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Drawing Techniques – Pencil Portrait Tips
Are you looking to learn some beginner’s drawing techniques? Are you wanting to master the art of pencil portraits?
There is something very calming about sketching and drawing, and, for anyone with a natural creative and artistic side to them, then acquiring drawing techniques with a view to becoming an artist is the first step to a very rewarding hobby.
Once people have grasped all the basic drawing techniques, one of the most popular steps many want to take is learning how to draw pencil portraits, but a major problem that every learner artist has is they don’t quite know where to start. Let’s take a look at some drawing techniques that may help you when drawing your first pencil portrait.
Observation:
Pencil drawing portraits will seriously test your powers of observation and challenge you on how you see things. As a beginner in drawing portraits, the easiest way to start would be with a straightforward frontal view. Get a friend or someone from the family to sit for you. You will need an outline as a guide so very lightly draw an oval shape and, as you will have already mastered the basic drawing techniques, you will understand how to insert and use construction lines so add these to your oval shape. Construction lines take on a lightly drawn cross shape to help align forms, etc. Ideal for drawing portraits and lining up eyes, nose and mouth.
Alignment:
Using the vertical construction lines to help you align the eyes, try to accurately project the distance between the eyes onto paper. Draw this lightly at first and have your eraser handy. When looking at the face you are drawing, imagine an invisible vertical construction line down the centre of that face, trying to arrange the spacing correctly on both sides of the line and making amendments as and when needed until you are happy with it.
Looking back and forth from your drawing to your model and using the horizontal line as a guide, draw the nose while taking note of the distance downwards from the eyes. Don’t worry if you don’t get it right. Just erase and keep trying until it’s something like. Always draw what you see and not what you think you see!
Again using the horizontal construction line as your guide, now draw the mouth. Once more, take specific note of the distance from the nose and where the mouth finishes at each end in line with the eyes. Use all of these to help you align the mouth correctly. Look carefully at the shape of the top lip. Is it thinner or about the same thickness as the bottom lip? Keep drawing and correcting any mistakes until you are satisfied. Your early drawing techniques should help you with this.
Summary:
Remember the face is only part of the larger picture. As a beginner, don’t forget that perfection isn’t possible straight away and you are initially aiming to be satisfied. But have fun – you are only just learning. Date everything you do and never throw anything away. Make any relevant notes that may help you in your next attempt. Remember your drawing techniques will improve with practice. Always lightly draw your construction lines and use them every time you tackle a drawing until such time as you feel confident to have a go without them.
About the Author
Would you like to master drawing pencil portraits? With the correct Drawing Techniques to guide you it’s a lot easier than you think. Why not drop by to read more on some free drawing techniques and videos http://drawingtechniques.co.uk/ plus an excellent cost effective step by step guide to pencil portrait drawing.
Learn to Draw Portraits – Ep.3B Graphite & Eraser
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