microsoft word - secrets to successfully drawing faces part0

7/31/2019 Microsoft Word - Secrets to Successfully Drawing Faces Part0

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Secrets to Successfully

Drawing FacesPart 1

Many artists are somewhat afraid to draw faces but when youunderstand that if you use negative space it is not relevant what

subject you are drawing as you actually draw the shape around thepositiveso everything is just a bunch of weird shapes .There may

be some shapes more weird than others but using the format guidesyou no matter what.

Learn to trust Negative Shape!

AnatomyAnatomy is the study of the body. In fact we could be studying the

anatomy of any animal, but in this case human anatomy is ofimportance to us as artists and the reason is that underneath the

skin and muscle are the bones. The bone structure determines whatsticks out (i.e. those areas that will be highlighted) and what areas go

in (i.e. those areas that will require shadow).


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Drawing the Eye

Once upon a time.Adam and Eve were wandering around in the garden of Eden, but asthey where just skeletons, with large hollow eye sockets, they kept

bumping into trees, so God took pity on them and arrived in thegarden to create their eyes.

He popped a hard boiled egg into each of the sockets so that aportion of the egg bulged out of the sockets. God sketched a largedark circle onto the egg surface. (The iris edge is always dark no

matter how light the colour of the iris.) In the dead centre of the iris

he drew a pitch black dot which could become smaller or largerdepending on the intensity of the light. The pupil is always pitch

black unless, of course, you are drawing a blind man, the pupil wouldbe cloudy, and anyway the blind man wont notice.

God placed a round guava pip in the corner of each eye, and to finishthe creation he caused the surface of the eggs and guava pips to

become wet. Now round wet surfaces when exposed to light glistenand look alive, the light strikes and creates a sharp highlight and this

is the life of the eye.


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Always ensure the highlights in the eyes are not forgotten, becauseeyes are the windows of the soul of the portrait and the focal point.

(This is where the observers eye is lead.)

Adam and Eve were still bumping into trees as their beautiful eyeskept falling out of their sockets, not to mention their other organsand insides, so God arrived in the garden of Eden to furnish themwith muscles and skin to keep every thing inside, for which they

were both truly grateful.

However, Adam and Eve were still bumping into trees as theirbeautiful eyes were covered over by a layer of skin and they could

not open their eyes, so God arrived in the garden of Eden with a verysharp scalpel and he cut centre-slits horizontally in the skin over the

eyes. Now why would I tell you this gross story? Well, to shock you

into remembering that the eye lids have an edge an edge that is notpaper thin and which is also wet, the eye lashes grow out of the edgeof the lid slit


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Anatomy of the Human Head

You will need some A4 drawing paper, some pencils of contrastingtones and a ruler. To begin we need to establish our format,

therefore we will study the skull below and once we have the formatwe will not actually draw the skull but draw the shape of the space

around the skull.


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Skull with drawn in shadow areas

Notice inside the skull area, the very over-sized sockets. Look at the

space around the sockets and nasal passage and sketch that shapein. Notice the shadows and their shapes under the cheek-bone and

between the jawbone. Notice the shadow above the chinbone.Now, the teeth are never drawn, the spaces between the teeth are

drawn, run your hand over your own face and notice where thehighlights are, they are where the bone juts out, e.g. the foreheadabove the eye-sockets, the top of the nose and nose-cartilage (notshown in pic above) and the cheekbones upper jawbones and the

chin. The cheekbone and jawbone jut out prominently.

Now, tone the skull using a dark tone for the shadows and a medium

tone for those areas that protrude less and light tone for the areasthat protrude most.


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The Face in ProfileIf you study a face in profile it is very easy to see the areas that go inand the areas that protrude. Notice the areas that protrude and the

and the areas that are sunken.

Drawing the Eye

When we draw the eye we never actually do so because we draw thenegative space around the eye. First, as always, we need to establisha format in order to trap the negative space of the shape around the

eye. Generally it looks like a strange blob-shape to begin with.


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Now look at the shape of the eyebrow as merely a shape and sketchthat in.

Now, look at the shape under the eyebrow and above the eyelid line.Sketch that in.

Now, look at the eyelid as merely a shape and sketch that in.

Now look at the eyelashes as merely a shape and sketch the shape in.


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This is where most people will make their mistake so listen up. Neverdraw the iris as a circle because then you are drawing the iris and notthe shape around the iris. Sometimes the shapes around the iris varyconsiderably from each other in size and shape, so, draw the shape

of the space around the iris, i.e. the white areas.

Now, draw the shape of the space around the pupil so as to ensurethat the pupil is dead centre to the iris. This is vital.

Sketch in the shapes of the highlights in the eyes in the pupil area.

Notice the slit below and sketch in the shape, and then sketch in theshape of the eyelashes below.


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Now, we are ready to tone the eye. Tone in all the dark areas first, letyour darks be dark, be bold and remember that the pupil is always

pitch black and the line around the iris, is always dark and generallythe upper eyelashes are pitch black. The line of the eyelid is always

dark because it goes in, it is like an open roller-door that has

retracted leaving a definite edge.

Now tone the medium area which will be where the skull goes in, e.g.behind the eyelids and under the socket areas. Leave all the

highlighted areas as paper, specially the highlights in the eyes asthey are the life of your drawing.


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Peoples Faces are not Symmetrical

When drawing two eyes one cannot duplicate or replicate the one eye

on the other side as our faces are not identical on each side, in fact,they are completely different and if you were to compare them, one

side is very square and masculine and the other side is more roundedand femine and often the size of the features like the eyes are

radically different. So rely on negative space.

Original face Right sides Left sides

Original face Left sides Right sides

Original face Right sides Left Sides


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Drawing Two EyesUsing Coloured Pencil Crayons

To begin, as usual establish your format.

Now, look at the shapes of the spaces of:a) the forehead;b) the eyebrows;

c) the triangular shape between the eyebrows;e) the shape of the space between the eyebrows and the eyelid line;

f) the shape of the eyelids.


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Now continue drawing the eyes as you learnt in our first exercise

drawing the eye in pencil.

Using coloured pencil crayons and as before, tone the darkest tonesfirst then the medium tones, leaving the highlights as paper. Because

we are now using coloured pencil crayons, you need to be overlycautious and protect your highlight areas as a mistake could provefatal because once your highlights are gone there is no life to the

eye.


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How to UseColour Pencil Crayons

One can achieve a very high level of definition using colour pencilcrayons and the finish can be graphic and dramatic. The reason is

that a wonderful colour range is achievable, depending on thepressure placed on the pencil.


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If you press lightly you get light tones. If you press with mediumweight you get medium tones. If you press heavily you get

beautiful rich dark colour tones as you can see in the pictureabove. (This is also possible using standard pencils.) In addition

you can use different colours and overlay them onto other colours

for wonderful effects and if you have a set of Aquarelle or water-soluble coloured pencil crayons you can even paint using a brush

and clean water to complete the picture.

Water-soluble coloured pencil crayons are the very best medium ifyou are travelling as all you need is your pad and pencils, and theask the air hostess for a glass of water and you can play for hoursand achieve some extremely graphic masterpieces. Do not expect

coloured pencil drawings to be quick as they require time and

patience but are incredibly rewarding.

microsoft word - secrets to successfully drawing faces part0

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