Painters Online Logo

Login/register

Studio

Pencil drawing in portraiture

Welcome to the forum.

Here you can discuss all things art with like-minded artists, join regular painting challenges, ask questions, buy and sell art materials and much more.

Make sure you sign in or register to join the discussions.

Hang on Studio Wall
Showing page 1 of 2
Author
Message

Angela Harrison

  • Forum Member +
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 186
Posted
I have been dabbling recently in pencil drawing and started a portrait today of my daughter from a photograph. I started drawing her right eye then eye brow and nasal septum but the left eye seems deeper set and so may alter .....it's work in progress but overall I felt that her features did come through....may adjust the eye alignment 
IMG_6882

Paul (Dixie) Dean

  • Prestige User
  • Reputation: 14168
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 4611
Posted
That’s a good start Angela, I find portraits difficult but I suppose if I persevered I’d get there. I do a lot of pencil sketches and one thing I find useful is the paper blending sticks , you can smooth areas out and soften the pencil lines, they don’t cost a lot so certainly worth a try . 

Angela Harrison

  • Forum Member +
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 186
Posted
Oh thankyou Paul, may look at buying some paper blending sticks as one can alter and rub out what is needed,,,,I do like 3b and 4b pencil as they seem to glide and add definite line... thankyou for your encouragement as it's great to hear feedback from other Artists.. Regards,  Angela Harrison 
IMG_6882

Paul (Dixie) Dean

  • Prestige User
  • Reputation: 14168
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 4611
Posted
I usual sketch out roughly with a HB and the use B4 and B7 for dark areas. I do also use pure graphite stick they seem so smooth to use and using the blending stick to lighten or soften. You can use the dirty stick to shade as well , the clean it after. 

Alan Bickley

  • Prestige User
  • Reputation: 9128
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 3453
Posted
Good start Angela… there’s some excellent books available on drawing portraits, I’m sure you’d find them helpful. I don’t particularly like the idea of starting a portrait by drawing in a single eye! It’s not the way to go… The way that I was taught in life classes at college was to roughly draw in the shape of the head… forget drawing an egg, which is the usual advice, head’s are all different shapes! This is generally the accepted method for portrait painting/drawing. Then start to position the main features within this shape, you should end up with eyes that look as if they belong!

Angela Harrison

  • Forum Member +
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 186
Posted
Thankyou Alan, I am just dabbling and usually I start with drawing the shape of the head and that was the conventional way I was taught at Art College too, shall return to drawing outlines and focus upon eyes noses and lips as need to brush up my drawing by skills once again. Anyway it's all in the making and creating how we look and see! 

Denise Cat

  • Prestige User
  • Reputation: 5890
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 2200
Posted
Nice start Angela, portraits are difficult, I know from experience and plenty of practising. There are some good exercises in the tips and techniques section about, figure and portrait drawing. I have followed them a few times when practising. Take a look in that section if you get chance, you may find something helpful.

Ramya Sadasivam

  • Forum Member +
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 21
Posted
Such a beautiful work with nice strokes.  This is my freehand portrait drawing . How do you people like it? I only took 2 hours to finish this. I have had a flair for portrait drawing since childhood. I have done more than 2000 pencil portraits just for the sake of practice. It took me a longtime to achieve resemblance. I love to do such works.
IMG_6882

Paul (Dixie) Dean

  • Prestige User
  • Reputation: 14168
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 4611
Posted
Had a link to his web page , but he is very good at portraits . 
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, NAPA

  • Prestige User
  • Reputation: 20491
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 7187
Posted
Shall we let it go?  It is a link to an art website, and although it's a commercial one, it is the poster's own (it seems) and as Dixie says - he is good. Ranya, if I may - we prefer to avoid embedded links, but as in this case you made it clear that you were linking to your own site, I don't think we need have a problem with it.   I imagine several of us could benefit from your course, as well .... portraiture is widely considered the most difficult art to master.  
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, NAPA

  • Prestige User
  • Reputation: 20491
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 7187
Posted
I remember being taught - by our frankly not very good art teacher - to draw heads in the shape of an egg: when I did exactly that, he did have the grace to admit that his advice might have been tempered somewhat by a little further elaboration.  I do wonder how many people he put off drawing and painting, bless him (he was a lovely man), by his very rigid rules - bodies eight heads long, triangle for the pelvis, tubes for the legs.  
Moi 17

Linda Wilson

  • Prestige User
  • Reputation: 3427
  • Last active:
  • Posts: 1463
Posted
With portraiture, accuracy is very important, otherwise you have no likeness.  If you work from a photograph, it is a good idea, to use the same size paper as the photograph.  There is no law against tracing the photo to get the location of the features and shape of the face right.  Even is you choose not to do this, you will, be able to measure the distance between features to check the accuracy of your drawing.  Once you have the position if the features, there is still lots to do on the details.
Showing page 1 of 2