Learn Pencil Portrait Drawing

Portraits drawn using a pencil are simple yet elegant. Many people love to commission a portrait of their faces, and you can certainly earn a lot of money if you can master this skill. In order to learn pencil portrait drawing, you must allocate enough time to read and watch tutorials, do your research, or attend art classes. You must have the passion and desire to learn how to create a beautiful portrait with the use of your pencil.

Importance of pencil brand

The brand of pencil you will use for drawing a portrait is crucial to the result of your task. Remember that using low quality pencils can jeopardize what you want to achieve. Invest in expensive artist’s pencils not only for their durability, but also for your convenience in drawing. And in the long run, expensive pencils can last longer than cheap ones. This is actually cost-effective, if you really think about it.

Basic stages of pencil portrait

Before we dive into the steps of drawing a portrait using a pencil, let us look into the three basic phases of the drawing process.

• Draw lines in order to organize the proper positioning of sections of the face, and to measure the accurate proportions of every facial feature.
• Shading is crucial to produce the perfect tones and shapes of the face.
• Refine the portrait tones so you can blend all the facial elements.

Steps in drawing a portrait

Drawing is not easy at first, but it can get easier with a lot of practice. There is no one hundred guarantee that every tutorial for drawing a portrait using a pencil will work for you. But it is good to have a guide than start with nothing. In this post, we provide a general guideline on how to draw portraits.

Choose a reference photo

Before you go ahead and draw a portrait on a live person, you should practice drawing using a reference photo. Choose the most suitable photo that you can find, or you can use a photo of someone close to you. And if you want, you can practice on your own portrait.

Organization of the facial features

Use lines to create an even proportion of the face. It is better to make sections on your paper than redo your work later on because the proportions are wrong. Do not worry, you can always erase the drawing lines once you get the right positioning of all facial features.

Pay attention to the eyes

You need to know that when people looks at a portrait, they start scrutinizing the eyes first. The eyes of your portrait must contain all the feelings and emotions of the subject. If the eyes are not expressive enough, your audience will lost interest immediately. So you need to give high emphasis on your eye drawing.

Drawing of the mouth

Second to the eyes, the mouth is the most expressive feature of the face. The mouth can make or break your portrait, so make sure that draw the mouth perfectly. Apply the right shading and tone, and you will see how the mouth looks alive.

Drawing of the nose

The easiest facial feature is actually the nose. It does not require a display of emotion or feeling, and you can draw it according to what you see. But, even though the nose does not convey emotion, you still need to make sure that your portrait has the best nose.

Drawing of the ear

The ears come in different shapes and sizes. It is important that you study the ears properly so you can portray it excellently. Remember that every ear is unique to the owner, and you should always make sure that you get the right proportions for the ears.

Drawing of the hair

It is not easy to draw the hair. It is complicated, and it can actually be exasperating. No matter how perfect the whole face is in your drawing, your portrait can still look uninteresting and dull if you cannot get the hair right. Though it is impossible to draw individual strands of hair, what you can do is strategize a few sections to create distinctive strands. It is vital to make some strands stand out in the hair area to give realistic view of the face. And remember, the hair can significantly change the appearance of your subject. Try different lengths and styles of haircuts, and see how one face can have different variations due to the hair.

Shades and shadows of the portrait

Now it is time to finalize your portrait. Use your high quality pencil to draw shadows and shade the necessary areas. Create highlights on the portrait, and finish your drawing.

Practice

Successfully drawing a portrait with the use of a pencil does not make you a master of drawing portraits. You need to practice many times until you are ready to move on to the next photo.

Live person

Once you have mastered the art of portrait drawing through referencing to photographs, you can graduate from that phase and start drawing live subjects. You can ask a family member or a friend to pose for you, though it takes patience to pose for someone. But if you are more comfortable with of working with photos, you can take a photo of your subject. Use the captured photo to draw your subject for as many times as you can, until you are completely satisfied with the result. And then practice some more, and start drawing portraits of other people.

Final say

Portraits are essential portrayal of an artist that speaks genuinely about the personality of the person. You need to master the art of portrait drawing before you make a career out of it. Bear in mind that you can easily praise or insult a person by the way you draw a portrait. Make sure that you capture the true essence of your human subjects. You can do that by getting to know them.