Once you’ve practiced drawing the individual features, you’re ready to combine them in a full portrait. Use your understanding of the basics of proportion to block in the head and place the features. Study your subject carefully to see how his or her facial proportions differ from the “average”; capturing these subtle differences will help you achieve a better likeness to your subject.
DRAWING WHAT YOU SEE Working from a photo helps you draw what you really see—as opposed to what you expect to see—because you can change your viewpoint. Try turning both the photo and your drawing upside-down as you work; you’ll find that you can represent many shapes more accurately.
STEP 1 Using an HB pencil, I sketch the general outline of the subject’s face. Then I place the facial guidelines before blocking in the eyes, nose, and mouth. (Notice that the mouth takes up about one-fourth of the face.) I also block in the shape of her hair, including the bangs.
STEP 2 Switching to a 2B pencil, I indicate the roundness of the facial features. I compare my sketch to the photograph often, making sure that I’ve captured the things that make this individual unique, like the turned-up nose, slightly asymmetrical eyes, and wide smile.
STEP 3 I erase my guidelines and then begin shading, following the form of the face with the 2B pencil and softly blending to create the smoothness of the skin. Next I create the teeth, lightly indicating the separations with incomplete lines. Then I switch to a 3B pencil to lay in more dark streaks of hair.
STEP 4 To render the smooth, shiny hair, I use a 4B to lay in darker values. I vary the length of the strokes, pulling some strokes into the areas at the top of her head that have been left white for highlights to produce a gradual transition from light to dark. Then I refine the eyes and mouth by adding darker layers of shading.
FOCUSING ON FEATURES
This drawing shows the same young lady with a different hair style, expression, and pose. Although she’s in costume, she is still recognizable as the same subject because I was faithful to the facial characteristics that are specific to this individual.
