chickendiva25's art class- Realistic portraits!

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I've got a moldeable eraser ... but I made it into a horse head.....
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chickendiva25 said:
~Lesson I~

Welcome to lesson I!This class I'll be going over the basics.
But first, we need to establish our tools. I use an HB 2 mechanical pencil, a tortillion, a regular eraser, and a kneaded eraser (A kneaded eraser is a bit like clay, since you can mold it into different shapes and erase with it). Though you don't need a tortillion to draw a realistic portrait, you might need it for this class. Anyways, on with the lesson.

Now that we have our tools, lets get drawing. You know, shapes are very important in shaping your art. Perhaps you might've seen something like this before?


This is very important as it will open a lot of doors for your drawings.
You can do this in your spare time, but make sure you don't rush it because it might harm the outcome.
Lets start with a simple circle. I free-handed mine, but you'll want to trace the lips of a cup or something similar:


Then, add a dark shading near the side farthest away from the direction of light (whichever way you choose). Add a cast shadow as well.


Then, continue shading, like so:

But in a lighter shade like I did. Keep in mind the way the light is coming from, you don't want to completely drawn it out with pencil.

Then, shade it in like so. Squint your eyes a bit to find any dark parts that make it look uneven. Gently lift them out with a kneaded eraser (or regular one, it doesn't really matter) and fill them in with your tortillion or pencil. Fill in any light parts as well.

(I know it looks sloppy. I apologize, but do take note that my weekend has been hectic and that this was done quickly)
You can try this a few times until you really get the hang of it. Its very fun when you get the desired effect. :p

Somethings I need to tell you:
DO NOT DRAW YOUR LINES HARD. I cannot stress this enough. O_O Those of you who work with anime and manga are probably used to drawing a hard line around your finished project, but when drawing realistically hard lines take away from the picture. For one, it looks sloppy when applied with the shading of a tortillion, and two it takes away from the realism.
Also, take note of the little bit of light around the bottom of the sphere. That is called reflected light, and will be used later on in our class.

Now for your work this week; I want you to draw this sphere as much as you'd like, and when Saturday comes show your best one. Also, I'd like to see your best drawing of a person's portrait. It has to be recent, because I'd like to see where all of you are at.
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Have a nice week!
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Nice!! Did you use Lee Hammond's book? ( i think thats the author anyways
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And... Can I join? =D
 
chloezoebob101 said:
Nice!! Did you use Lee Hammond's book? ( i think thats the author anyways
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And... Can I join? =D
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I have in the past. His book helped me polish off some of my skills.
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(It's Lee hammond :p)

I didn't copy his book though, by doing the circle thingy if that's what you're wondering.
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A lot of art schools and teachers start you off by doing that. I think they do anyways. I've never taken any official drawing lessons.

Absolutely!
 

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