How to Draw
Drawing is a basic skill for artists
Portrait Drawing
Introduction
"When drawing a face, any face, it is as if curtain after curtain, mask after mask falls away, until a final mask remains, one that can no longer be removed, reduced. By the time the drawing is finished, I know a great deal about that face, for no face can hide itself for long. But although nothing escapes the eye, all is forgiven beforehand. The eye does not judge, moralize, criticize. it accepts the masks in gratitude as it does the bamboos being long, the golden rods being yellow."
- Frederick Franck The Zen of Seeing
As the quote indicates, the first task we have in doing a portrait is careful observation of your model or photograph. Then you begin to draw.
The first step of drawing the human face is proportions. The basic shape of the front-facing human head is like an egg so start by drawing an egg, small end pointing down. Next, divide the egg in half both vertically and horizontally. The eyes will be drawn on the horizontal line. Divide the lower half of the face; the bottom of the nose will land on this line. Divide the lowest section again; the bottom of the lips will land on that line. Watch the following videos to see how these simple proportions are used...
"When drawing a face, any face, it is as if curtain after curtain, mask after mask falls away, until a final mask remains, one that can no longer be removed, reduced. By the time the drawing is finished, I know a great deal about that face, for no face can hide itself for long. But although nothing escapes the eye, all is forgiven beforehand. The eye does not judge, moralize, criticize. it accepts the masks in gratitude as it does the bamboos being long, the golden rods being yellow."
- Frederick Franck The Zen of Seeing
As the quote indicates, the first task we have in doing a portrait is careful observation of your model or photograph. Then you begin to draw.
The first step of drawing the human face is proportions. The basic shape of the front-facing human head is like an egg so start by drawing an egg, small end pointing down. Next, divide the egg in half both vertically and horizontally. The eyes will be drawn on the horizontal line. Divide the lower half of the face; the bottom of the nose will land on this line. Divide the lowest section again; the bottom of the lips will land on that line. Watch the following videos to see how these simple proportions are used...