Hello, dear readers of my blog. I’m in touch with you, Timur Mustaev. Quite recently, I started to get interested in pencil drawing. My friend is so good at it that I asked him for a couple of lessons. I also asked him to write an article specifically for beginners in drawing, like me, where all the stages of drawing are described in detail. Today, in this article, he shares his tips and secrets.
Before I start, I want to tell you the secret of how my friend learned to draw. He took the video course" Drawing a portrait from a photograph"and the result is obvious. Moreover, the author of the course promises a full refund if you don’t learn how to draw. But as my friend says, this is simply not possible! The course is very clear and everything is shown with examples.
Drawing a portrait from a photograph
Drawing something is not easy, but the process of mastering the technique of creating a portrait will go much faster if you take a few tips from this article.
After all, as it happens, you seem to draw, erase, draw again, waste “tons” of paper, but there are no results. What is the reason for such failures?
The thing is that, when trying to draw the eyes, nose or other parts of the model, beginners lose sight of the fact that the picture should be painted from the whole to the particular.
How to draw a portrait with a pencil step by step for beginners? Moving from simple to complex. Let me give you an example. Remember how a man emerges from the fog? At first, vague outlines appear. As the haze disappears, facial features become clearer. It should also be on paper.
There are three angles: profile, full face and half-turn - the so-called three-quarters.
Beginners can be advised to try painting a portrait of a person sitting in three-quarter or side view. Then, when the technique of creating a face in a half-turn has been perfected, it will be possible to do more complex techniques, write the face from the front.
However, if you believe in your abilities, you can try to draw a person sitting upright from life.
Where to start?
The frame or basis of the portrait is the oval of the head and the location of the eyes, ears, chin, nose, eyebrows. To make it clearer for you, I’ll show you how to mark the contours of the face. Let's take, for example, a portrait of a girl.
What head shape does she have? Ovoid? Round? Oval with a square chin?
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Stretch the pencil in your hand, pointing it towards the model. Mark the distance between the top of your head and your chin on paper. We also note the width. Now put all these values on paper using dots, not forgetting about proportions and scale.
To draw from a photo, measure the parameters with a ruler, mark the expected width and height of the head. Write the shape of the head.
Remember that the width of the head is ¾ of the height. In reality, there may be deviations of 1-2 cm. So, carefully measure the height and width, check their ratio.
The outlines should be light and delicate, barely noticeable. An HB pencil is suitable for this. Now you are ready for the next step.
Many people try to master the art of drawing a portrait, but they fail. Either the nose is swollen, like a pig's, or the eyes are too small. It is important at this stage to compare the standard with the original (model or photo).
Each person has his own characteristics. These could be wide cheekbones, a large bulbous nose, and deep-set eyes. Look closely and notice. How do you usually draw? Where do you start your work?
Reference
The golden rule of portrait painters is the so-called standard. A unique masterpiece, that is, a face, is subsequently sculpted from it.
It incorporated the following components:
- The line exactly halfway between the crown of the head and the chin marks the line of the eyes.
- The next line runs halfway between the eyebrow line and the end of the chin. This is the nose line.
- Divide the section between the nose and chin into three parts. The lower border of the upper third is where the lips are located. It may be slightly higher or lower, it all depends on the characteristics of the person.
- To find your eyebrow line, divide your head height by three and a half. Half of the three parts indicate the hairline. The second feature behind it is the eyebrow line. The third feature is the line of the nose.
After you have outlined the oval, mark the protruding elements:
- cheekbones;
- chin.
Divide your face in half vertically. In the case of a half turn, look at the example.
The line goes through and divides the “egg” in half. One half should be smaller than the other, as it is further away.
Chopping head
In professional art schools, aspiring portrait painters study the so-called “stumping.” This is a human head presented in a simplified version.
We will try to draw a kind of stump of our model in a simple design. 
This is the second stage.
Note the person's characteristics:
- the thickness of the cheekbones, the falling and protruding parts of the face, a kind of relief;
- thickness of the bridge of the nose, base of the nose;
- the width and height of the eyes, their location;
- thickness and width of lips;
- eyebrows, their bend, direction, thickness;
- chin shape: triangular, square, etc.
Now, let me show you how to draw eyes.
Spherical mirrors
The eyes are a round sphere. This roundness must be conveyed on the sheet. At the same time, the white of the eye is never left white, but is shaded, adding more color. To make it clear that the eye has a spherical shape.
Finding the eye is quite easy. Divide the width of the head into five parts. The 2nd and 4th parts represent the eyes. But these are the proportions for the front view. How to draw eyes in a half-turn?
In this case, you simply mark the same eye socket, notch or temporal part of the head and dance from it. Measure the farthest eye; it is smaller in size than the second one. Measure the distance between the eyes and mark it on paper. Repeat for the other eye as well.
Outline the eye with a quadrangle, marking the width and height with notches.
Take a close look at the model or photo. What eye shape does the original have? How do the width and height of the eye relate?
Sketch line segments showing the position of the eyelids.
At the same time, the lower eyelid is never made dark. Take a closer look at how to depict the thickness of the lower eyelid. It is a shade darker than the whites of the eyes.
Nose
Now let's start creating the plane of the nose. To do this, you need to know several relationships:
- Draw lines parallel to each other from the corners of the inner eyelid down. Mark the location of the wings of the nose.
- When creating a face in a half turn, the second line coming from the far eye will disappear behind the bridge of the nose.
Construct a trapezoid at the base of the nose, first drawing the lines of the back of the nose. To do this, place a pencil parallel to the vertical axis and remember the angle between the back of the nose and the axis, transfer it to paper.
Lips
The location of the lips can be found like this. If you divide the height of the head into 8 parts, then the fifth line down from the top of the head will be the line of the lips.
Write the mouth as if it were drawn on a cylinder.
The upper lip should be 1/3 of the height of the lips. The width of the lips is equal to the distance between the center of the pupils. Measure in a half turn in the photo and adjust to your scale.
There is another measure of the width of the lips: it is equal to a segment of one and a half eyes.
Ears
Look at the pictures to see how to draw ears. The ear is located between the brow and nasal lines.
In the ¾ portrait the man is depicted with one ear, the other ear is “hidden”. Remember, the ear should be tilted towards the head.
It can be determined by drawing a straight line connecting the jugular cavity and the ear. Or simply attach a pencil to the photo and measure the angle of inclination by eye.
Memo
And some more rules:
- If you are painting a portrait of a person from the waist up, identify the axis that bisects the face so that you can determine the location of the eyes, nose and ears, eyebrows, etc. It passes through the jugular cavity or between the collarbones in the center;
- The width of the head along the eye line is 2/3 of its height;
- The widest part of the head is the basis for finding the width of the lower jaw (¾ of the larger value).
Detailing
The third stage of creating a portrait includes detailed drawing. Remove unnecessary lines, start to achieve similarity with the photo. At the same time, measure the width of the eyes, nose and other parts and compare them with the width of the face. Draw smooth lines and roundness.
The last final stage is shading.
Shade from the dark areas gradually moving to the lightest ones. Lastly, lighten and add highlights to the pupils, tip of the nose and other parts.
The picture is ready.
Finally, I want to tell you that portraits can be without shading. For example, a linear portrait uses visual medium line.
See how to draw a girl.
A person's face is his mirror. A face can express a person’s character and reflect his qualities as a person. Here we have another drawing lesson. human face. We already have lessons on how to draw a girl’s face and a mother’s face with a pencil step by step. And here we will teach you how to do this step by step and draw a face young man, guy, man. The principle of drawing is approximately the same in all cases. First, there is an auxiliary stage with the division of a sheet of paper into squares or rectangles, and then the drawing of all parts of the face itself. We will have a face in profile and full face, that is, a front and side view. So let's get started with the lesson!
Stage 1. To carry out this stage, you will need a ruler to draw smooth, clear lines. First we draw three straight lines. One of them runs right in the middle of the sheet, the other two parallel to it above and below. They are crossed by five lines located strictly perpendicular, that is, at right angles. Four lines are shifted to the left, and one to the right. We leave a small clear space between them.
Stage 2. Between the middle and lower straight lines we will place three more (they are shown in blue). We draw a circle with a dotted line, limiting it with the same lines as in our drawing.
Stage 3. Let's start tracing the contours of the head in front view and side view. In the front view we are now drawing the hair border line at the top, and in the side view the line at the back of the head.
Stage 4. Now on the left we will draw the line of the chin and cheeks. And on the side - also the jawline.
Stage 5. In the left picture we show the hair growth line in the frontal part with two protrusions and, and draw the ears. On the right side we also show the hairline from the sides and in front.
Stage 7. It's time to shape the eyebrows and nostrils. The eyebrows are wide, the nostrils are slightly widened too.
Stage 9. Between the eyelids, we show the eyeballs with pupils in small circles. Small reflections of light should be reflected in the pupils. At this stage we will also draw small wrinkles under the eyes, on the side of the eyes, on the bridge of the nose and above the line of the mouth.
Step 10. Now we show the rather thick lips that form the line of the mouth. Under the mouth we will outline the chin and a small dimple above it.
Only those who have studied in special courses or in art school because this is not an easy task. To fully transfer proportions to paper, you need to know many of the nuances of each element.
However, if you are a beginner who already has some drawing skills, you can try your hand at drawing a face. First, you should practice drawing various features on a rough sketch: lips, eyebrows, nose. Then you can take Blank sheet paper and move on to the first stage of this lesson.
Necessary materials:
- paper;
- eraser;
- pencil;
- marker;
- colored pencils in red, brown, blue, orange.
Drawing steps:
1. Let's draw an oval. This will be the head. Let's draw two auxiliary lines in the center.
2. Now let's adjust the shape of the face. Simple curved lines let's label the hair.
3. Draw the eyebrows and the upper eyelid of the eye, which should be on a horizontal line.
4. We finish drawing the eyes, namely the lower eyelid, eyeball and pupil, as well as eyelashes. Add a line in the center where the nose is located.
5. Draw the nose and mouth. The lips will be wide and large.
6. Let's draw general shape hairstyles around the head.
7. Let’s draw the neck and shoulders below.
8. Let's detail the girl's hair - draw strands.
9. Outline the outline of the face, eyes, eyebrows, nose and lips with a black marker. We will also go over each line of the neck, shoulders, and hair.
10. Let's start coloring step by step drawing faces. First of all, let's add color to the girl's hair. They will be red. Take an orange pencil and completely shade it along the contour of the hairstyle. In some places you can add volume using a brown pencil. You can also give the girl a different hair color.
11. Now we move on to the girl’s delicate and sensitive skin. To give a natural look, we first use a pink pencil, then to create penumbra - red, and for shadow areas - brown.
12. Let’s make the girl’s lips bright red.
13. Decorate the gorgeous eyebrows on your face with a brown pencil.
14. Then let's move on to the eyes. Color the lower and upper eyelids with a black marker. Let's make the iris blue tone. We will also decorate the pupil with a marker.
The result is a beautiful portrait of a girl, and you learned how to draw woman's face. To draw a man's face, use the same steps, just change their features. After all, a man's is rougher.
It is much easier to depict animals, birds, household items and other fictional characters than to capture someone’s face on a piece of paper. Here you need to have a trained hand, a clear knowledge of the anatomical properties of the head structure and physiological proportions. Therefore, you need to first ruin several sheets by training your hand. After this, you can proceed to the final version. So, how to draw a girl's face?
Drawing technique
The drawing will consist of a whole circle and a half, which is drawn under the first. We do not erase the lines. We connect the edges where the second semicircle begins, breaking up the composition vertical line into 2 parts. Draw a straight line under the lowest point of the whole circle, and make the same one under it, separating a third of the space. On a large horizontal line, limit the nose area with two brackets.
Outline the area of the face: highlight the cheekbones, chin. Make symmetrical eyebrows above the brackets, but taking into account the downward slope on the left side.
On a horizontal line, draw the lower part of the circle for the eye, and limit the top with the curve of the eyelid. Do not go beyond the line.
On the middle horizontal, focusing on the nose brackets, make 2 dark spots - nasal holes. Between them, use a light stroke to limit the septum, and draw rounded wings of the nose on the sides.
Let's move on to the third line - the mouth area. We draw a straight line with some bend, and draw the upper lip above it. Apply light shadow and outline the nasolabial triangle.
Keeping the slope in mind, shape the lower lip. It needs to be made plump by applying the shadow correctly. Draw the side line of the face.
Do the same with the second half of the face and limit the selections, not forgetting about its shape.
Draw a neck line under the curves of the chin. The moment has come when you can add hair to a girl. Draw a light wave on the side, starting from the top of the head and extending to the shoulders. Detail the parting and draw the curve of the hair on the forehead.
Starting from the bend on the forehead, move the strand to the other side. From the top of the head, draw a wavy border of hair on the other side.
Moving on to the eyes: shade the circle of the eye, leaving a small highlight there, draw a line upper eyelid, limit its overhanging part from above, draw a border to the lower one. Draw eyelashes using small lines, placing them on the eyelid from the outer edge to the inner.
Now we draw the pupil in the middle of the eye and draw several lines from it in different directions. Draw short eyelashes on the lower eyelid. Line your lips, placing accents with light lines. Now highlight the contours of the face. We increase eyebrows. We wipe away additional strokes.
We draw individual hairs on the strands, making them voluminous.
The finishing touches are light pencil movements in different parts of the face, highlighting the folds, sides and curves.
It turns out realistic portrait, in which the depth of the gaze is especially striking. Such a drawing will take a lot of time, because each zone needs to be given maximum attention and effort, without missing important details.
In this drawing lesson we will learn how to draw a woman’s face, how to build a face, and how to draw a girl’s face with a pencil step by step.
What we start with is drawing a circle. Then we draw a line where the middle of the head should be, then two vertical straight lines, the top one is the line of the eyebrows, the second is the line of the eyes. We measure and put a line where the nose ends (done by eye or measured). Now we measure distance 2 and lay the same down and top (3 and 1, respectively).
Divide the eye line into 5 equal parts. In people, the distance between the eyes is equal to the eye itself, but there are, of course, exceptions, without this. Divide the distance from the nose to the chin into three equal parts. Sketch the outline of the face. From the beginning of the eyes downwards with a dotted line we debug straight lines to the nose. When drawing, the wings of the nose should not go beyond these boundaries.
Now we draw the eyes, nose, mouth, eyebrows, outline the face, draw the top of the head, hair, ears. There is no need to draw each eyelash, just draw the general shape. Eyelashes extend beyond the size of the eye, i.e. for our traits. When drawing lips, the first line is the bottom of the upper lip. The site has many lessons for drawing eyes and mouth, for example, lips - and, eyes - and.
Erase all auxiliary elements, draw the girl’s neck and shoulders, hair. In principle, you can end here, or you can add a little shadows for realism.
