes are in the center of the face, it is the most frequent facial moving organ. The structures of the eyes are opposite to one another which adds difficulties when drawing them. Therefore, the understanding of the physical structure of the eye becomes particularly important.

An eye is formed by the eye ball, upper eyelid and lower eyelid. Eye ball was embedded in the skull within the furrow of the eyes. We can see the exposed part of the eye which is the whites of the eyes, iris and the pupil. Pay special attention to the performance of the eye changes. The upper eyelid creates a darker shade on the lower lid. Iris is a complex dark transparent part and on the black pupil, there’s a tiny and bright highlight. The curved upper and lower eyelid separated into two parts, wrapping the eye balls.

The upper eyelid is thicker and longer than the lower eyelid, it also covers most of the eyeball. Upper eyelid has more lashes than the lower lid which are thicker, denser, longer, and can affect the lighting, reflection on the eye ball. In the performance of the eye, remember to depict as many of these structural features, with particular attention to the size of the eye and the thickness of part of the eyelid.

The shape of the eyelid and position of pupil strongly reflects a person’s emotion and the soul of one. Even if it’s only a small change, you will convey a totally different expression of an eye. Therefore, artists should pay extra attention in observing the changes in the eyes and capture it down.

The performance of the eye cannot be confined to the eye itself, but also should include the performance of other parts around the eye. The eye brow has a structural relationship with the eye. There are changes in the shades of the eyebrow which make the part more interesting when you are drawing the hairs and the shadows.