Howtodrawrealisticportraitswithcoloredpencils

Introduction:

In thisbookwith4drawing tutorialsyoucan finda lotof tricksand tips thatyoucanapply toyourdrawings.Themostimportantistokeeppracticing.Drawingarealisticportraitswithcoloredpencilsisverydifficult.Someartistsdrawareabyarea,somestartfromthedarkestparts,somefromthelightestones.Youhavetofindoutwhatisthemostappropriateforyou.Youshouldplayandexperimentwithcolors,drawoneoveranotherandalwaysusemorepencilsforthesamearea.I'lltrytokeepitsimpleandhelpful.

Wearegoingtodrawaneyesintheshadow:

Tolearnhowtodrawatooth:

Tomakeablackskinshining:

Tolearnhowtoblendcolorsoneintoanother:

So,let'sgetstarted:

Tools:Iwouldrecommendatwotypesofcoloredpencils:forthethinnerpartsandhairusethehardercoloredpencilssuchisFaber-CastellandfortheskinuseasoftcoloredpencilsuchisPrismacolors.It'seasierifyouusethesmoothestpaper.Youcanalsouseacolorlessblender,butforblendingthedrawnareasyoucanuseevenawhitecoloredpencil.Youdon'thavetogetalltheexistingnuancesofcoloredpencils;learntomixthemupandcreateacolorsthatyoudon'tevenhave.Ofcourseit'seasierifyoucanaffordabiggersetofpencils.

InthenextimageI'veshownyouhowyoucangetthetonesofskinwithdrawingthecolorsoneoveranother,butofcourse,thereareathousandsofcombinations,youhavetoexperimentwiththem:

Usingthegridmethod:

As a first you should always draw a sketch andmake it as proportional as possible. Take time andpatiencefordrawingamainlines,becauseitisabaseofyourdrawing.Ifit'sdifficultforyoutogetaproportionalsketch,youcanuseagridmethod,whichmanyartistsuse.Inthenextimageyoucanseehow itworks, I'vemadeone sample frommydrawing.Drawagrid,withmechanicalpencil usingaruler,overareferencephotoanddrawagridonablankpaper.Drawamainlinesfromthesquaresofreference photo to the squares of your paper.Once you're finishedwith sketch, erase the grid lines.Don'tpresshardwhendrawingthegridbecausethegridcanstayvisibleevenaftererasing.

FirstDrawingTutorial:

Alotofyouhavebeentoldmethatyoudon'thaveaproblemswithsketch,butwithshading,soIwon'ttalkmuch aboutmain lines. Aswe've alreadymentioned in the introduction, use a grid-method forcreatingaproportionalsketch:

Let'sstartwitheyes.Withgreypencildrawthepupils,eyelinerandeyelashes.Leavethewhitecolorof

paperfortheshiningononthepupils.

Ifthepupilslookgoodandonrightplacedrawoverthemwithblackcoloredpencilpressinghardandgo over the same area more times. Leave untouched the white spots over the pupils. These spotsrepresentthereflectionsofthelights.Withdarkgreycoloredpencildrawthecirclesaroundtheirisesandtrytomakethesecirclesasperfectaspossible.Withlightgreypencildrawtheirises.

Nowwithblueandgreencoloredpencilsdrawtheirisesoverthepreviouslydrawnlightgreybase.Alsoleaveotherwhitespotsuntouched.

Drawhermake-up,eyelinerandeyelasheswithblackpencilpressinghard.Drawcarefullybecausethecoloredpencilsaredifficulttoerase,particularlyblack.

With dark grey pencil draw the upper eyelids and the parts of the irises directly under the false

eyelasheswhichcreatehugeshadowovertheeyes.

With lightgreypencildrawtheshadowunder thefalseeyelashes that fallover thewhitepartsof theeyes,socalledsclera.

Nowit'stimefortheskin.FordrawingtheskinI'musingPrismacolorPremiercoloredpencils,becausetheyarereallysoftandyoucandrawonecoloroveranothermanytimes,soIcantellyouexactlywhichcoloredpencilsIused.WithDarkBrownpencildrawthedeepareasundertheeyebrowsandaddSiennaBrownasyougotowardtheeyebrows.Trytomakethesecolorsblendedintoeachother.

WithPeachdrawclosetothebrownareasandcontinuewithLightPeach,whichissomehowthebaseofherprettypaleskin.

WithDarkBrowndrawhereyebrowsanduseSiennaBrownforthehighlightedpartsoftheeyebrows.Withthesamepencilsdrawthenostrilandthedownershapeofhernose.

For the lipsyoucanuseanycolorbecauseshehasa lipstick.Youdon'thave todraweverything thesameasyouseeinthereferencephoto.Thetechniqueofthedarkerpartsandthehighlightsisalwaysthesamenomatterwhichcoloryouuse.BetweentwolipsdrawwithTuscanRedandtherestofthelipsdrawwithredpencil.

In the next step I used awax colorless blender fromPrismacolor and I blended the two nuances sothere'snosharpedgebetweenthemanymore.Becarefulifyouusethistool,becauseitmakesadrawnarealittlebitdarker.Ifyoudon'twantittohappen,simpleusewhitecoloredpencilforblending.

Drawover the highlighted areas of her lipswithwhite colored pencil pressing hard andwith brownpencildrawtheshadowunderthedownerlip.

Under the nose draw the bigger shadow with Sienna Brown and you shouln't use a wax colorlessblender for the skin, because it doesn't look good. we'll blend it with other colors instead in thefollowingsteps.

With the samepencil, SiennaBrown, draw the shadowof thehair that falls onher face.Withblackcoloredpencilstarttodrawahairandthiswaytoshapethefacedrawingaroundthemwithblack.

DrawtheareaunderhereyewithPeachcoloredpencilandalsodrawtheshadowofthefalseeyelashes.

For the shadow of the bang use more brown nuances and Peach because the light falls differentlythrough the hair. The partswhen the shadow ends drawwith Light Peach and draw over thewholeforehead.

Wecannowaddsomehairbeforewecontinuetodrawherfacesowedon'thavetoplaceourhandoverthealreadydrawnface.Youcanusesomepapertoholdyourhandonthat,butthenalsoyoucanmessupthedrawnareas.

Nowcontinuetoshapeherfacewithdrawingthehairaroundit.Ifyouarenotsurethatyourmainlineslookproportional, drawwith grey pencils first and if everything looks good, drawwith black penciloverthatpressinghard.

Drawmorehairontheleftsideandyoucanstarttodrawahairontherightside.

Drawthehairontherightsideclosetothefaceandafterdrawingwithblackcoloredpencilyouaddsomebrownordarkred.Alsodrawthehighlightsofthehairwithwhiteorlightgreycoloredpencilstomakeahairshine.

NowwithPeachcoloredpencildrawtheareaunderhercheek.Nexttothehairdrawwithbrownpencil,butonlyathinline.

NowdrawthesideofthenoseandtheskinbetweentheeyebrowswithPeachcoloredpencil.Alsodrawallthepartsoftheskinthatgetlesslightwiththispencil.PeachisthedarkernuanceofLightPeach,logically,soyoucanusethesetwopencilstocreateapaleskinsimplestway.

Now,whenyouhavedrawnalltheareasthatarelittlebitdarkerthanthecolorofskin,drawwithLightPeach starting from the forehead and draw all over the face going over the edges of the previouslydrawnareas tomake theedgesbetween these twonuances invisible.Youshouldmakea littlecircleswithyourhandwhenyoudraw,soyoucangetasmoothersurfaceandthelinesofthepencilwon'tbethatvisible.

Leavethetopofthenoseandcheekuntouchedfornow.Theseareasareactuallyabsolutewhitewhentheskinispale.

IfyouhaveexaggeratedwithLightPeach,don'tworry.Youcanalwaysgooverthatwithwhitecoloredpencil.Alsowithwhitepencildrawover theedgesbetweenpreviouslydrawnLightPeachandwhiteareas.UnderthechindrawwithblackandDarkBrowncoloredpencils.

TherestoftheneckdrawwithPeachcoloredpencil.

Youcanseetimelapseofthisdrawinghere:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDza06kTuMM

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Seconddrawingtutorial:

Youmainlinesshouldlooklikeminethatyoucanseeinthenextimage.Makethemasproportionalaspossibleanduseagridifit'sdifficultwiththenakedeye.Forsomeartistsit'senoughtouseonlyafewlinesintheirgrid.

Let's start from the eyes. With black colored pencil draw the pupils and press hard to achieve anabsoluteblackcolor.

Withdarkestbrowndrawaroundtheirisesandundertheeyelids.Therestoftheirisesdrawwithbrownpencil.I'musingtodrawawhiteshiningoverthepupilswithwhiteinkpen,whichisveryuseful,butifyoudon'thaveone,leavethesepartsuntouchedanddrawaroundthemwithblackcoloredpencil.Withblackpencildraweyelashes.

NowwithDarkbrownandTuscanRedPrismacolorcoloredpencilsdrawthedarkestpartsoftheskin.Drawtheoneoveranotherasyoucanseeinthenextimage.

WithLightPeachdraw the rest of the face and the parts betweenbrown and light peachblendwithPeach colored pencil.When draw the highlights of the face, such as the top of the nose, forehead,cheeks,presslightlywithLightPeachandgoovertheseareaswithwhitecoloredpencil.Thiswaytheseareaswillbelighterthantherestoftheface.

In the previous image I didn't draw thewhole face, but I drawwithwhite colored pencils over thehighlightedareas.Inthenextimageyoucanseethewholefacedrawnthatway.Youcanalwaysgooverthedrawnareaswithwhiteorevendarkbrownpencilifneeded.YoucandrawwithPinkcoloredpencilbarelytouchingthepaperandthiswaymakeitmorerealistic.

Nowlet'sdrawthehair.withblackcoloredpencildrawthewholehairexceptthehairthatshines.

Withdarkandlightgreypencilsdrawthepartsthatareleftfromthepreviousstep.

ForthelipsuseBlushPinkandgooveritwithwhitecoloredpencilonthehighlightedareas.Amongthetoothdrawtinylineswithlightgreypencilandusethedarkgreypencilfortheshadowundertheupperlip.

DrawtheneckwithSiennaBrown,PeachandLightPeachcoloredpencils.AlsoyoucangooverthemwithPinknotpressinghardandfinallyblendthesecolorswithwhitecoloredpencil.

You can draw a clothes likeme in the next image or choose somewhite club dress which ismoresimpler.

Youcanseemeinactiondrawingthishere:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EoTO-4zKig

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Thirddrawingtutorial:

NowwearegoingtodrawablackskinandIthinkthisismuchmoredifficultandsensitive.Alsothedarker pencils aremore difficult to erase, so if wemake somemistake or the drawing doesn't lookproportionalwehave todrawanewdrawing. somakeyour sketchasproportional aspossible.Taketimeforthatanddon'thurry.So,ifyouhavedrawnasketchtrytostartwitheyeslikeme(youcanseeitinthenextimage).iftheeyeslookgoodandproportionaltherestofthefacedoesn'thavetohavesuchastrict lines and proportions and this is particularly important when you draw a celebrities, becauseeveryoneknowshowtheylook.Startwith thepupils and iriseswhichare all black in this case.Makea little shiningon them; leavewhitespotsonthem.WithChocolatePrismacolorcoloredpencildrawaroundtheeyesandbarelytouchthepaperonthehighlightedpartsthatareshining.GooverthiswithTuscanRed,butdon'tpresshard.Youshouldalwaysusemorecolorsforthesamearea.It'sgoodifyouevengooverwithbrownandpinkpencil.Trytoexperimentwiththiscolors.

Continuethesamewitharoundrighteye.

Now,theseeyeslookprettygoodfornow,buteventuallymistakesandUnproportionalitycanbeseenonlywhenthewholefaceandhairarefinished.Asanextstepdrawthehairwithblackcoloredpencilandwithlightgreypencildrawtheshiningofthehair.

Withblackpencildrawtheeyebrows,mustacheandbeard.WithChocolatecoloredpencilcontinuetodrawaskinnexttothehair.Ontheleftsideofhisfacedrawwithwhitecoloredpenciloverthedrawnbrownareas.Thiswayitwillgetaroundshapebecausethelightfallsonthesidesofhisface.

Drawhisforeheadandalsodrawwithwhitecoloredpencilsoverthebrownonthehighlightedparts.

Continuewiththesamepencils,Chocolate,overthatlittlebitTuscanRedandonthehighlightedareasgooverwithwhitecoloredpencil.

The right side of his face also drawwithChocolate Prismacolor, go over thatwithTuscanRed andfinallywhitetheedgeofthefacewithwhitepencil.

Withthesamepencilsdrawhismouth.Youcanaddsomepinkcoloroverthat.Drawthedownerpartofthefacewiththesamecoloredpencils.Asyoucanseeintheimagebelow,formeisalsodifficult toachieveasmooth textureof theskin,only ifyou lookat it fromfarawayyouwon'tnotice the lines.That'swhywehavetodrawwiththesepencilsoverandovermanytimes.Ifyouuseawaxcolorlessblender, the skinwill become darker, that'swhy Iwouldn't recommend it, but you can give it a try.Actually thiswaxcolorlessblenderwouldbeperfectandwonderful forblending theskin,but italsomakeadrawnareasclumped.Iratherusewhite,LightPeachandPinkRoseforblendingtheskin.

Drawhisneckwiththesamepencils.

Iaddedsomeshadowbehindhimwithgreycoloredpencil,soitcanlookmorelifelike.

Finallydrawsomeclothes.

Takealookatthetimelapseofthisdrawinghere:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebrQM0LW53k

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Fourthdrawingtutorial:

Let'smake justonequick reminderaboutwhatwe've learnedhere.draw theeyes first.DrawaroundthemwithLightPeachPrismacolorcoloredpencil.

I'vemadeoneclose-upscansoyoucanseethedetailsoftheeyes.Idrewtheeyelashesandpupilswithabsoluteblack. I leftmorewhitespot for shining.Under theeyelashes Idrew the iriswithdarkbluecoloredpenciland thepartsof the iris that isnot in theshadowIdrewwith lightbluepencil.AlsoIaddedsomegreennexttothepupilandthecirclearoundtheirisIdrewwithdarkbluepencil.

I'vealsomadeaclose-upscanofmouthsoyoucanseehowIdrewthelipsandtooth.Logically, thetongue is always darker in the deeper parts of themoth and the areas that are visible are rose. theshiningofthelipsImadewhenIdrewthelipswithredpencil,Ijustdrewaroundtheseareasandleftthemuntouched.ThegumIdrewwithPinkRosepencilandthetoothIdrewwithgreycoloredpencil.

Inthenextimageyoucanseeapreviousstepstogether:

WithSiennaBrownidrewallthedarkerpartsoftheskin,butIjustbarelytouchedthepaper.

IwentoverthepreviouslydrawnbrownwithLightPeachandIdrewtherestofthefacewiththesamepencil.Thehair IdrewwithLightUmberPrismacolorcoloredpencil.Thesame ididwith fingers. IdrewwithSiennaBrownthedarkerareasandwentoverthefingerswithLightPeach.

WithwhitecoloredpencilIdrewoverthehighlightedpartsandaddedsomebackgroundcolor.

Watchmedrawingthishere:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBM-ob7sacc

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Justwantedtomentionthat'snotenoughifyoujustbrowsethroughsomeofmytutorials.Thisisnotguaranty that youwill start to draw better immediately. You have to practice. Also I don't considermyselfanexpertanddon'tthinkthatIknowthebestwaytodraw-Ijustwantedtosharemy10-year-old experience with you. These drawings from my tutorials are not always perfect; they are justrepresentative.Fromthesetutorialsyoucanlearnsometricksandtips,soyoucanapplythemtoyourdrawings.That'sall.It'salldependingonyouanddon'tgiveupifyourdrawingdoesn'tlookgood.Keepondrawing.....

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Author'sBio:

MynameisJasminaSusak.IwasbornonMarch.06.1976inSerbia.ImovedtoHungaryin2001.Iamtraditionalartistwithmorethan10yearsexperienceindrawing.I'maselftaughtartist.

Mytimelapsedrawings:https://www.youtube.com/user/JASMINA518/