The Secret to Drawing Realistic Portraits
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by: Enigma Valdez
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There is really no right or wrong way to do it. There is just the most comfortable and efficient way for you. With this in mind, there is one key secret to realistic drawings and that is blending and shading.
Let’s explain this a little further. When you’re attempting to render a realistic portrait of a person live or from a photograph, you will first draw the basic shapes. The human head is close to the shape of an egg. Simple enough, right?
Next, you’ll want to draw the basic shapes of the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. Work from simple to complex. Draw the basics first, they are simple. Then, after you’ve gotten those, go to the little more complex components.
The best artists in this arena start off with basic shapes, such as triangles, squares, rectangles. Train yourself to just see shapes by constantly asking yourself if what you are looking at can be a triangle or square or other basic shape. From there you’ll go to the next step.
This is where shading comes in. Shading gives the appearance of depth and volume to your drawings. Since you’re putting a 3 dimensional object on a 2 dimensional surface, you’ll use shading to give the illusion of 3 dimensions on a flat surface (which in this case is your canvas or paper).
Concentrate on three concepts here; which is shapes, lights, and darks. Look closely for contrast between lighter areas and darker areas. If it is hard for you to do it, squint your eyes, to where the rest of the figure becomes blurred. Now you’ll see the lights and darks stand out.
You’ll translate these lights and darks on to paper or canvas. Then, the most important step is blending. Blending will make any shape that you draw appear realistic, if you’re applying it accurately.
Blending will take practice. In order to blend accurately, you’ll need tools such as tortillions, paper stumps, cotton balls, tissue and a soft cloth. You’ll also need various pencils including 2B, HB, B, and H. These leads vary in hardness and softness. Use these to smooth out your areas of lights and darks so that they gradually blend into each other. Experiment with the paper stumps and notice what effect it has as compared to using a cotton ball or a soft cloth.
Use different pencils with different lead softness to experiment and notice the difference between using an HB pencil and a 2B pencil. Generally, the softer the lead, the darker and deeper the shading you can get, granted you’re using the same amount of pressure.
The amount of pressure you use will also have a different effect. The more pressure you use, the darker your shade will come out. Obviously, for light shading you’ll want to use very light pressure.
Practice your blending and get comfortable with each type of pencil. Soon, you’ll find yourself improving and watching your drawings become more and more realistic.
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