One of the drawbacks of being self-taught, as I have been, is that it makes it more difficult for me to teach others. I’m amazed that Brenda has developed not only the ability to be self-taught but also the ability to teach others.

The way I have developed my methods causes me to never know exactly how I will begin a drawing until I select the picture. Once I study the picture I then decide on the best method I think will work for the picture.

Like I said in the other thread I usually find the lines with the sharpest edges because I can see them better. But sometimes I find large shapes in the portraits as I have below of Devon.

I have cropped my oval, so it is smaller on a sheet of paper than it looks here. Also it looks darker here than my first marks look. If I didn't darken the scan slightly and enlarge it I don't think you could see the lines.

In this second step I measured the width of her face on the print-out of her photo. then I marked lightly on my drawing. I also found the tilt of her face and marked the angle of the tilt. She is tilting her head to her left slightly. I find that all this measuring and studying helps me to become intimately familiar with the photo. This is the full sized sheet of paper. I'm not sure you can see the outline of the sheet oh.

I will later erase my lines with a soft eraser that doesn't scuff my paper. Again these lines look slightly darker than the ones on my paper.

I will include a color photo of the one I gray scaled of Devon for those who want to do it in color pencils.

Great photo Bob, I might try and follow you along with this one, just for a laugh!

I can't see anything on your second scanned picture Bob.
I've done my oval and marked the tilt of her head.
Looking forward to the next installment!

This might be a little better. It shows the lines I drew to to see how much the head was tilted. I had to darken the scan to get it to look this dark.

I've been distracted again. Had to format a hard drive and reinstall the operating system and then search for drivers. etc.

On this next scan I marked the places where the eyes nose and mouth are to be located. I usually make very faint marks but they wouldn't showup on my scans so I have made them darker just to show where I do them. I use a ruler and measure in centimeters usually.

But no one says you have to go to all this trouble. You can develope what method that works for you. I have tried a lot of different methods of getting my line composition.

I hope you can see the lines.

bob

Here I have erased my lines and marks. I've also started outlining the main body of the hair.

That's really helpful, to know exactly where you measure. Thanks, Bob!

Do you have any of Douglas Graves' books? He makes similar kinds of marks.

I don't have his book, but I have one by Carrie Stuart Parks. But I was meauring and using many of the techniques she teaches long before I read the book.

It's good to know other artists are doing things that you have been taught not to do. I worked at a gallery once when I was young and the owner of the gallery tried to fill my head with a lot of false doctrine, if you know what I mean. He taught against a lot of "helps" that a lot of famous artist use.

Ok, I got carried away!
I measured everything and have shaded and added the hair!
I used charcoal for the hair.
All togethter it took about an hour; is more of a sketch than a drawing!

I can't use MS Paint at the minute and so am unable to put the pictures side by side to compare.
Would someone do that for me?
I may need to slow down and have another go!

I like this. I think you did an excilent job. The charcoal sort of rushes the process, don't it? Pastels and ink can do the same thing.

bob

Thanks Bob. Yeh, I really like charcoal it is so liberating!
Where did you get the photo from, it's great?
I am still following your step by step process and will probably have another go.

I don't remember the website where I got it. I did a google search of images of Devon Aoki. I found several but I only downloaded the ones I liked. I do this a lot when I want to find a photo of a certain person.

bob.

"unable to put the pictures side by side to compare.
Would someone do that for me? "

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PS>Let me add this !! There was comments as="Bob is a wonderful 'portrait' artist" in another topic,but been I'm here and not there;;;;Bob is a very humble person and most artistes do enjoy people saying nice things about their work.I do believe the above statement was made in the upmost kindness with the best of gratitude. But..........Bob is an Artist .Don't have to add any words in front ,,An Artist ,,pure and simple!!We have much in common ,but this we do not share.I ask him to join here 'cause I knew how much he could add to the site.He did and he has! That's it,,just wanted all to know the talent you have here.Ted

Bob, I just discovered this thread and I am going to try to draw her. How generous of you to share your expertise. Will post soon.

Judyvan

Ok, what are you wanting me to do Ted? Just kidding.

I did a little more. I tried going really dark on this one earlier than usual.

The second scan is with 4b and 6b. The third scan is with the ultra fine tip Sharpie felt tip pen.

this is amazing Bob .. if you would like you can continue this thread and I will pin it so its at top .. and with your next portrait just add to this thread until it gets too full then we will make anew and unpin this one ( placing it back at the bottom ) sound ok ?

Great

Thanks for doing that Ted, I can see the eyes were too wide and the face was shape was not quite right. I have done a graphite version which I think is better in my gallery. There are some photos's which you just can't help but draw and I just loved this photo, especially the hair!

My attempt. I know it is not right, but help me make it look better Bob.

Judyvan

I spent ten minutes shading the hair with a 4b and started on the side of her face with an hb on the first scan. On the second scan I worked with the hb on the side of her face for about ten minutes, working very carefully.




Don't be too hard on your self. Check out my post. I spent nearly twenty minutes on one side of her face trying to get the soflt shading of her face right. I haven't smudged any yet.

I think you are doing fine. This is a challenging face to render.
Are you going to put flesh tones or pinkish orange in her face?

The reason I added blue tones is because my printer is low on ink and it came out that way and I liked it. Maybe I will add some other colors or just try it all over again.

Judyvan

Mine usually turns red when it is about to run out of ink. Blue is fine, it adds a mood to the drawing. She has a moody look any way.

I hope this don't go on Judyvan's post again, like it has been doing. I see it didn't. I had to log out and then log back in to post a new post.

I spent nearly twenty minutes shading more on the face, around the neck and shoulder, and played with the hair a little.

I can't wait to see this done! Its looking pretty awsome. Daisybug

I am starting mine tonight.. i was working on a drawing of my husband but done and ready to start on this one
you guys have all done a great job so far ...I like learning different techniques .

Here is my try ....I chose to do this in color by now I kinda wish I had tried in pencil ...her eyes do not look right .. maybe too small .

I did more on the hair with 5b and 6b pencils. I also worked with a .5 mm mechanical pencil with 2b lead.

I really like this one Bob...mind you I like all your stuff but this one seems different maybe it's her eyes that add so much depth to the portrait.I don't know but I do know that it is very impressive

I went back to the hb and 2h to work on the left side of her face. I am trying not to get too dark and I am trying not to have to smudge. I also had to recheck her left eye brow. I somehow got it too low.

I have about thirty minutes in this stage of the drawing, but it seems that I have accomplished very little.

I think it's time for a chocolate kisses break.

This is how I checked to make sure my angles were correct. I first leveled the 6 inch ruler over the eye brows. Then I put the triangle ruler in the center of her nose and lips. This will not work so well if the face is looking too much to one side. This is because the face usually is a distorted curve. But it works if the subject is looking staight on.

In the next photo the ruler is at the bottom of her eyes to make sure they are still on the right angle.

But you still need to recheck the source photo because sometime an eyebrow is raised slightly. As you can see this was not the case.

Bob I really love the way you are doing the hair with all the whisps flying around you still manage to get them to look so soft .

Ok, I am not sure how long I have been on this stage. I worked on both the hair and the face. I'm almost finished. I guess I should put a dress on her.

I'm calling this finished.

Oh my god... this is fantastic I love it... it looks just like the photograph!
I wish I coulddraw like that

Follow the directions, and give it a try!

Keep saying that practice and you could do even better than me. I see from your profile that you are still young.

BRB I love your step by step lessons! I have been admiring your work and would love to participate here. At the moment I am committed to the figure drawing class, but hopefully soon I can follow along drawing one of your portraits with you. I hope you will continue with these portrait lessons a while longer. I think they are a real asset to drawspace and a great help to see a portrait from start to finish. Kudos to you for doing this!

Bob thanks for letting us look over your shoulder while you create your masterpieces...makes my day

Bob she is beautiful ...breath taking .. you are truely an artist that I admire so well
When you start your new one .. start it here so people can veiw all the lessons

Step one.

As I said in my first thread titled, “Before and After”, I study a photo and sometimes make adjustments to the contrast in Paint Shop Pro and then print a copy of the photo on plain printer paper. A high contrast photo is easier for me to see certain lines that help me start the drawing. It also helps me to have the source photo the same size as my drawing.

This photo, of my nephew's daughter Madison, is actually too small, but this is the type of picture I am often asked to draw. Madison is Becca's older sister. Becca is the first portrait I posted in my gallery of drawings.

In the first step I carefully studied the printout. Then I carefully started drawing lines were the light areas meet the darker areas. In this drawing I made the marks inside the dark areas, or the negative space around her face. This allows me to make my marks darker in the beginning with out worrying about getting them too dark. Still, I make my first lines very light.

Then I measured to make sure my lines were in the right place and the right angles. In this instance I was close enough that I only had to adjust my first lines only slightly.

Notice that this is a difficult or unusual angle so you have to keep in mind that you are looking up at her face.

I also included a color picture for those who want to follow in color pencils.

Fantastic finished product, as always

What shading technique do you use Bob. Circular? I notice that you do not blend much, is there a reason for that?

Andrea

I use the shading technigue I think will give me the texture I am trying to represent. On this smooth skin I layered with very light strokes. I almost lay my pencil down and do not use hardly any pressure.

I don't like to blend or smudge. I do blend with the pencil, but I like for the lines to show so I don't smudge a lot. It's just my personal preference. I've always admired artists who let you see how they did their work.

I use circularism when I want that type of texture. For example rough bumpy skin or kinky hair. I don't think I used it here except in the shadow under her chin. Check out the fast sketch I did of Rod Stewart. I did most of his face in circularism.

In Step two I started with the dark areas of the glasses. I also added a few more lines in the hair.

In Step three I located the dark lines in the eyes and the pupils. I also barely sketched the eyebrow and nostrils. I keep these marks light in case I have to erase. If the lines don’t look right I can measure to make sure my eyes are seeing correctly or not.

In step four I continued carefully sketching in the lips and went over all the other areas that I had sketched.

Bob, is the black & white photo the one you already adjusted the contrast of? Did you increase the original to an 8x10?

Judyvan

I took the photo at a distance and cropped it to this size. These two are as large as I can get them. I can increase the contrast and post it. Or if you have a program that will do it you can download the photo and play with it.

bob

In step five I darkened the hair to get my darkest values.

In step six I gently started shading the skin. I laid my pencil down almost parallel with the paper and I didn’t put hardly any pressure on the hb lead pencil.

In step seven, after I got some values in the skin I went back and darkened the hair with the 6b lead pencil.

In step eight I went back to the face and darken the values. I use the hb and 2h. I also do a little smudging with a Q-tip.

In step nine I went to 5b and did more on the left side of her hair.

In step ten I went around touching up places I thought needed darkening.

Hi BRB
I'm thinking about doing that first drawing of the girl.
I've printed all the drawings you did and I will study them.
She's such a pretty girl. It will be hard for me to make her that pretty, but your tutorial will sure help greatly.
Thanks for taking the time to do this. it is apreciated by all, I'm sure.
You are a true artist. Thanks

brb you are such a wonderful artist and a wonderful person for sharing so much information with us. thanks
Lori