‘ How to Draw: _ Picture- Perfect' How to Draw: _ Picture- PerfectHow to Draw: Pencil Portraits Weleome, assume you've come here because like all great artists, you're looking to expand your skillset and learn something new. If this is the case, let me first say how happy Lam to be able to provide you with this bit of valuable training. But make no mistakes, even. with the most detailed instructional guide, no artist will grow or learn without the will power to apply new skills by practicing them EVERY DAY. Just like a sport or avideo game, players only get better with commitment and practice, and so it is with any form of art. Our brains leam through repetition, finding solutions to problems, and . with portraiture, coming to know all the nuances and details that go into replicating the human form. Along with drawing parts of a persons face, straightforward portraiture may encompass the hair, clothing, background elements, and the animals or objects that surround the portrait subject. How you render these parts of the drawing will be just as important as the facial structure, facial details, and capturing the essence of the personality. Drawing cloth or leather, a blurred background scene, a child's toy, the sky, reflections, and anything else that maywander into our scene is something we must always be prepared for. We must acknowledge that proper portraiture will entail skills like good sense of valuean eye for depth and form, the ability to “zoom in” and “zoom out” with one’s eyes as well as blurring one’s vision and noticing the tiniest of details. These are all skills that cannot be taught, but only learned. [ have created this book under the assumption that you have either developed several of these skills already through avid drawing, or are willing to research and practice these skills as we progress, So let's move on! Through mankind's exploration of art, there has always been the deep urge to perfect, the rendering of the human form, In many creative circles, this subject of creativity is regarded as the most difficult to perfect, mainly because we as humans have evolved to be able to detect even the most subtle flaws and imperfections in even the most skilled. reproduction of the human physique. We have learned this through many thousands of generations of identifying the human form in the wild, as well as several hundred years of seeing ourselves in printed and electronic media. This ingrained training of the human eye to detect and identify other humans has led portraiture to a point of development in which only the most skilled artists can successfully reproduce by hand the image of a client's loved ones in a convincing manner. We as a consumer culture will immediately turn our noses up at anything that looks wonky or misproportioned, unless of course the style of art is intentionally wonky and misproportioned. It is with the acceptance of this knowledge that the portrait artist creates his photographic reproductions by hand. Cont'd:‘So the task we are presented with is this; use every avenue we have to: 1) Establish as much proportional accuracy to our photograph as possible, and 2) Use every tool we have to convey the essence of what we see to the paper. Aside from our physical tools like pencils, ink, rulers, inger smudging, quality paper, ete, one of these tools is styl. It is very important for a portrait artist to not only be accurate, but to develop a style that is uniquely yours, so that your work may express your vision, instead of relying on being human xerox machine or following others’ instructions too rigidly. A unique style may include certain tweaks in your contrast levels, outlining foreground features, using special techniques for hair, and others. Around the time you begin to generate quality portraits as well as express a unique style, you will begin to notice your work getting real attention, which brings us to our last point. The art market is very, very saturated these days. [won't go ahead and assume that you intend to do portraits specifically for money, but if you do want to atleast get noticed, you must accept that the internet is full to the brim of people trying to get recognition for portrait art, as well as every other type of art. Ifyou don't care about recognition and are truly only learning to satisfy your own artistic needs, then I wish you happiness and full enjoyment as you develop a new hobby. For those of you who do wish for recognition, ' you will need to not only develop your own unique style, but produce portraits frequently, Jearn where and how to get them online for others to see, ad develop a personality that suits a respected and productive artist. Mastering each of these skills isa task in itself. Mastering them all will get you recognition and more, and will certainly open more doors for you down the road. Good Inck and stay sharp! Jordan MadereClu tte / FO CATING YUL ARNE, BECAUSE StL, AUS0 600 A 4 AAD GUARD T0 AVOID ELECTRIC SHARPEN TEND TO EATUR WAY TO MUCH PCL ACCOENTAL SMUDGINE, )) PENCE! BECAUSE AL OF YOUR WORK | WILL BEL PCL, FOR ETER QUALI XWEADED ERASE FO A TRULY CUSTOMIZED PORTRATTS, SPRING FOR BETTER QUALITY PENCTLS. FRASING ELEC. PENS FOR CREATING YOUR GRID, AS WELL AS FOX OUTLINES Ok OTHER INK WORK.fi Fosse tena Poets a > Madere 473 » 2: Materials 2 i TAKE GREAT CALE IN CHOOSING YOUR PAPER, TT MAKES ALL ) [THE DIFFERENCE! GOOD LIGHTING 15 A VERY IMPORTRANT ELEMENT OF PORTRAIT DRAWING. MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE ONE STRONG | LIGHT SOURCE OVERHEAD. TWO ( OR MORE MAY PRODUCE TOO MANY SHADOWS. | ALTHOUGH YOU MAY NOT BE AWARE OF TT, THERE ARE MANY TYPES OF PAPER WITH VARYING TEXTURES, EACH WITH GOOD PURPOSES: SMOOTH [payin THAT FOR FINE PORTRAIT : PURPOSES, THESOOTHER THE PAPER, THEMEUER EVERY DETAL SHOULD SINE, AND TENE SHOULD BE MO VISTALE TEXTURE “ENR A FOLDED PIECE OF PAPER ALSO WORKS GREAT AS A HAND GUARD FOR AVOTDING ACCIDENTAL SMUDGING WHILE DRAWING.How to Draw: Pencil Portraits i ae 3: Basic Drawing Skills to Master, Any drawing style will demand a certain set of unique skills that one must master‘ar’ at est be fartilicand proficient at: But before we can get into theskillathat portrait drawing demands, we must first refsmiliarize ourselves with a few very bacic techniques |) that wil be in high demand once you begin eal porttat art. you ar already ata more advanced level of drawing, fel free to move on. Ifnot, I suggest that you begin practicing these basic rechniques before attempting some ofthe more intracate ones on the next page. EVERY PENCTL ARTIST SHOULD BE ADEPT AT TRE BASS OF ALL TEXTURE FOLUS WHEN PENCLL MARKS (VALIOUS ORNS OF PENCULART: THE LINE, ANY AND ALLART THAT FLOWS FROM LINES) CONE TOGETNER TO MIMIC THE SURFACE OF REAL ARTIST'S EYE THROUGH THE PENICTL WELL DO SO IN LINE FORM, — WOLLD OBJECTS. BECOMING FAMILCAR WITK TEXTURE IS 50 PRACTICING YOUR LINEWORK TS ESSENTIAL TO POLTRATTURE. IMPERATIVE TD DRAWING REALLSTECALLY FROM LIFE. ea @D oO Shadin Replication ‘SHAVINGS THE TAE FUNDAMENTAL TOOCFOR ESTABLISHING FINALLY, AND MOST SPECIFIC TO POXTRATTULE, THE ABTLITY REALISTIC DEPTH AND FORM WITHIN A DRAWING. JUST LEKE TO REPLICATE WHAT YOU SEE ONTO PAPER 1S VERY IMPORTANT. IW REAL LIFE, EVERYTHING WITHIN A PORTRAIT DRAWING 10 DEVELOP AN EYE FOL ODD SHAPES, LETTELING, OBJECTS, , ISU POUIRAY A REALISTIC LELATIONSHLP WLTH LIGHT. AND OTHEL ELEMENTS 15 10 DECOME A TRUE PENCEL ARIS is!|, How to Draw: Pencil Portraits = Ste. ~_-- Madere ¢ 6 4: Techniques — Pencil Portraits In pencil portrait drawing, the techniques we should look to master all center around using the pencil to replicate shapes, textures, and facial features that exist in the real world. Shirt textures, hair and beards, background objects, metal reflections, and any other challenges require several basic skills in order to be tackled, Here area few of the more advanced things you may find in portrait work. An entirely new book could be written on these types of effects, so please know that the majority of the drawing challenges. + you face will have to be figured out by you, and any help you may be able to find online, ” /—AURAND FUR: LONG STROKES THAT GET SMALL DETATLS AND GRAPHICS: CLOSE )) WOVEN TOGETHER AND SHADED SMOOTHLY. ATTENTION AND A CAREFUL HAND. CLOTHING STRIPES AND PATTERNS: YOU'LL. VARTOUS OBJECTS: New SHAPES WILL NEED A GOOD SENSE OF aM, AND FORM. CHALLENGE YOUR BRATN 10 RENDER THEM. COMPANY Locos SLE ERING: AN CLOTHING AND OBJECT TEXTURES: ALWAYS EXACTING EVE FOR SHAPE AND FLATR. SOMETHING NEW AND FUN TO COMPLETE.Ff How to Draw: Pencil Portraits ~ Madete: » 5: Drawing Parts of the Face 1 ‘Most importantly when drawing portraits, youll be needing to master the parts of the. human face. Not simply replicating the human face, but understanding the shape and form of them by only seeing a ingle picture. ’This means being able to analyze ight and shadow the way it falls across a face, the form ofthe jaw, the creases of the eyes and the weight of the brow, the actual values of eyes and teeth and the dull luster of the skin. This sort of knowledge should contrast with what you “think” these features look like, and you should « |p eventually be drawing by looking at each face like it was the first you've ever drawn. Believe f [pic or not, our biases and habits ean influence your drawing, and when you start to make | someone's eyes look like every other eye you've drawn, it looks less and less like the eyes of « the person in your photograph. Diligent practice and patience will make the difference etveen lazily draws the Face ane masterful render of each eek wd eating NOSES | A CENTERPIECE OF THE FACE. A WON NOSE WILL IMMEDIATE DISTRACT THE VIEWER, A WELL-DOWE NOSE WOW"T EVEN BE NOTICED AND WILL BLEND EIGHT IN WTR THE REST OFTHE FACE. *96°@¢ MOUTHS SECOMD TO THE EYES, THE MOUTH CONYE(S 1D TE VIEWER EVEEYTHING THAT THE PORTRATT INTENDS, SO A GREAT DEAL | OFATTEUTUON SHOULD E SPEND CW TA MOUTH A SPLACED MOUTH Gk POORLY DLAWW TEETH AW RUM THE FECT.EYES THE EYES ARE OF COURSE THE FOCAL POINT OF ANY PORTRATT. ALL THE REST OFTHE PORTRALT WILL BE THEEET0SUPPORT ‘THEEVES AND INTEREST THE VIEWER, BUT WETHOUT INTREGUING, WELL-RENDELED EYES, ANY PORTRAIT WILL SUFFER. HAIR THE SUBJECTS WALK 1 ONE FEATUE THAT 15 BOTH FUN AND HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE CUSTONTZED BY THE AKTIST. EACH AND EVERY ARTEST HAS THETL OWN APPROACH TO HATR, AND ALL OF THESE STFLES ARE VALID AS LONG AS THEY COMPLEMENT THE FACE.7: Basics of Composition " Composition, if you're unfamiliar with the term, refers to the visual organization of a piece of att. This can mean color selection, predominant shapes that are used, or things like placement and perspective. Since color in a pencil portrait i relevant, and ehapes and perspective are decided by the photograph itself, a portrait artist mainly has control | over how the subject image is cropped. Cropping is another way of referring to how the picture is framed inside of the original photograph, and there is much more to proper jpctoppingthan you might think, The dea sto achieves balance or everything sin the fp0h pe cothat weendopwithananangemen tit ipleingto viewer ee NEATLY KEE THE EDGES OF APERSON’S BOD WITH THE FRAME SO THAT WED ACCIDENTALLY HISPhOPOWHow to Draw: Pencil Portraits ~~» Madere 0 8: Workspace and Mindset fs Developing clean workspace to create your portraits in one of the most importatt ~. || aspectsof erecting Finding place in your home or office toe isolated an achieve focus is of the utmost importance to all professional artists. Some even go so faras dedicating an entire room in their home (called a “studio") for creative pursuits. Withouth some sort of defined workspace, we cannot develop a proper creative mindset. Your mindset has a good. deal to do with how you work, developing a style, a creative schedule or routine, and what » tools you use within your workspace, For porttait work, you may want to inchude a laptops _pfor manipulating photos before you draw, or perhaps a special drawing table, a comfortable hair, or even things like a fountain or a stereo for background noise. Your workspace and * mindset are key to producing good art, and should be taken seriously.How to Draw: Pencil Portraits 9: Setting Up Our ‘Grid Once we've set up ouF workspace and have our photo cropped and ready for drawing, the next step in portrait creation process is setting up our reference grid, Here, we'll create a grid of 2° squates on a sheet of paper that we will tape under our portrait surface. Using a black pen is perfect here, a the point of the grid is to be able to see it through the top sheet that we will be drawing on, Next, welll create a similar grid on our image. We can do this digitally with editing software, or manually by taping our photo to a small piece of » glass and drawing our grid onto the glass. Once our grids are in place, they should be used £9 dp'o reat abasic outline of shapes that is nearly perfectly accurate to the photograph Once ‘we've created this base outline, the graphs can be discarded or saved! for later.10: Starting Our Outlines ‘While our grid is set up, we'll creating our base outlines for our portrait. We'll do this by looking carefully back and forth between our photograph and our sketch, and making ~ sure that the outlines on our paper match the edges of the shapes in the photo. Drawing light dots on the page above line intersections can help in finding the right places for our lines. Keep in mind that this is the time for us to perfect the placement and proportion of _ everything in the frame. It may not be as easy later on, for example to move an eye when our grid is no longer in place, It is also reassuring to remember that although our outlines can make our subjects look: a little funny, everything will begin to look nicer later on.} . * ) > ll: Where Do We Begin? Avery important consideration for each portrait is where to begin. Logically (and if you're right-handed), it would make sense to start at the top left so that our hand is not smudging our drawing as we progress. Sometimes, though, we will feel the urge to start elsewhere, maybe to complete the eyes first or some other detail that you wish to begin. An important tool to remember when beginning anywhere but the top corner is a simple _ folded sheet of paper. The folded paper can act as a barrier between your palm and the art. » z \j, How to Draw: Pencil Portraits 12: Putting Pencil to Paper “> Madere If Once we begin drawing and filling in the outline we created, I always prefer to begin only with our lightest pencils. Forme this is a 2B, but feel free to find your own comfort | zone here. Using all the techniques you've practiced, begin to replicate exactly what you see in the photograph onto the paper. Sometimes it may be easiest for you to complete full sections and then move on. Others might prefer to do the entire portrait with the lightest pencil, and then go back with darker pencils and enhance the shading, No way is the right » way, but the right way is always the most efficient way for you. Try to remember that the _pobject of these types of drawings isto get better and quicker at completing them, so pay attention to what methods get you good results quicker \ THY TO FULLY DEVELOP EVES IN BUILD TEXTURES SLOWLY, NOTHING 15 PERFECT RIGHT AWAY. LIGHTLY OUTLINING LIGHTER DETATLS FIRST MAY HELP,fpHow to Draw: Pencil Borers — ~Madere 1 13: The Bases of Our Faces Try toremember that nothing in the real world is perfectly white like our paper is: This. means that absolutely no part of your main subject should be flat white. Everything from kin to teeth, whites of the eyes, white clothing, ete. should always have some sort of shading to them. For faces, this means developing a base vahte before beginning any sort of shading, This is easily achieved by holding one of yout lighter pencils nearly horizontal and , filing inthe enticeares of the subjects sin. Afterward, we your finger to soy blend the entire area until you create @ uniform shade that resembles the persons actual skin tone, From this starting point, we can then begin to develop the shading of these lighter areas. 9| How to Draw: Pencil Portraits ~e Maderelé' ‘14: SMUDGING;: Fingers vs. Tools } Tye seen pretty often artists that will use only a finger for smudging or only a smudging - tool, as if there were an unwritten rule that only one or the other should be used, Definitely take advantage of both of these methods for different uses, as each of them has their own pros and cons. Using your finger to smudge should be used for large areas where consistent value is the goal. A finger can be used more for detail as your portrait size increases, but it is mainly a tool for larger ateas where precision is not key. Just remember that your finger P mits oil like all skin does, and so a periodic cleaning and drying your finger can be helpfull A smudging tool on the other hand isa paper roll that narrows to small tip that can be used for your more delicate purposes like creating fine ripples in cloth or tweaking the shading * of the face. A smudging tool can also be used to transfer graphite dust from a heavily shaded area to lighter area. ‘The caution here is that a hard shade with the smudging tool can dig deep into the texture of the paper and may be difficult to remove with your eraser. Always shade as lightly as possible and then begin to adjust your pressure from there. You never know how much graphite is alveady on your finger or smudging {tool This extra graphite may make mess if you're not careful!we are lots of tricks you'll begin to think of once you've dedicated yourself to using as many techniques as possible, Some of these tricks are shown here, some of them I keep for myself, and some tricks are ones you'll discover that no one else will know about. The fun in any kind of art is developing an arsenal of strategies for creating variows effects, as well as encountering new challenges. Every portrait will present you with at least one opportunity to try something new and potentially create another trick. Further down the » deer vc aun NUDGE TO BUILD VALUE. How to Draw: Pencil Portraits 16: Fun with Patterns One situation that will always present you with a fun and unique challenge is racing: ; various patterns that are present in new photographs, Some artists may take the easy route by simplifying patterns or getting rid of them altogether. Other artists like myselE prefer the meticulous route of replicating these pattems as closely as possible. While it may seems like a waste of time, it always has the potential to WOW a customer well beyond simply being impressed with your portiait. Half of the positive feedback I've received over « the years has been in regards to intricate patterns and details that I took the time to copy Jpand enhance, and go I've always made that extra effort. I highly « recommend recreating these types of patterns that you see from pages in magazines or elsewhere for extra practice. In the end, you will be paid not for your labor of creating a good portrait, but for your vision and ability to create a GREAT portrait. Customers can always tell when you go the extra mile._ How to Draw: Pencil Portraits Ai 17: Hair Techniques ) Another fun challenge that comes along with almost all portraits is hair. Whetherit's long or short, hair is never the same in any portrait, and so you must adapt and figure out, away to succesfully render the hair in a stylish and and attractive way. Spilyy blonde hair maybe call for a quick motions of the pencil followed by erasing smal portions. Long wavy brown hair like you see below may entail developing lines and curves into curling forms that cast shadows onto itself. There are countless hairstyles that all ask you to come up with creative ways for drawing them convincingly.Ff How to Draw: Pencil Portraits -Madete 20 \ » 18: The Joy of Drawing Eyes Virtually every portrait in which the subject isnot wearing sunglases will involve’. . the reproduction of the human eye, and for this reason, every artist should be a master at drawing them. Not only because of how frequent they are, but because the eyes are the focal point of the entire portrait. The eyes convey everything that the portrait has to offer, and ['ve seen countless worthy portraits flawed by misshaped, misproportioned, or otherwise unconvincing eye renderings. They should be the first and last consideration of \p cach and every portrait, because it will be the first and last thing every viewer looks at. £ {Some artists will advocate that the eyes should be drawn first, and say that doing so will | influence the rest of the drawing. Other artists will say that the eyes should be drawn last * «asa final touch, and so that the artist will be familiar enough with the face to be “ready” to draw the eyes. [ personally complete the eyes of a portrait when I feel it's necessary, sometimes right away, and sometimes halfway through the portrait. Either way, they should defintely not be rushed or rendered when full attention cannot be given to them.dau fombew ite et is portrayed in the hele Inthe below example, for instance, I decided to bring the image into a photo editing program on my computer and blur this man’s ears a bit. In this situation, the subject is deceased, and I wanted to alter the picture in a way that gave the image a more surreal feeling Blurring the ears allowed me to make his face, and in particular his squinty eyes, the focal point of the portrait. You may sometimes find the image you are working with requires alterations, Sometimes these alteration can be done mentally and incorporated into the portrait without reference. Othe times, it may be helpful to be familiar with these photo software packages, or someone whd «is, to make the most of your portrait art. Other reasons include removing parts of an image, removing brand names, adding background elements, ot any number of desired changes.|, How to Draw: Pencil Portraits t — ~Madere.22 20: Embellishing ‘See Portrait Another cool tweak to portrait art ng es embellishments that are incorporated into |) the arcitself, such as the framing elements of the puppy portrait you see below. These embellishments aren't limited to framing, though. You have the opportunity to add any number of enhancements such as a deceased person’s enlarged signature, a puppy print, the words “happy birthday’ or the dates of a marriage. Any of these embellishments, ® or acombination of them, will serve to impress and make the customer happier with their » purchase by giving the artwork a more personal touch. The better you get at adding these & ptouches, and asking the client for proper information, the better your portraits will be 7F How to Draw: Pencil Portraits a a _ Madero ad 21: The Second Pass h _A“second pass” or even “third pass” in any field of art refers to going back over a “finished” piece in order to enhance elements and create an overall more satisfying final product. In the portrait below, for instance, a second pass involved small touches that contributed to making the hair look more smooth and curvy, darkening of shadows to add. to the pieces sense of depth, and tweaks to the features, especially the eyes. Most times, Trecommend putting the piece away for a day or two (if you have that kind of time) in » order to unfamiliarize yourself with the piece. This will give you fresh eye tothe nuances £4 \ geo! the artwork the next time you view it, and you'll be reacly to make enhancements.How to Draw: Peneil Portraits ~Madere 24 22: Signing Our Work . ) Ifyou're unfamiliar with the idea of signing your work asan artist, i's as simple as this. . Most every prominent artist in the past has developed a unique way of attaching their name or something symbolic of themselves to their artwork, Sometimes it's an actual signature, other times it’s a handwritten print of their last name, and other times artists will come up with a clever shape that incorporates their initials. Whatever you choose to represent your namesake on your art, you also need to develop an eye for where to place iton your artwork. P , Traditionally, an artist's signature will go at the bottom right ofa piece, although if you look |paround at art in your area, it can vary greatly. When it does vary, an artist will normally choose a place on the piece where the signature is least likely to draw attention to itself or * interfere with the main subject of the artwork.ea Madere 2 a majority of the time, framing is not something that the customer expects the °. portrait artist to take care of, On the occasion they do ask for this, though, you should be prepared to offer quotes so that they see that you are familiar with this task. As for choosing a frame and mat for your drawing, there is definitely an art to getting it right. The mat, which is the colored border between the artwork and the frame, should be representative of the subject itself, and i will take some practice to determine which color mat suits the P essence of the portrait. In the example below, the color matches the pomeranian inthe £4 [ppicture, Choosing a frame should come a bit easier once the mat is chosen, and involves taking into consideration how and where the artwork will be displayed {ftiow tow Pencil Portraits ye Madore 2¢ 24: Wrapping it All Up as Portraiture isa monumental task to master from the a up. Aside from the drawing. skill, it requires a trememdous amount of repetition and practice, patience, foresight, an eye for composition, an understanding of people, and a professional attitude. But I'll repeat what I said in the intro to this eBook I truly believe that everyone is capable of achieving a level of success in any field with enough practice. Many people will say that talented artists F simply have a "yift” or are “blessed”, but in reality, any good artist spends most of his or her time practicing and acknowledging that there is always more to learn. Practice makes perfect 4 ’ And this is the mindset you must begin to cultivate if you wish to be a portrait artist. As a beginner, you may not be happy with your results at first, but the faith to continue and kno \that your skills will develop is the key to building any skillset. You will grow. you will learn, | you will experiment and get results, you will try new things and fail, and all ofthis experience | svillead you toward a better understanding of what it means to he a portrait artist, and whether or not it is right for you. Have patience, friends, and trai yourself to see the beauty in the human form, the eye, the love of a family, and the respect ofja loved one passed away. Yu will be doing a customer great service to give them and thc are the attention it deserves, Good luck, and stay sharp! Jordan Madere