How to Draw People

How to choose the right paper...

Paper is something that is everywhere. Literally, it is all around us. Paper titles give us direction on what their function is. For example, "tracing paper" is used for tracing. Typewriting paper that is inexpensive can serve as good practice paper, pads of newsprint as well. But let's take a look at what makes a good paper for figure drawing.

Paper can be a great resource to your figure drawings. Learning how to draw people can actually be easier if you start with the right kind of paper. As you experiment with different textures, you'll see different effects come through in your drawings. So, let's learn about textures of paper to help you in your figure drawing endeavors.

Finding the Right Texture

Textures are rated as rough, medium, smooth or glossy. Rough paper will hold more graphite or charcoal than smooth paper. This means that drawings will contrast more between the lights and darks. This texture also produces a more grainy outcome in your figure drawings. On smooth paper you need to use soft pencils if you want to create dark values but be careful...soft pencils smear easily and you'll want your eraser close. Smooth surface paper creates another problem as well, it makes the graphite look shiny when it's laid down.

Experiment

Part of learning how to draw people is finding what works best for you. Experiment with different grains and tones as well as weights of paper to find what works best for you.

My Favorite Paper for Drawing People

I personally like to draw on a medium grain paper that has enough grain to keep me from getting too detailed. I like to use a good Strathmore or Roma, but like I said, part of the fun is finding what works best for you.

How to choose a pencil for figure drawing

There are many different types of drawing tools when it comes to learning how to draw people. In this article we are going to take a look at pencils. Drawing pencils come in various types of different leads. There are very soft leads to very hard leads in pencils. Pencils are a great tool for figure drawing and it's extremely important to get very familiar with the different types. The harder a pencil is, the thinner the lead and also, the grayer the line.

Different Types of Pencils:

Vine Charcoal

So let's start with vine charcoal. It is a great option because it is subtle and it also erases very well. I should mention briefly here that kneaded erasers are a great option for erasing. Back to vine charcoal...It is ideal for the initial lay in of your drawing. Using a light touch for laying in, vine charcoal can be completely erased. This will allow you the freedom to adjust your drawing and make corrections to the drawing very easy. The vine charcoal allows you to stay fluid in your drawing so that you can make changes simply.

New Pastels

New Pastels are great to work with. I like to work with Conte because they are not as oily as some of the other pastels. New pastels need to come with the caution that they are not easy to erase. Because of this you need to be more careful. After you lay in with vine charcoal you may want to go to new pastels because they will give you good control and value range.

Graphite Pencils

Finally, let's talk about graphite pencils. They are labeled H for hard and B for soft. The higher the number in front of the H, the harder the lead. The hardest lead is going to be a 9H. The higher the number in front of the B, the softer the lead will be.

I personally don't like to draw with graphite pencils because i feel they are too shiny. There is an exception to this, rough sketches. I don't mind using graphite pencils for these. Use the side of the graphite pencil for line variation and remember to experiment. My suggestion for pencils are: Sanford Ebony Jet Black extra smooth, Vine charcoal, and New Pastels.

Final Points:

Play around and experiment with different types of paper and pencils and find what works best for you. There is a winning combination out there that will work best for you while learning to draw people.

Also, for those who need help with learning how to hold a pencil correctly for drawing and sketching, click here.

How to Draw Anyone and Make it Look Like the Person!

Drawing Faces So They Resemble the Person You Are Drawing

Faces are a hardthing for some artists to draw correctly. There are some specific things you can do as an artist that will help you actually achieve a likeness to the person you are drawing. Artists have a hard time achieving a likeness to the person or model they are sketching. Some would argue that the face is the hardest to master. With a few basic techniques you will begin to understand that you can master the human face and that it is quite possible.

When drawing faces, there are several mistakes that artists often make. This is where seeing correctly translates into drawing correctly. The first is to draw a circle or an oval and then stick a nose in the middle of it. Beginning artists often make this mistake. You will see as you come to observe people that your eyes are actually closer to the middle of your face than your nose.

If you are drawing a model, you can use the measuring and proportion technique that artists term thumb on pencil. This will help you check your proportions.

Mistakes to Avoid

You will see that proportions on peoples faces differ and are as individual as their personalities. For instance, eyes generally line up with the top of the ears but we have all seen people whose ears seem to be a little higher or lower on the head than others. Realizing these differences can help you achieve the likeness of the person you are drawing.

General proportions for artists drawing heads and faces are found everywhere. They are good to use as a guideline but are just that, a guideline. When you are drawing faces, the smallest details can make or break the likeness of the portrait and can change the whole outlook of the drawing.

The mouth, eyes, and nose are some of the areas to look for those subtle differences and what makes a person an individual. Does the mouth edge tip up or down? Is the nose straight, an uppy? How are the crow feet by the eyes?

Practice, practice, practice...Do I have to?

Practice, practice, practice. This old adage says a lot. If you are having a problem with a particular part of the face, don't be afraid to practice it over and over again. This may seem mundane but it will really help you achieve a likeness.

Sometimes artists will try and exaggerate particular characteristics of a person's face, such as their eyes. Be careful not to do this or you'll end up with something that looks nothing like the person you are drawing. Unless you are drawing caricatures, stay away from this.

Quick Note on How to Draw Hair

Lastly, a quick note on hair. Make sure that you treat hair as a mass. Never ever draw each individual strand. This is a beginner's mistake that often ruins a drawing quicker than anything. Hair can really change the outcome of the drawing so pay particular care to this feature.

These tips will help you in your drawing endeavors achieve more likeness to the model or figure that you are drawing.

Step one: Choose your subject matter:

In this case it was a girl's face, Natalie Portman actually. I was interested in her subtle expression and how the shadows and light fell across her face.

With this in mind I began to lay down my first construction lines being careful to have these first lines indicate the subtle tilt of her head and general placement of her features.

Step two:

A further refinement of the placement of the features being careful to focus more on placement of the features in relationship to each other than the accuracy of the drawing of the features themselves.

Avoid detail at this stage because you might have to move an eye or lower the mouth. If you are trying to convey likeness you must accurately place the facial features in relationship to each other.

The varieties of facial features that allow us to distinguish one person from another are often very subtle and require careful observation. So keep your drawing fluid enough to move things around while you focus on these relationships.

Don't worry so much about the correct shape of the eye, first make sure you have put the eye in the right place.

Step three:

Begin to find shadow shapes try to find the simplest shape (use asfew lines as possible to define these shapes) that corresponds to what you see.

At this stage, if the features are in the right place, begin to find the shapes of say, the eyes, nose or mouth that makes your drawing look like the real person. Avoid generalizing the features, don't just draw an almond shape for the eyes, every one has a unique shape to their eyes. If you find this distinguishing shape and put it in the right place in relation to the other features, your drawing will look like that person.

Step four:

Adding tone to clarify shadow shapes will help you to more accurately measure to see if you have things in the right place.

Keep you tones light because you might have to erase them if they are in the wrong place but make a sincere effort to put them in the right place the first time, don't just do a stab in the dark.

If you are wondering where to place the mouth, for example, find comparisons of distances from the features that you have already placed. See more on proportions by clicking here.

Step five: adding detail:

This is based on the assumption you have every thing in the right place and have captured the likeness of the person you are drawing.

Adding detail is the least important step because it will not matter how well you execute this step if you have inaccuracies in the previous four steps, no amount of adding detail will fix your drawing.

And yet, even now while you think you have got it right you may notice something wrong with your drawing. Don't panic, you can still fix things; hopefully you have kept your lines soft and light enough so that you can do this easily.

You will notice I made this mistake with Natalie's left eye, I put it too wide on her face and had to move it over in the subsequent level of refinement. I would have been better off to catch this mistake before I started adding this much detail.

Step six and seven:

Now I feel pretty good about my placement and feel I have captured her likeness. So, I can now with confidence, add the finishing touches. In this case, some white pencil to bring out the light shapes on her face. Be careful to not overdo this, less is more when adding the finishing touches of white chalk or pencil.