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.