Drawing Tuneup - A Portrait Drawing

The Drawing Workshop

Linda has been drawing for less than a year, and is justifiably proud of her drawing of niece Tegan, which she says is her best effort yet. I feel Linda has really caught the character well, and found it difficult at first to pinpoint specific problems with the drawing. In each area, good progress is being made - the eyes have highlights, as does the hair, and the basic proportions are correct. There are a few problem areas:

• Slightly limited tonal range - try to work on a full range of darks
• Stringy hair - don't use a pencil line to represent a hair
• Slight errors in placement of features - if you are using a photo, tracing key points is fine. (can you judge fractions of an inch by eye?)
• Lack of information from the photograph - Filling in details, like the collar, from imagination is pretty tricky. Ask the subject to sit briefly for you so you can draw it from life.

Here is my drawing from the same photo:

I'm not entirely happy with the drawing, which is a little elongated compared to the photo. If my printer was working, I would have traced the key points! Like Linda I've guessed the structure of the collar with limited success. I've kept the hair simple, looking at the main structure, using pencil strokes to give texture, but being a small sketch, avoiding too much detail. Also note how the highlight of the lip blends into the skin tone avoid outlining, looking closely at the actual tone in the picture.

Portrait Tips:
• Tracing isn't cheating. "There are no rules, only tools." - Glenn Vilppu
• Choose a large, clear photo, and preferably have others for reference, from different angles.
• 'Halos' of tone are difficult to get right. Either draw the full background, or leave it white.
• To find out more about portrait drawing techniques:
• The Structure of the Head
• How to Draw Hair
• Drawing Eyes
• Tonal Drawing (Shading)

~Helen South