How to Draw! Guide
I never liked art books that supposedly instructed you on how to draw. Many of them would proceed to demonstrate in four to five steps how to draw a good picture--and yet, even though it seemed simple, in practice it sure wasn't simple at all. Kind of like when my geometry teacher would demonstrate a proof, then make us deduct the answer to a slightly different one (of course, eventually that became easy but in the beginning it was pretty tough).
So I thought to myself, "Might as well write up my own (useless) drawing guide to show how to make a portrait in four easy steps!" So I did. I now present to you, "The Seemingly Innocuous Guide to Drawing Portraits in Four Easy Steps in Just One Hour." The small print: Use may cause frustration and waste of time, paper, graphite, and sanity.
Step 0: Get Your Materials Ready
There's always that necessary preparatory step. Get your pencils, pens, erasers, paper, chewing gum, thinking cap, and whatever else you need to draw out and in front of you. Good. I'm assuming that you will be trying to draw based off a source, may it be an actual model, a photo, a sculpture, whatever. For this example I'm using a picture.
Step 1: Guidelines
Guidelines may not be fun but unfortunately they're pretty necessary. Using them is like drinking milk, it's good for you unless you're lactose intolerant. Don't try too hard, just capture a very general approximation of the outline of the head, mainly the forehead and jaw. Then simply draw a line across halfway between the top and bottom (used to approximate the location of the eyes) and halfway up and down the face (helps with drawing the face symmetrically). Not too bad yet, right?
The first step is perhaps the easiest and the hardest step of drawing a portrait. Easy because, well, there's very few lines needed, and they don't have to be exact; hard because you're laying down the foundation of your drawing. If you screw up the shape at this point, the picture can only be so good up to a point. I would recommend using a very light pencil (or just drawing lightly) for this step, so that it'll be easier to erase later on.
The only way to really get proficient at getting the outline of the face down is practice, of course. You may notice that I first drew a rough circle lightly, then made the outline over it. Getting the right feel only comes with practice. And it's best not to use too many lines to sketch the outline (or else you get what I call the "feathery" look).
Approximate Time You'll Need (ATYN): 1~2 minutes. If you go over this limit, you're trying too hard.
Step 2: Add the Major Features
If the first step wasn't bad enough, then this is usually the step where things fall apart the center cannot hold. Using your super-rough grid from the first step, draw in the nose, eyes, eyebrows, mouth, and ears. I also stuck in the hair and neck (because I draw way too many beheaded people) in for good measure.
While lots of practice drawing parts of the face helps, of course, how this step turns out really depends on how good you are at "tracing" your source. This step is rather approximate as well. Don't bother with shading, you just want to get the outlines of the face parts down. The only real rule here is: try to have the eyes aligned on the middle horizontal line, and place the other features relative to them. Use the line down the middle to keep track of symmetry. Everything else depends on what the face you're trying to draw looks like. Once again, keep things drawn lightly. It'll be easier to erase mistakes and easier to draw over places in the next step.
This step is arguably harder than the first step, because there's far less leeway if you mess up. Not drawing the features approximately correct will definitely make the end result deviate greatly from the source material. The real work starts next, but if you've gone this far, the rest is relatively easy. Don't worry if your drawing doesn't resemble the source yet. The next step will reveal how much you actually screwed up.
ATYN: 10~30 minutes. It's important to get things in the right position, but they don't have to be exact. But doing this step well will save a lot of time for the next step.
Step 3: The Real Drawing Emerges
Time to take out the 2B pencil, or at least one darker than the one you used for the first two steps. Start filling out major areas of the face, such as the lips (I really suck at drawing lips, btw), eyes, and nose. Redraw over the outlines darkly, but make sure you get it right because erasing at this point is difficult and may end up messy (especially if overdone). There's no need to fill in the hair completely at this point, but get the outline of it more defined at this point.
Essentially, the point of this step is to take the drawing out of sketch-mode. As you can see, the only things I did were: Add the pupils and irises to the eyes, finalize the shape of the eyes and draw eyelashes, darken the eyebrows, shade the lips, add some shading to the nose, correct the face shape, and redraw over previous lines. Then I added some faint lines indicating where shading will be. Also, it was time to erase the original guidelines.
Actually, if you want to, you can stop at this step (if you draw in the hair). You're pretty much finished. All that's left to do is shading, which is pretty hard to do correctly. This step could practically be accomplished with a pen and finished as line art.
ATYN: 10~20 minutes. It's mostly redrawing over what you've already done before afterall. You want to have everything look correct at this point, however.
Step 4: Shading and Finishing Up.
Practice is practically the only way to get good at this, unless you really are just talented. Keep in mind that you don't want to overshade, otherwise the face will look extremely dark. Shade lightly around the mouth. Making face lines too prominent will probably make it look more like wrinkles, and then your drawing will look older than the source picture. If you haven't done so already, color in the hair.
Getting the shading around the eyes, on the forehead, around the ears, and on the neck to look right is all a matter of lots of patience... I often need to use the eraser a lot to lighten up shading that has gotten too dark. It would be wise to use a light pencil to do more subtle shading and add a darker pencil on it if more contrast is needed. Oh, and be careful of smudging. And you're done!
ATYN: 20+ minutes. Practice can considerably shorten this process, as with all the others.
Conclusion:
So there you go! How to draw a portrait from a picture in about 1~2 hours! I refuse to show the source picture I used for my example because my drawing actually deviated quite a bit. It took about 1.5 hours for me to finish, and one hour of it was because of the shading (I rarely find the results satisfactory). If you'd like to see the life-size version of the final product, look here:
http://x03.xanga.com/2dda60ead553374795411/w50476509.jpg
I didn't bother playing with the settings of my dad's scanner (it's in Chinese so I can't understand it), and much of the subtlety of the shading was lost. Dang it. In other words, trust me, the actual drawing looks better. And you may notice my laziness in drawing everything below the chin.
May your portraits come out more satisfactorily. And I'm sure that this guide absolutely did not help anyone, because steps 2 and 4 can only be learned through practice, not theory. Look forward to my upcoming posts about my recent trip to Hua Lien soon!
So I thought to myself, "Might as well write up my own (useless) drawing guide to show how to make a portrait in four easy steps!" So I did. I now present to you, "The Seemingly Innocuous Guide to Drawing Portraits in Four Easy Steps in Just One Hour." The small print: Use may cause frustration and waste of time, paper, graphite, and sanity.
Step 0: Get Your Materials Ready
There's always that necessary preparatory step. Get your pencils, pens, erasers, paper, chewing gum, thinking cap, and whatever else you need to draw out and in front of you. Good. I'm assuming that you will be trying to draw based off a source, may it be an actual model, a photo, a sculpture, whatever. For this example I'm using a picture.
Step 1: Guidelines
Guidelines may not be fun but unfortunately they're pretty necessary. Using them is like drinking milk, it's good for you unless you're lactose intolerant. Don't try too hard, just capture a very general approximation of the outline of the head, mainly the forehead and jaw. Then simply draw a line across halfway between the top and bottom (used to approximate the location of the eyes) and halfway up and down the face (helps with drawing the face symmetrically). Not too bad yet, right?
The first step is perhaps the easiest and the hardest step of drawing a portrait. Easy because, well, there's very few lines needed, and they don't have to be exact; hard because you're laying down the foundation of your drawing. If you screw up the shape at this point, the picture can only be so good up to a point. I would recommend using a very light pencil (or just drawing lightly) for this step, so that it'll be easier to erase later on.
The only way to really get proficient at getting the outline of the face down is practice, of course. You may notice that I first drew a rough circle lightly, then made the outline over it. Getting the right feel only comes with practice. And it's best not to use too many lines to sketch the outline (or else you get what I call the "feathery" look).
Approximate Time You'll Need (ATYN): 1~2 minutes. If you go over this limit, you're trying too hard.
Step 2: Add the Major Features
If the first step wasn't bad enough, then this is usually the step where things fall apart the center cannot hold. Using your super-rough grid from the first step, draw in the nose, eyes, eyebrows, mouth, and ears. I also stuck in the hair and neck (because I draw way too many beheaded people) in for good measure.
While lots of practice drawing parts of the face helps, of course, how this step turns out really depends on how good you are at "tracing" your source. This step is rather approximate as well. Don't bother with shading, you just want to get the outlines of the face parts down. The only real rule here is: try to have the eyes aligned on the middle horizontal line, and place the other features relative to them. Use the line down the middle to keep track of symmetry. Everything else depends on what the face you're trying to draw looks like. Once again, keep things drawn lightly. It'll be easier to erase mistakes and easier to draw over places in the next step.
This step is arguably harder than the first step, because there's far less leeway if you mess up. Not drawing the features approximately correct will definitely make the end result deviate greatly from the source material. The real work starts next, but if you've gone this far, the rest is relatively easy. Don't worry if your drawing doesn't resemble the source yet. The next step will reveal how much you actually screwed up.
ATYN: 10~30 minutes. It's important to get things in the right position, but they don't have to be exact. But doing this step well will save a lot of time for the next step.
Step 3: The Real Drawing Emerges
Time to take out the 2B pencil, or at least one darker than the one you used for the first two steps. Start filling out major areas of the face, such as the lips (I really suck at drawing lips, btw), eyes, and nose. Redraw over the outlines darkly, but make sure you get it right because erasing at this point is difficult and may end up messy (especially if overdone). There's no need to fill in the hair completely at this point, but get the outline of it more defined at this point.
Essentially, the point of this step is to take the drawing out of sketch-mode. As you can see, the only things I did were: Add the pupils and irises to the eyes, finalize the shape of the eyes and draw eyelashes, darken the eyebrows, shade the lips, add some shading to the nose, correct the face shape, and redraw over previous lines. Then I added some faint lines indicating where shading will be. Also, it was time to erase the original guidelines.
Actually, if you want to, you can stop at this step (if you draw in the hair). You're pretty much finished. All that's left to do is shading, which is pretty hard to do correctly. This step could practically be accomplished with a pen and finished as line art.
ATYN: 10~20 minutes. It's mostly redrawing over what you've already done before afterall. You want to have everything look correct at this point, however.
Step 4: Shading and Finishing Up.
Practice is practically the only way to get good at this, unless you really are just talented. Keep in mind that you don't want to overshade, otherwise the face will look extremely dark. Shade lightly around the mouth. Making face lines too prominent will probably make it look more like wrinkles, and then your drawing will look older than the source picture. If you haven't done so already, color in the hair.
Getting the shading around the eyes, on the forehead, around the ears, and on the neck to look right is all a matter of lots of patience... I often need to use the eraser a lot to lighten up shading that has gotten too dark. It would be wise to use a light pencil to do more subtle shading and add a darker pencil on it if more contrast is needed. Oh, and be careful of smudging. And you're done!
ATYN: 20+ minutes. Practice can considerably shorten this process, as with all the others.
Conclusion:
So there you go! How to draw a portrait from a picture in about 1~2 hours! I refuse to show the source picture I used for my example because my drawing actually deviated quite a bit. It took about 1.5 hours for me to finish, and one hour of it was because of the shading (I rarely find the results satisfactory). If you'd like to see the life-size version of the final product, look here:
http://x03.xanga.com/2dda60ead553374795411/w50476509.jpg
I didn't bother playing with the settings of my dad's scanner (it's in Chinese so I can't understand it), and much of the subtlety of the shading was lost. Dang it. In other words, trust me, the actual drawing looks better. And you may notice my laziness in drawing everything below the chin.
May your portraits come out more satisfactorily. And I'm sure that this guide absolutely did not help anyone, because steps 2 and 4 can only be learned through practice, not theory. Look forward to my upcoming posts about my recent trip to Hua Lien soon!