Guidelines for Pencil Portrait Sketching - The 6 Elements of Portrait Sketching

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Sketching in general entails four distinct steps: line, tone, texture, and form. In the special case of pencil portrait drawing we can refine the list of steps to six: form, proportion, anatomy, texture, tone, and planes.

In this commentary we will give a detailed description of each of those pencil portrait drawing steps.

(1) Form Shape or Shape - The illusion of 3-dimensionality in drawing and art in general has been central to Western art for centuries. The carving out of form using line, structure, and tone was essential to almost all Renaissance art.

On the other hand, oriental and lots of contemporary art stress flatness of form although this period in contemporary art is drawing to a close.

All form in drawing can be reduced to four fundamental three-dimensional solids: bricks, cones, cylinders, and spheres. The correct use of these forms together with perspective and tone leads to the illusion of three-dimensionality even though the drawing is, in reality, located on a 2-dimensional piece of drawing paper.

In portrait drawing, the arabesque of the skull, the square structure of the skull, and all components within the skull (nose, eyes, etc.) are all 2- and three-dimensional forms that contribute to the overall illusion of three-dimensionality

(2) Proportion - includes all sizing and placements of form. Proportion refers to the concept of relative length and angle size.

Proportion gives answers to these 2 questions:

1. Knowing a defined unit of length, how many units is a given length?

2. How big is this given angle?

Answering these two questions every time correctly will yield a drawing with the correct proportions and placements of all forms.

(3) Anatomy - refers essentially to the underlying parts of bone and muscle of the skull.

It is important to study as much as you can about anatomy. There are a lot of studies available on anatomy for the artist. For a portrait artist it is really important to study the anatomy of the skull, neck, and shoulders.

Anatomy texts regrettably contain a lot of Latin terms which makes it a bit complicated to grasp. The idea is to study slowly and a little bit at a time because it can be very exasperating.

(4) Texture - in portrait drawing expresses the range of roughness or smoothness of the forms. The texture of a concrete walk way, for instance, is very different from that of a cloud.

There exist several methods and tricks to help you with the creation of the proper textures. Creating textures gives you the opportunity to be very creative and to use every possible type of score you can make with a pencil. In portrait drawing textures appear in spots such as hair, clothing, and skin.

(5) Value - refers to the variations in light or dark of the pencil marks and hatchings. Commanding portrait drawings employ the complete range of contrasting lights and darks. Beginning artists many times fail to reach this full "stretch" of tone, resulting in retiring, washed-out drawings.

(6) Planes - create the sculptural sensibility of a portrait. The skull has many planes each with a different direction and therefore with a different tone.

The idea is to think of the surface of the skull as a set of discrete planes with a certain direction relative to the light source. You should try to recognize each of the planes and sketch its accurate shape and tone.

The accurate handling of planes adds very much to the likeness of your model as well as the illusion of three-dimensionality.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

Do you want to learn the secrets of pencil portrait drawing? Download my brand new free pencil portrait drawing course here: www.remipencilportraits.com/PPDT/pencil_portrait_tutorial.html target="_blank">Remi's Pencil Portrait Drawing Course. Remi Engels is a pencil portrait artist and oil painter and expert drawing teacher. See his work at Pencil Portraits by Remi: www.remipencilportraits.com Visit Please Rate this Article

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