Steps for drawing portraits

[Musashi321]

Hello, I'm a beginner and I'm looking for some tricks or advices to draw portraits.

I found this (don't remember where):




And I was hoping there was a tutorial or something related to this.


Here are some examples of what I've done so far portraying:





Too much use of the smudging tool I think, I don't like that, but I didn't knew (neither now) how to mix colors other way. Here's the reference:





This was very rough I know. I mean, this was only a quick sketch for trying to see if I can place things correctly with a more difficult reference:




The reference:






Oh and one more thing, long ago I used to visit this site and in that time I found something for complete beginners that it was like a bunch of assignments you had to do in order to develop some skills, I remember I saw something about perspective and there was an assignment of "drawing a self-portrait so you'll see in the future how much you've improved" can somebody tell me where's that topic?


Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

[Looee]

make a study of these 3 portrait and you will improve your skill a lot.



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Then, you can see this sculpture is made of planes. You can try to identify these planes on real photos.
Use a brush without opacity variations, and paint with solids colors.

[dierat]

Hello, I'm a beginner and I'm looking for some tricks or advices to draw portraits.

Try Andrew Loomis' books. Here's a video that discusses his method for constructing the head:

Too much use of the smudging tool I think, I don't like that, but I didn't knew (neither now) how to mix colors other way.

Read this, specifically step #6: http://nortagem.deviantart.com/art/D...rial-167854747

Oh and one more thing, long ago I used to visit this site and in that time I found something for complete beginners that it was like a bunch of assignments you had to do in order to develop some skills, I remember I saw something about perspective and there was an assignment of "drawing a self-portrait so you'll see in the future how much you've improved" can somebody tell me where's that topic?

Is this it? http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...-monday-oct-1)

I don't think any of those group class threads are active right now, but you could still follow the assignments if you wanted. This is another good one to check out: http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...oncept-Art-101

[dierat]

Something else I wanted to say is that when you're working from reference, try to step back and think of the image as a collection of shapes. Analyze angles in the source material and compare those objectively to those in your drawing. Also use plumb lines, which are basically imaginary vertical and horizontal grid lines over the image that you use to make sure various elements are lined up correctly.

These are some pages from a workbook I have. They talk specifically about working from life (hence they compare everything with their pencils), but the concept is the same.






I hope you don't mind, but I took your first drawing from reference and compared it with your source image. The green lines show a simplified outline of the subject's face using only straight lines that can be more easily copied and compared. The blue lines are vertical plumb lines to compared landmarks in both image. Note in particular the leftmost vertical line in each image, which is lined up with the model's chin, but goes through the nose and eye much differently in each image.

[LordLouis]

Hello there, I just wanted to add a small thing as an amateur with terrible portrait skills: use a mirror or real people instead of a photograph to practice.
The entire "sighting" or measuring exercise goes out of the window once you copy I photograph because it is flat, doesn't move and you can quickly measure using the edges of the photo.
It is tempting I know but I realized after a few weeks of photo-copying that I got much better at copying but as soon as I drew from the mirror it was all Picasso again. I have found watching videos on YouTube most inspiring, especially when you see that "even" seasoned professionals carefully measure and the first steps always take the longest. Search for "portrait demo" for example.

[Musashi321]

Thanks a lot, that was much more help than I expected! I will practice taking into account these advices and I'll post a sketchbook soon

[hakepe]

Sometimes after working for a really long time, you start to become blind to your own mistakes and cannot see them anymore. Here is a good trick to get a new perspective.

- If working digitaly, flip the canvas horizontally and you can get a fresh look at thins from another angle OR
- If working traditionally with pen and paper, then turn your back to the drawing and use a mirror to look at the drawing.

This makes it easier to take a fresh look and see the problems more clearly.

[Musashi321]

Thanks, I'll remember it!