Tip on Pencil Portrait Drawing – Backgrounds
Backgrounds are useful in enhancing your vision of how you want to represent your subjects. Backgrounds can soften the presentation or make it more energetic or dramatic.
Make sure that the background works with the subject and not against it. The subject is the reason you starting the drawing in the first place. So, do not get caught up in your background to the point where it starts outshining your subject and diverts the attention of the viewer from your subject.
Here are a few tips on how to proceed with backgrounds so that they become a plus for your finished pencil portraits.
Values – Take a clue from the values of your subject when choosing the value scheme for your background treatment. If your subject is very light on one side, it is always a good idea to make the background in that area darker. This will introduce the necessary contrast.
It also solves the problem of white against white. If your subject has white hair, it is always difficult to make it sufficiently show against the white background of your white paper. Introducing a darker background around the hair is the perfect solution.
Lost and Found – The background treatment can also be used to produce so-called “lost and found edges”. These are edges that initially show but then get lost in the surroundings to finally reappear somewhere down the line.
The disappearing act of the edge is accomplished by rendering the edge and the surroundings with the same value. For example, the edge of a sleeve could be partially lost in the background by giving the background the same value as that part of the sleeve.
Location – It is usually a good idea to keep the shading below the eye level of the subject you are drawing. Shading above the eye level tends to weigh down the subject and does not add to the crispness of the portrait.
Extensive Background – Sometimes your client may insist on a detailed pictorial background. First, make sure you increase the fee, because you will often spend more time on your background drawing than on the subject itself.
Second, always be aware that the subject must remain the focal point of the finished product. So, develop the facility for judging what enhances the subject and what detracts from it. The background is invariably secondary to the subject.
Ideally, a pictorial background should talk about your subject and give the viewer more information about your subject. A background is also very useful to create or enhance a mood. If your subject is portrayed in a certain mood, you may want to enhance that mood by adding the appropriate background.
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Tip on Pencil Portrait Drawing – Multiple Subjects
When it comes to multiple subjects in one pencil portraits drawing, there are two possibilities: (1) all subjects appear in one photograph; (2) the subjects appear in different photographs. We will be concerned with the second possibility.
It will not take long before you will get a request to make one portrait out of several photographs. This can be done but you need to be aware of a number of difficulties.
Here are a few guidelines to follow when combining photographs.
Lighting – Check the light source in each of the photographs. Your portrait drawing needs a unified light source.
You will have to adapt the lighting in some of the pictures when you draw your composite portrait. This is a difficult but necessary challenge.
All shadows and tones have to be consistent otherwise your composite portrait will have a strange look to it. This, now, is a matter of experience and knowing how a subject looks like when lighted in a certain manner.
You may try to find a photograph or image of some other subject where the light source is located in a suitable location and deduce from that how the shadows and values are distributed.
Gaze – Try to make all your subjects gaze in the same general direction. You can do this by adjusting the location of the irises.
Composition – When you have different photographs you have the opportunity to create your own composition. The standard overall compositional shapes are: the circle; the rectangle; the triangle, and the square. Choose one of these and arrange the subjects within it.
Size – Another problem you will encounter is that the subject in the different photographs will be portrayed in different relative sizes. One subject will be small, the other will be large.
Therefore, you will need to go through the process of reducing all subjects to the same scale.
If the subjects are of different ages, say a child and an adult, adjustments must be made in the measurements according to the known average differences of such subjects. For example, a child’s head has different average measurements than that of an adult. If you have a photograph of the two together then you can study the differences and draw accordingly.
Much more can be said about merging different photographs into one pencil portrait drawing but the above suggestions will point you in the right direction.
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Tip on Pencil Portrait Drawing – Composition
Composition refers to the manner in which your subjects are positioned relative to each other on the page. More formally, it is the arrangement of forms and spaces within the format of the page.
Balance – The main characteristic of a good composition is that it creates a feeling of balance in the viewer’s mind when looking on your pencil portraits. This balance should be present on at least two levels.
First, there is the balance of position. This means that the forms and spaces out of which the portrait is made up should be balanced relative to the vertical and the horizontal going through the center of the page.
Second, there should also be a balance with respect to value. The darks and lights should balance each other out in an overall sense.
Experiment – Having said that, do not be afraid to experiment with the distribution of forms, spaces, and values. Sometimes an unexpected deviation from the perfect balance gives excitement and interest to a drawing.
Follow your artistic sensibility. With practice, this sensibility can be developed and soon you will acquire a natural sense for good composition.
Shapes – When considering the composition of your drawing you should think in terms of four major shapes: the triangle, the circle, the rectangle, and the square. Any of those shapes can be the point of interest of your portrait.
All other shapes should be arranged in support of that point of interest. Essentially, this means that the viewer should be led or guided towards the intended focal point of the drawing.
Focal Point – One common compositional mistake occurs when the subject matter outside of the focal point is arranged in such a manner that the viewer is led in a direction away from the center of interest
In this regard we should remember that in the West, the viewer’s eye tends to enter a drawing or a painting from the left (just as we do when we read from left to right). Therefore, a good composition often has an entry point on the left of the drawing and from there leads the viewer’s eye to the focal point.
Detail – The focal point should also be the area where you add the most detail to your portrait drawing. Areas deemed less important can be less developed and left to be finished by the viewer’s imagination.
Ideally, the personality of both the subject and the artist should be reflected in the end product.
Check Balance – Another way of assessing whether or not you have a good composition is to cover up one shape or another and see if it improves the balance or not. A good composition is such that if you remove one shape, the whole drawing is clearly thrown out of balance. If you feel that by removing a certain part of your drawing the balance improves, by all means, leave that part out.
Entire volumes have been written about compositional rules and processes. However, developing the idea of balance on the levels of position and value will give you a very good start.
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Tip on Pencil Portrait Drawing – The Hands
Drawing hands takes much practice. Hands are typically quite complex with many smooth transitions between darks and lights. Shapes overlap and need to be studied very carefully to yield acceptable realism. There are also lots of edges, crevices, and creases.
It is imperative that you do not ignore the many angles that are present in the hands. Hands are much more angular than our ingrained memorized image would suggest. Therefore, it is very easy to make the mistake of portraying the hands too chubby and rounded which leads to an unnaturally rounded.
Here are a few pointers that will give you the basic memory pack for drawing hands. When I say “memory pack”, I mean a set of memorized issues about drawing hands that should be in the foreground of your thinking whenever you draw hands.
Simplify – Generally, any kind of photographic subject will have so much detail that it becomes necessary to simplify, i.e., leaving out much detail. Of course, you must develop a facility to leave out the right details and keep the important ones. This is where your artistic sensibilities play a major role. Making the right choices makes all the difference.
It is a good exercise to look at pictures in magazines and practice the simplification process. Ask yourself the question: What can I eliminate in this picture while still retaining the essence of the subject? In fact, as you get more experienced you may ask yourself the question: What should I add to obtain an even more convincing rendition of the essence of the person I am portraying?
The same is true with drawing hands in pencil portraits. The hands have usually so much detail in them that you must discard the unimportant details. At first, keep your eye on the major shapes, the so-called large masses. You do not want to miss those.
Remember, at this stage, try not to think too much of how a hand is supposed to look like, just draw the shapes as they are.
Males and Females – There are many differences between male hands and female hands. On average, male hands are larger and squarer. For example, the fingers are less tapered and thicker than those of the female. The female hand is slender and the finger tips are much more tapered compared to the male fingers. The fact that females (generally!) do not have hairy hands adds to the lightness in color.
Values – First, avoid outlining the hands at all cost. Let the edges be formed by applying the correct contrast in values. Note where one finger overlaps another and be sure to include all the cast shadows.
Also, it is very important to render the reflected light on each finger because that is what will give the finger its roundness and three-dimensional look.
Angles and Planes – Hands are surprisingly angular, not as much rounded as we sometimes think they are. The joints and knuckles have various planes to them which need to be carefully rendered.
Blending – Keep the blending of the hands very smooth. Blend the darks into the surface they belong to. This way there is no confusion as to which surface the dark line belongs to. Again, do not forget the reflected light between the fingers. This will create the illusion of roundness of the fingers.
The hands can be used to enhance the visual impact of your pencil portrait drawing. For example, the addition of hands to a baby picture makes the whole thing much more endearing. Therefore, adding hands to a portrait is always something to consider. With this, I think you can have a good start at drawing hands. And remember, practice, practice, and practice some more.
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Tip on Pencil Portrait Drawing – Clothing
Drawing clothing can be quite challenging. The challenge usually centers on the drawing of the folds. There is a lot of reflected light, lots of darks, and many lights. But it is exactly this variety of values that makes the drawing of clothes very attractive but also challenging.
Here are a few tips to memorize:
Folds – There are five types of folds we must recognize when drawing clothing:
1. The column fold
2. The drape fold
3. The inert fold
4. The coil fold
5. The interlocking fold
Of course, in a typical situation, more than one of these fold types are present.
Column Fold – This type of fold is the most common and is typified by its cylindrical shape suspended or originating from one point. The value pattern is that of a cylinder which involves a hard edge followed by a parallel line of reflected light, a shadow edge and a soft edge. The column fold also shows highlights here and there depending on the location of the light source. You can find such folds frequently in scarves, curtains, and skirts.
Drape Fold – This fold comes about when a piece of fabric is suspended from two opposing points. The fabric in between the two points is long enough so that it can hang freely and form a somewhat semi-circular shape. The picture is that of a series of alternating narrow dark and light semi-circular strips that begin and end at the two points. This type of fold is often found in blouses.
Inert Fold – This type of fold occurs in a piece of fabric that is not suspended but lies on a surface without being stretched. Here, the folds can go in many different directions. However, each fold relates to its neighbors in a particular manner. You should study these patterns and render them in a consistent way although the whole thing seems at first to be a mess. You can observe this type of fold when a woman’s dress is partially resting on the surface she is seated on.
Coil Fold – A piece of fabric that is wrapped around a circular rod will invariably show this sort of fold. It has a spiral-like appearance and it can be found in sleeves and pant legs when the sleeve or pant leg is somewhat twisted around the arm or the leg.
Interlocking Fold – Fabric that is piled on a couch or is wrapped around someone’s neck will often show folds within folds or on top of each other. With this sort of fold it becomes imperative that you trace how each fold works itself into the other and apply the appropriate cast shadows.
As mentioned above, in typical pencil portraits involving fabrics, you will find combinations of these different types of folds.
You should identify the areas where the fabric is in tension and where it is not and see where the darks and lights are. In addition, there will always be hard edges and soft edges that must be rendered faithfully for your drawing to look realistic.
Finally, there is also something called: “lost and found” edge. A lost and found edge is an edge that, at first, can easily be seen, but then peters out and becomes invisible, only to reappear a little further down the line. Although the edge consists of two disconnected lines, the eye through the brain recognizes that the two disjointed line pieces belong together and form one edge.
As you can see, drawing clothes is not all that simple. But if you know that they are not so easy, you should not feel bad if, at first, your clothes drawings do not look very realistic.
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Drawing hair takes quite a bit of time to make the result to look real and natural. In fact, it usually takes two to three times longer to do the hair than it does to do the rest of the portrait drawing. So, do not get frustrated and know that you will have to spend the time.
Here are some pointers to help you succeed at drawing the best hair possible.
Line Drawing – As always, the first step is to produce a line drawing that shows the overall shape of the hair and maps out some of the main value areas. At this stage, you should look at the hair as a shape and ignore all details such as strands. Do observe however how the hair flows, i.e., take note of the growth directions of the hair.
Values – Next, using the map you created on your line drawing, start laying in the major values, i.e., the major darks and lights. Make sure you always follow the growth direction of the hair. Follow the flow.
Blending – At this stage, you can blend the darks out towards the lights. Then, reapply the darks and pull them into the light areas using a tortillon or a pencil (if there is not enough graphite on the paper). Work from the dark areas into the light areas. After that, use a pointed kneaded eraser as a drawing tool to pull the lights into the darks.
This process should be repeated several times until you reach the desired look of fullness.
Curls – You should treat each curl as a separate object with its own darks, lights, and highlights. At the same time, make sure that each curl fits into the overall layout of the hair. This means, for example, that a particular curl should flawlessly connect to its neighbors.
Shadows – Often the hair cast a few shadows onto the forehead. These cast shadows should always be rendered in the correct value. You will be surprised how much they contribute to the realistic appearance of the hair and the subject in general.
Forehead – When the hair falls over the forehead, it is important to apply the same forehead value to the areas of the forehead that are visibly located under the hair. If you leave these areas white, you will loose a lot of realism and it is a veru crucial thing in the pencil portraits.
Gray Hair – The illusion of gray or white hair is created through using pencil strokes sparingly and through more blending with a tortillon or a paper tissue. A soft and silky look can be created by using the kneaded eraser to lift out the appropriate.
Much more can be said about the drawing of hair. However, the above remarks will suffice to set you on the right path. Later, you can always consult an advanced work on hair drawing.
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Tip on Pencil tattoo tips – The Eyes
As with all features of the human face, it is important that we do not draw the preconceived ideas we have about eyes. The eyes are the windows to a person’s soul and reflect much of the emotionality and personality of that person. Therefore, they must be drawn exactly how they are.
There is much to be said about the different parts of the eye, but here are a few guidelines that will get you started in the right direction.
Complexity – Eyes are rather complex forms and therefore we need to be patient and spend the necessary time to draw them as realistic as we can. Here are the important parts of the eye:
- The surrounding bone structure
- The eyebrows
- The eyelids
- The eyelashes
- The eyeball
- The iris
- The pupil
Eye Structure – The eyeball sits deep inside the eye socket. The eye socket has a protruding rim at the top on which the eyebrow is situated. It is within this rather rectangular shape that we will draw the eye.
Eyeball – The eyeball has a rather large spherical shape. In front there is a protruding egg shaped bulge where the lens is located. The eyelids are stretched over the eyeball.
For drawing purposes we are interested in that part of the eyeball that we usually refer to as “the whites” of our eyes. Now, those whites are in general not white at all but have shadows on them which, at times, can be quite dark. Remember also that the whites are part of a spherical surface.
Eyelids – The eyelids are stretched over the eyeball. Therefore, the curvature of the eyeball gives the eyelids their shape. This is something to understand and memorize.
It is important to capture the exact shape of the eyelid lines and to recognize that they follow the curvature of the eyeball. Also, when the upper eyelid is retracted, it leaves a clearly visible crease.
Finally, notice the peculiar little shape in the inside corner of the eye where the upper and lower eyelids join. Be sure to draw this corner as observed in your particular subject.
Eyelashes – The eyelashes sprout from the eyelids. They grow in clumps and should be rendered that way. Spend some time observing how eyelids grow and are directed. Notice that very often the lashes on the upper eyelid are much larger than those on the lower lid. Eyelashes belonging to a particular clump are frequently entangled. The eyelashes are usually drawn at the very end.
The Iris – The iris is the circle of color in the middle of the eye. It is crucial for a good likeness that the value of the color is rendering correctly. A dark brown or a pale blue, for example, will appear very smooth and even. Green and deep blue irises, on the other hand, will have the most design and contrast in it.
The Pupil – The pupil is situated exactly in the middle of the iris. As is the case with the iris, the pupil is an exact circle (if a frontal view) and is always black.
Very often there is a circular highlight situated just where the iris and pupil meet. This highlight adds quite a bit of life to the portrait. Look for it and add it to your drawing.
Eyebrows – The eyebrows play a very important part in the appearance of a person. They also have a lot to do with the expression on the person’s face. They follow the shape of the upper rim of the bone structure in which the eye is placed.
Placement – The distance between the two eyes is on average exactly equal to one eye-width. Drawing a vertical line from the inside corner of the eye down to the nose should touch the outside of the nostril. Of course, these are average values and there are individual differences.
It is important to get a good impression of the shape, angle, width, and exact location of the eyebrows. Carefully observe the direction of the hairs and how they are intertwined.
Much can still be said about drawing eyes. For example, we could talk about the differences between the eyes of men, women, and children. Or, we could talk about capturing expressions of anger, laughter, or sadness, and much more. But the above guidelines will give you a good start. Later, you may want to undertake a more thorough study of the eye and how to draw it.
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If you have ever considered upper back tattoos, you were thinking along the right lines. There are so many reasons why people love upper back tattoos, but the main reason is that the back is an expansive, nearly flat and unremarkable canvas on most people. This makes it perfect for those who want to have a tattoo that requires a bit more detail or space to accomplish. Best of all, tattoos in this area can easily be added to without anyone ever noticing. Let’s take a look at the subject of upper back tattoos in a bit more detail.
Upper Back Tattoos Work Well In the Professional World
One of the things that is great about your back as a canvas for interesting tattoos is that in a work setting, nobody should ever be able to tell that you have a tattoo without you showing them. At the beach or at the pool is one thing, but when you work (unless you work somewhere where clothing is optional) people will never be able to see your back. Upper back tattoos are easily hidden by a tee shirt or even just a tank top, meaning that you can go places that you normally wouldn’t dare with your ink.
Upper Back Tattoos Are Great Starting Points
Another thing that works rather well with upper back tattoos is that they are easily added to. If you start out with a small, medium, or even a larger upper back tattoo, you can add more to it later if you want to as the back is a large area. The fact that it is fairly flat also makes it a good place to have a tattoo that you may want more added to later, as the arms and legs and even the stomach make this a little bit difficult.
Upper Back Tattoos May Lead to Lower Back Tattoos
When it comes to the ladies, lower back tattoos are another option for someone who wants to be a little more discreet with their ink. Many times, upper back tattoos and the things that get added on to them lead to the desire for lower back tattoos, a popular spot for ink when it comes to the fairer sex. These are not only sexy, but stylish and chic and easily hidden at the same time. Being a relatively flat area as well, the lower back makes it easy for people to be able to use whatever tattoo design they like without having to wonder if it will fit or look good.
Upper back tattoos and virtually any other tattoo that goes on the back is bound to be a good one. If you are interested in getting inked on your back, you will find that the possibilities are endless when it comes to design ideas.
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