How to draw a portrait with a pencil? Helpful Hints

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The ability to draw often helps in various situations. For example, you can express your idea in a drawing. Artistic skills allow you to work creatively. Also, this activity helps to cope with stress, forget about problems. Moreover, you can learn this at any age, and give the work to your friends and family. For example, if you know how to draw a portrait with a pencil, you can make an album of the events of your life, imprint images of your beloved and dear people on paper with your own hands.

Face proportions

In order to know how to draw a portrait with a pencil, it is important to take into account the proportions of the face. There are several standard rules for drawing main lines:

• The front part of the head is conditionally divided into three parts, while the following levels can be distinguished (they are at the same distance): the line of the beginning of hair growth, eyebrows, tip of the nose and chin.
• The length of the ear is taken equal to the distance from the level of the eyebrows to the tip of the nose.
• The width of the mouth is approximately equal to the segment between the centers of the eyes. The level of the mouth is at a distance of 1/3 of the gap between the lines of the chin and the tip of the nose (this valuepostpone from the organ of smell).



• The size of one eye is taken as 1/5 of the width of the oval.
• The width of the nose should be equal to that of the eye.

Highlights

In order to learn how to draw a portrait with a pencil, you can use the following information:

1. First you need to draw a circle. Then turn it into an oval, expanding it by about 1/3 of the part.

2. Mark the centerline and levels of the eyebrows, eyes, chin, tip of the nose and the beginning of hair growth using the information above.

3. The eyes can be defined by dividing the width of the oval (along the straight line where the organ of vision is located) into 5 parts.

4. The nose is drawn by laying down lines (parallel to the center) from the inner points of the eyes. The width of the nose (as mentioned above) at the bottom will be equal to the size of one eye. You can immediately outline small details, such as bends, depressions, and so on.

5. Outline the ears and hair.

Applying finishing lines

After completing the basic contours of the face, you need to make the drawing alive. To do this, round the shapes. Here is information for those who want to know how to draw a portrait with a pencil. It is necessary to take into account all the details regarding the anatomical structure of the face. Thus, the eyes narrow towards the outer edges more than towards the inner ones. You also need to mark the line of the cheekbones and cranial bone, jaw.

Usually pictures,Pencil portraits are characterized by the use of shadows and light. These elements are performed using hatching. Also, by these means, the volume of the form is achieved. When applying strokes, you must follow these principles:

• The pressure on the pencil should be the same.
• Darker areas can be done by applying opposite strokes.
• Hair lines are best done in one direction, gradually strengthening. This can be achieved by swiping the pencil several times.
• The picture should have highlights (places where light is reflected). To do this, leave unshaded gaps. It is important to consider that the direction of the light must be the same, that is, it cannot be such that the glare is both on the right and on the left.

Helpful tips

Before you draw a portrait with a pencil, it will be useful to know the following information:

• paper should be rough as too smooth surface will not accept graphite;
• you can draw both with a simple pencil and with an automatic one (better to have a set);
• basic contours are best applied in thin lines, while you can use harder leads;
• better start with a still image, such as a photograph or other portrait.

Tracing other drawings will allow you to gain skills, gain experience. You can start by performing individual elements (mouth, eyes or ears), achievethe best performance of each part separately. Good luck in your work!