Realistic Pencil Portrait Drawing

1. Basics Of Drawing 1
2. Drawing Effectively With Passion And Expertise 6
3. Tips On How To Draw People 8
4. How To Use Top Drawing Techniques To Be An Artist? 11
5. 3 Basic Drawing Exercises In Blind, Pure And Cross Contours 14
6. Drawing Basics - An Exercise to Practice Foreshortening 17
7. 5 Tips to Pencil Drawing Skin Tones And Textures 19

DO YOU WANT TO LEARN HOW TO DRAW BUT YOU HAVE NO IDEA
where to start?
Well today is your day because your about to learn why you should start off
learning the basics of drawing first.
Learning how to draw is a step by step process. You can accurately say it's
more of a journey.
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2 REALISTIC PENCIL PORTRAIT DRAWING
However what you need to realize is a journey has a starting point, a
beginning, and everyone has to start from the beginning.
Many newbie artists tend to jump straight into drawing, and expect to
become proficient artists overnight.
Sadly they become quite disappointed, and frustrated when this does not
happen.
I tend to see this play out all too often because there is so much hyped up
information on the internet which leads potential artists to believe they can
become good artists in a very short period of time.
If you have been searching online for help on how to draw you have most
likely seen these types of statements?
Learn To Draw In 30 Days, Learn To Draw In 7 Easy Steps, Learn To Draw In 2
Weeks and others.
These types of hyped up quotes tend to be misleading for they give the
artist newbie a false sense of hope that they will become experts very
quickly.
This however is so far from the truth, and will clearly not be the case.
Now what we are going to do right now is go over a few pointers about the
very basics of drawing that every beginner artist should review so as to get a
realistic balanced view of the beginning process of learning how to draw.
First and foremost you have to love art itself as a whole.
Anything that has to do with art whether it be Illustration, video games,
painting, origami and overall self-expression and creativeness you should
have by now at this stage developed a natural intense love for it.
There should be no other motivating factor or reason why you should want
to become an artist.

Basics Of Drawing 3
This is how most great artists start out drawing in the beginning.
The next step you will have to take is learning how to see the world as an
artist does.
I call this step observation, and analysis.
Now what this means is an artist observes and evaluates everything he or
she sees.
This is not a conscious decision but rather an automatic instinct.
We as artists watch and study movement very closely.
How cars roll, people walk, dogs run, birds fly, and kids playing are all
subjects for us to closely analyze, and evaluate.
The phenomenon of motion is something you will need to definitely know
and understand if your planning on getting into the fields of comic books,
and animation.
Motion is also closely associated with distance, therefore becoming familiar
with perspective is something I would definitely recommend.
For example figures that are drawn closest to the viewers focus are drawn
bigger, just as figures drawn in the background are drawn smaller to appear
farther away from the gaze of the observer.
Now when it comes to physical objects around us they tend to resemble
different geometric shapes.
There are 4 basic shapes which make up the building blocks of anything with
mass and weight.
Those shapes are the circle, square, triangle and rectangle. Without these
basic shapes nothing solid could ever be formed.

As an absolute beginner to drawing it is essential that you familiarize
yourself with these shapes.
They will be your key to drawing anything you want.
When you attempt to draw an object try to become accustomed to analyze
its physical characteristics. In other words you will want to define its true
natural shape.
For instance take a look around your room, your computer monitor is really
a square, your wall clock a circle, and your soda can a small cylinder.
Almost everything in your environment falls into one of these basic shapes.
Use shapes to simplify the process if drawing your pieces.
This is a basic, but powerful technique you should quickly master.
Finally you want to make drawing a fun routine that you will practice
faithfully.
Drawing should become more than just a hobby for you. If I should be so
bold, it should become like an addiction.
If you could just draw everyday the same way you play video games
everyday, you would make some really big drawing improvements in no
time.
Practice drawing your household items, such as your table and chairs, your
pots, and pans, or draw all of your kitchen utensils, just start out with the
easy things first.
If you do this daily you will begin to see your skill level start to move up in a
span of 3 months to a year.
This will then build up your confidence to start drawing more complex
objects, and figures.
Do your share of reading as many drawing books as possible.

Basics Of Drawing 5
Read up on perspective, contour, shading, and proportion so as to gain an
understanding of the various qualities of objects and figures, and how they
relate to real life.
Most of all practice, practice, and practice some more and have fun drawing.

IS THERE SUCH A THING AS AN INNATE ABILITY TO DRAW WELL?
Let's probe a little to see if we can come up with some answers.
We all know there are many people with no inherent ability to draw well but
have a passion to develop their drawing skills.
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Drawing Effectively With Passion And Expertise 7
Of course, drawing is more than getting an exact likeness in a portrait or
figure study.
Drawing as well as any other art genre is mainly about self-expression of the
subject being drawn which should be as unique as one's own handwriting.
It carries the artists' emotions and experiences, viewpoints and the ability to
transform 3D objects to flat non-dimensional surfaces that tell a story.
An audience will respond to any art form according to their education, their
experiences in life, the emotional feeling at the time of viewing the art-
which can vary considerably and, more importantly, the originality in the art
that tells one about the artist.
There are many art teachers who believe that formal training in drawing (as
in the Renaissance period) stultifies the development of originality.
This is observable in most pre-schools and the lower grades when it is
passively enforced by This Is The Correct Way To Draw A Tree.
The final aim should not be learning to observe and draw shapes and forms
accurately, but to develop a unique vision by his or her creative
interpretation while making a concise statement.
The fewer lines drawn mean a more concise drawing with pizzazz. Look at
Rembrandt's drawings for absolute economy of line.
If you can draw really well like Rafael or Rubens then it is time to throw your
guidebook in the trash can as you will no longer need guidance from any
quarter.
Don't give up the disciplines of drawing well because it has not room in
modern art but once a firm drawing skill has been developed with accuracy,
verve, simplicity of line-you can then add originality with your expertise for
an impressive audience response.

PEOPLE JUST STARTING OUT ARE PUZZLED BY THE QUESTION OF HOW
to draw people.
The form of a person dressed in clothes can be pretty complex and this goes
even more for the human body itself.
Let's assume you sit there with a charcoal and an empty sheet of drawing
paper in front of you - as well as a figure of a human with clothing.
Next, you wonder, where do I start for crying out loud?
How do I begin?
Looking at the figure, the task can seem quite daunting.
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Tips On How To Draw People 9
So, let's start with a basic principle. Any drawing can be brought back to a
few components.
In the case of a human figure, the body can be divided into several parts.
Just ask yourself, where would the middle of the body be? The answer is
simple: at the waistline.
It's important to get the basic proportions right first, and not to add detail in
the beginning.
Only if you are sure that the proportions are about right, can you add (only
small) detail later.
You can assist that process by half closing your eyes when looking at your
model. This way, you focus on the broad shapes and not on the details.
Next, you can do some basic measuring. Take your pencil, hold it vertically
while your arm is at full length.
Then put your thumb where the feet are. Next, move the thumb position to
the waistline without taking your thumb off the pencil.
Check if the pencil's top is in line with the head's top.
If that isn't the case, then you should change the position until you find the
precise halfway point which is roughly at waist height.
After each measurement, you should make a tiny mark on your paper sheet
as a basic guideline.
The following step is to try and measure the head from the chin to the top.
The body is about seven times larger than the head.
Next, you will have to make a mark on your drawing sheet to indicate where
the bottom of the feet is.

Let's recap: you should now have a mark on your drawing paper where the
bottom of the feet, the waistline, the chin and the top of the head are.
Now you can review them and decide if the proportions look okay.
Look from your drawing to the figure and back again.
Do it quite fast.
You will see if it the proportions aren't exactly right. In that case, change
them.
As I said, the entire head is about one seventh of the length of the body.
These rules, by the way, should be used as a basic guideline only, not any
rule that's carved in stone.
Just look from your drawing to the figure and back again, and see what's
there. That is the key to getting the right measurements.
Next, you can make marks for other key parts of the body. Of course, there
are the legs and arms.
When the arms are relaxed, the fingers are roughly five head down and the
knees roughly six, so put marks there.
At full face, the width of the body is three heads wide. So make a line from
the crotch to the bottom where you have marked the feet.
So, now you basically know how to draw people the key thing is to keep
practicing and you will get better at it. Have fun!

DO YOU DREAM TO BECOME AN ARTIST BY PROFESSION?
Art can be of different types and you need to choose the art form which
fascinates you the most.
If you love drawing then you can surely take this up as your career or just as
your passion.
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If you dream to become big in this field then you need to make sure you
follow the right tips and choose the right techniques to learn to draw.
It is always important to create a string base so that you never face any kind
of problem later on.
Pencil drawing is the basic thing that you need to learn to become a great
drawing artist.
Get into the best drawing tutorials to understand drawing better.
Art is a form of conveying your emotions and feelings. With the help of
drawing you can speak to people.
So this is meant for sensitive people and they can understand this art form
better.
For basic pencil drawing you must follow certain drawing tips.
First of all it is very much essential to stay focused. You should always try to
teach yourself to draw naturally.
This is one of the best things to produce great work.
You can become a skilled artist only if you practice and practice.
We all know that practice can make a person perfect. After a certain point of
time look back at the old drawings to measure the progress that you have
actually made.
In case of pencil drawing you must follow certain drawing techniques.
Cleanliness is one of the major qualities that your drawing must have.
If you draw with your right hand then try to draw from left to right because
this will prevent your work from getting smudged.

How To Use Top Drawing Tips To Become A Top Artiste 13
Other than this, you can even cover the already drawn areas with a white
paper to avoid contact with your hands.
When you are drawing with pencil make sure you keep away your foods as
well as drinks from it. The best drawing tips are always available with the
expert artists.
Drawing with pencil might seem to be a bit time consuming because it is
quite difficult to show the details with black and white shade.
Light and shade are 2 major aspects of using pencil for drawing.
It is also very important to choose the right kind of pencils. You can shift to
color drawing once you base has become strong.
Highlighting might seem to be a problem in case of pencil drawing but with
practice it can also become easy.
You should also avoid drawing hard surfaces.
Sharpen your pencils well so that you can draw the fine lines and create the
look required for your image.

DRAWING IS AN INTERESTING THING TO DO.
Even a lot people don't draw but they still found it appealing by just
enjoying someone's drawings.
As one of the arts, drawing nowadays has been transformed into various
modern arts such as visual graphics using electronic media.
Among all, pencil drawing is the oldest form.
Pencil drawing still has a lot of fans.
Even some people think that it is quite difficult to learn but the possibility
always works with practices.
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3 Basic Drawing Exercises In Blind, Pure And Cross Contours 15
What you need when you decide to be good at it are practice and sense of
art.
Though at first you may find yourself so terrible in drawing with pencil but if
you follow the right exercise steps then you will be no longer an amateur.
There are basically 3 basic drawing exercises: blind contour, pure contour
and cross contour.
Each of it helps you to improve your skill until you reach a level of expertise.
Here is an advice, keep working out in every stage; don't skip it, until you're
good enough or you will go nowhere.
Blind contour, a classic exercise, is a stage where you will learn to develop
your eye-hand connection.
In this stage, you already draw an object but you don't need to make the
most perfect sketch with all the visible edges of it.
It is okay if you are only able to draw a messy sketch as long as people's eye
still recognizes what object you're drawing.
Second stage is pure contour drawing.
Advanced than the blind contour drawing exercise, this stage requires you
to draw an object with all the visible edges.
Some people call this as an outline drawing and many cartoonists usually use
this technique to do their work. It helps you to start focus to draw in details.
The last stage is called cross contour drawing exercise.
You will learn to draw a 3-dimensional object and you can begin with the
simplest object around such as glass or cube.

It is suggested that you show your drawing results to your friends, family or
everyone who can give you advice of what might you should fix to end with
a better ones.
Every people usually needs different time in completing all 3 stages above
but believe, the longer you need doesn't mean that you can't do better than
another people who needs shorter time.
In fact, the more practices you do the better you will be.

FORESHORTENING IS ONE OF THE KEYS TO DRAWING REALISTICALLY,
so that your drawings have a three-dimensional quality to them.
If you don't know how to do this, don't worry.
Here is an exercise to practice foreshortening, to strengthen your drawing
basics.
What's foreshortening?
It's how a shape changes the way it looks when it moves in space.
17

By distorting part of an object, it creates the illusion that part of it is closer
to you.
To do the exercise, find something perfectly round, but flat, like a plastic
container lid, or a CD, or a circle of paper.
Hold it flat at eye level.
Do you see how it looks like just a straight line going across?
If it's something with a little bit of thickness, you will see a very thin
rectangle in front of you.
That's the side of the circle.
Now begin to tilt it, and watch how that line changes shape. It goes from
being one line, to being a rounded shape.
See how it kind of looks like an oval, then a smashed circle?
As you turn it more and more, it looks less and less flattened, until it is
straight up and down in front of you. Now it looks like a perfect circle.
With a pen or pencil and paper, use your circle, and practice drawing it at
different angles.
Don't think of it as a circle.
Just draw what your eyes see in front of you.
Tilt it a little, then draw what you see.
Tilt it even more, and draw what you see then. Your drawings should look
different. You are drawing foreshortening!
Once you can do a circle, try something else, like a rectangle.
You can use a book or one of your folders, or a smart phone.

Drawing Basics - An Exercise to Practice Foreshortening 18
See how the corners that are farther away from your eyes appear to be
closer together than the corners that are closer to you?
Don't think about it. Just observe and draw what you see. That's part of the
trick to drawing. You need to be able to draw what you see.
How can you apply this to your drawings?
Well, if you draw a birthday cake, you could draw it like a rectangle, but to
make it look 3- dimensional, change the top of that rectangle by adding a
foreshortened circle to it instead.
Now it looks like it's round and tall.
Repeat this simple exercise to practice foreshortening and it will soon be
easy to do.
You will be able to apply your new skills to your drawings, and you will be
well on your way to mastering one of the drawing basics.

What makes skin tones and textures hard to draw is that there are no
standard characteristics.
Each subject has different textures, colors and nuances.
Though every subject is different, I have 5 tips that will help make your skin
tones and textures look more natural, realistic and effective.
Grayscale Reference Photo
If you have the means to convert your color photo reference into a
grayscale, or black and white print, this can be a great advantage.
19

The grayscale photo can enhance your ability to see the ranges of value you
will need to use.
These ranges could be the very darkest areas compared to the very lightest,
giving you the opportunity to identify the deepest shadows, or in contrast,
the apex of a brighter contour or curve.
Another advantage of the black and white or grayscale print is, that if you
can adjust the value, it helps if you can create an extremely light and/or an
extremely dark print.
Sometimes with a much lighter print, you can pick up more detail in the very
darkest areas.
And often, if you can make a much darker print, you can pick up many of the
slightest variations in value better in the subtle contours of the face for
instance.
Start With Dark
Something very integral to the 5-Pencil Method, is the order in which you
apply the values.
You will always want to work from dark to light if you want the best results.
Beyond the initial sketch and your refined guidelines, the darkest parts of
the face, such as in parts of the eyes and in the face's outer perimeter will be
what receives the first values.
You will lay down a light value, using your 4H, to represent those darkest
values in your reference photo or subject.
This will work very well, because that initial value will only be contrasting
with the lighter value of the paper.

5 Tips to Pencil Drawing Skin Tones And Textures 21
As you start building the darker values, through layering and using your
darker grades of pencils, it will enable you to expand out into the lighter and
lighter values of the face with the 4H pencil leading the way, as it continues
to create a foundation.
As you continue to gradually increase the darkest values by layering and
using the darker valued pencils, it will help you maintain your contrast and
balance until you are ready for your skin tones.
The procedure and the order of your values will continue building in the
same way.
It will help you as you develop the necessary contrast for the subtle values
and gradations, the textures in the skin and face, as well as the contour and
dimension.
Tapered Stroke
This stroke has a taper at both ends just as the name indicates.
This means that the line should be thinner and lighter at the beginning and
end of your stroke.
This stroke will gradually increase in value at the center, as your pencil
makes its maximum contact with the drawing surface.
This will allow you to seamlessly extend lines, creating a consistent value, as
tapered end overlaps tapered end.
The tapered stroke will allow you to create incredible detail, and bring a
realistic quality to your rendering through textures, natural shading,
shadows, and illusion.
Dark Skin Values
For darker skin tones, you might use more value, but do not use more than
you need.

You may still need an even darker range of value to demonstrate contour,
dimension, and depth, in another area.
You would not want a person's dark skin to be in the same value range that
you would need for a black garment, but what would you do if you had
nothing darker to use?
They could end up the same.
And, if you use a set range of value to illustrate too many areas in your
portrait, those areas would start appearing flat in relationship to each other.
So, keep your range of values relevant to what needs to be illustrated in
your portrait.
Apply your values in order of darkest to lightest.
Develop the darkest value first in all the relative areas, so that you will be
able to maintain their proper relationship with each other and you will
always have a sense of where you should stop.
This will help you maintain an appropriate contrast with the other values
ranges in your rendering.
Instead of relying on the shade of a particular skin tone, first rely on the
features that will help you designate a particular ethnic look or character
trait.
Even though the skin may be darker, don't overdo it.
Remember, be careful to use only as much value, as you need. Then you will
always have a darker value reserved to use.
Learn to discern even the slightest shift in value and range.
The wider range of values that you are able to create, the more you will be
able to capture and express.

5 Tips to Pencil Drawing Skin Tones And Textures 23
Add Depth
Depth and contour are two of the most important things that you want to
accomplish within any area or set of values you are working with.
To imply depth-whether it be a contour, or a separate dimension, contrast is
always a critical factor.
If you can see an uninterrupted range of value go in and out of a recession, it
is a contour.
Darker values should be used in the deeper shadowed areas to imply depth,
and this is where smooth transitions will be a great advantage.
Build your gradations by placing the tapered strokes side by side to create a
range of value that becomes lighter as it approaches a light source or the
apex of a contour or curve.
If there is contour that goes around and out of your sight, or disappears
behind something, you will need to create a clean edge to your value.
This will separate those dimensions and create depth in your drawings.
Though we tend to rely on darker values to imply depth, practice developing
a contour even within a very limited range of value.
Have fun drawing!

Realistic Pencil Portrait Drawing

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