Realistic Pencil Portraiture: Capture Stories and Emotions

Realistic Pencil Portraiture: Capture Stories and Emotions

“That's the end of the course! Thank you so much for sticking around; I hope that everything I share with you will be helpful for your growth as an artist, and now you feel confident to make your own unique and beautiful drawings. Before saying goodbye, I'd like to do a quick recap on the steps you'll need to take on your Final Project. Source your materials and make some studies to experiment with the differing marks you can produce using your pencils and eraser. Make sketches of individual features to explore how observing shape and tone will help us create the illusion of form. If you don't have a full range of pencils, see what different tones you can achieve using a pencil such as a 2B or 4B. Take your reference photo to create your unique drawing. Spend some time with a friend, family member or use yourself as a model. Try to take your pictures with an uncluttered background. Position your subject into and away from your light source to create various looks and moods. Choose a reference photo that will allow you to make a portrait that resonates with you. Consider what emotion you want to convey and how pose and composition will affect this. Remember that it is challenging to achieve dense blacks with a pencil, so consider the tonal value of your reference photo.

You may be confident enough in your drawing skill to freehand the outline of your drawing, referring closely to your reference and measuring the distance between each feature along the way. The grid method I showed you in this course takes a little time and patience, but it allows you to ensure your drawing will be proportionally correct whilst training your eye to make judgments and measurements. I take a systematic approach to portraiture and work on each feature of my portrait until almost complete. This way, I can resolve any problems and ensure I am happy with my work before moving forward. My preference is to start with eyes as these are often the most challenging area of a drawing and where we most engage with a portrait. When each feature is complete, it is time to bring the portrait together. Consider the direction of line and shading when working on the cheeks, neck and forehead. Consider the direction and flow of the hair whilst paying attention to where the light is falling. Closely scrutinise your reference for fine details that make us all individuals, such as freckles and moles. Finally, set your reference photo aside, use your instinct to complete the drawing, and allow your creative decision-making to shine through. Most importantly, have fun and enjoy the process! I want to invite you to participate in the forum, where I will be commenting on your doubts and progress. Furthermore, I recommend you join in the conversation with the rest of your colleagues to enrich the work together. See you there! ”

Partial transcription of the video

“Final Project Thank you so much for taking this course. I really hope that you found the lessons useful, inspiring and valuable, and I really look forward to seeing your final projects. I hope that you are excited to apply these lessons to your own work. Please feel free to use the reference photo that I've uploaded into Additional Resources, but I would really love to see you having a go at taking your own reference photos and making something that's really unique and personal to yourself, I think you'll find that really rewarding, and it's a really valuable thing to create your own refere...”

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Course summary for: Realistic Pencil Portraiture: Capture Stories and Emotions

• Level: Beginner
• 99% positive reviews (135)
• 3405 students
• 5 units
• 18 lessons (4h 0m)
• 3 downloads

• Category

  Illustration

• Areas

  Drawing, Pencil Drawing, Portrait Drawing, Realistic Drawing, Traditional illustration