Showing posts with label Draw. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Draw. Show all posts
Top 20 Drawing Tips for Beginners
1 - If at all possible, always draw from life and not photographs.
2 - When drawing, less is sometimes better. Do not attempt to draw every line and detail that you see or you will give your viewer too much information to absorb.
3 - Do not try and get all of the information in your drawing completed at one sitting. Drawing is a process. Layout the general idea of your drawing and then slowly add in your details.
4 - Do not be overly judgmental about your drawing before it is completed. This may cause you to become discouraged and give up.
5 - Do not take on subjects that are too complicated at first. This will certainly cause you to become discouraged if the drawing isn't as good as you expected it to be. Start with simple subjects that you know you can complete and then progress to more complicated ones.
6 - Forget everything you already know about a particular subject before you start drawing it. Draw what you see in front of you and not what you know already about that subject.
7 - Make sure you have excellent lighting. Nothing is more frustrating to an artist than poor lighting. If you can't see you can't draw. If you do not have a well lit room with natural sunlight to work in, then check your local art supply store or search online for full spectrum lighting products that mimic natural sunlight.
8 - Get yourself a pad of newsprint paper. Its very cheap and great for practice and doing preliminary sketches.
9 - Keep your pencils sharp. There are drawing techniques that require a blunt pencil point , but for the most part, you should keep your pencil points sharpened.
10 - Vary the weight of your lines. Use a variety of different lines in your drawing by pressing harder or by lifting your pencil. This may seem like an obvious thing, but when an artist becomes deeply focused in a drawing, they can sometimes forget to use this simple technique.
11- Keep a sketchbook with you wherever you go. Whenever you have a free moment, practice your drawing. It doesn't matter if the subject is a light post, an insect or a garbage pail. The more often you draw, the more observant you will become.
12 - Do not over use smudging and blending techniques to achieve values in your drawings.
13 - Never throw out any of your drawings. Keep a neat portfolio of everything you draw. This is an excellent way to see your progress over time.
14 - Avoid looking at your drawing too often. Make sure you are constantly focusing on the subject and only glancing at your drawing. By doing so, you won't constantly judge your drawing, or think something is wrong or out of place. Focus on the subject and draw what you see.
15 - How to hold your drawing instrument - Hold your pencil in a way that is most comfortable for you. Some hold the pencil just as you would hold a pen or pencil if you were writing. Others hold a pencil with the pencil between the thumb and index finger, with the rest of the pencil resting under the palm of your hand. Whichever method you use for holding your pencil, make certain that you do not hold the pencil too tightly.
16 - Practice the contour drawing technique - This very basic technique is simply drawing the outline of your subject without any shading to indicate form.
17 - Practice the hatching technique - This drawing technique uses a series of parallel lines drawn close together, in the same direction, which gives the appearance of value.
18 - Practice tonal or value drawing - In this approach to drawing we are indicating the various changes of light and shade in our picture without the use of strong edges and lines.
19 - Practice the blind contour drawing technique - Similar to contour drawing, only you do not look at the paper. The point of this exercise is to force you to better observe what it is you are drawing. You should have no concern over the outcome of your drawing so it is important not to peek.
20 - Practice the upside down drawing technique - Drawing upside down is a wonderful exercise to awaken the right side of your brain. When you turn an image upside down, you are making it somewhat abstract and unrecognizable. This forces you to draw what you see as opposed to relying on your memory to draw something.
Ralph Serpe is an artist and webmaster of two fantastic websites for beginner artists. Follow the links that follow for more information: Follow this link now to learn how to improve your drawing with free lessons and tips at CreativeSpotlite.Com... Follow this link now to learn how to draw online at the Creative Spotlite Art Instruction Blog....
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sPGb4UZ5fgCxLBIimrAzmWK32holwIKYNl2hpwdlneQur9IW_ZlrTXhaUfpqi_eBTVAF2-zaa_IdWVHaiMbOsZ9ca83njFlxyVrbQfq-s-MjY3NYNy7LEOPTemBojXQF8YebZfI6GOLjBeNQyBb3xO=s0-d)
Tips to Instantly Improve Your Figure Drawings
Now, that is big! When you are drawing, there are so many different things to think about. The techniques of block-in, contour, shading, and bringing the figure to life, isn't just about the paper and the pencil. It's about your awareness, observation and communication of the awareness through the paper and pencil. I will keep saying this over and over through this article that careful observation can make or brake any figure drawing. As artists, we need to be able to think of many different things while drawing but keep our focus on observation.
Are you remembering to consider gesture while hatching? Are you considering where your light source is coming from while you are shading or shaping your light? Remembering all the little things while drawing figures can be difficult.
Drawing, good drawing, comes down to increasing our observation and attention to our drawing, and of course, practicing.
Drawing the human form comes down to these principles. First, you need to have passion in you and desire to express life and beauty. This is non-negotiable, without it you won't be a great artist. Next you actually have to do it. Next is practice. Practice drawing anyone, everywhere. Draw the people on the bus as you go to work. Draw kids at the playground, draw people in your community or church, or anywhere. Wherever you are there are plenty of drawing opportunities. Take a sketchbook with you everywhere.
Practice drawing quick sketches, gestures, studies, anything you can think of. Have a particular feature of the human form that you tend to struggle with? Are hands tough for you? Maybe a mouth? Draw several studies of the feature you struggle with till you are confident in your strokes and anatomy of that feature. Do as many studies as it takes.
It's wonderful to see your figures take shape and come to life through your pencil. These tips on awareness and study should help. Passion and practice will bring about good skill. Remember that with good observation and careful awareness the door opens for making good art and bringing the figure to life.
Article Source: http://www.articlenorth.com
Todd Harris is a master artist who is currently working as a concept art director for a multi-billion dollar corporation. He is trained in the Florence Academy Method. Learning2draw.com is a resource based website devoted to aspiring artists wishing to master figure drawing. Visit www.learning2draw.com to get tips, tricks, and techniques to master the human form.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tTN9_MQ3_yBEDWSJZsa6A-CmBH3SYGS49APiXO8a16HUJhDqIGLUrrqKTcajUSN12H1Z0LZgMQPvwzXabBhJoMeekaUvr3onf5re8fqgLmyho2qgJkwl1p6_baoGHVDv3G8MLXxR5zS0AEEf5pvVlU=s0-d)
Learning to Draw? You're going to need a Pencil
If you're going to be doing any pencil drawing you're going to need a pencil. I know, I know, thank you captain obvious.... But, in this article I want to talk about some of the different options available.
Here are some of the options:
Mechanical Pencils, Lead Holders, Woodless Graphite, And ofcourse traditional wooden pencils
Mechanical Pencils: You're probably familiar with these. They're the ones that hold the lead (graphite actually) inside and when you push on the eraser more lead comes out. What you may not know is that, like traditional wooden pencils, the leads are available in various degrees of hardness which can be used to achieve lighter or darker tones as needed. We'll talk more about that later.
Lead Holders: These are somewhat similar to mechanical pencils in that you can use various leads with them. But rather than push a button to release more lead, these pencils actually have sort of a claw that grabs onto and holds the lead. Hence the term "lead holder".
Woodless Graphite: These pencils are basically a piece of graphite in the shape of a pencil. There are also some woodless graphite pencils that are encased in a laquer coating rather than wood.
Wooden Pencils: Okay. We all know what a wooden pencil is. It's the yellow one with a pink eraser on top and a number 2 on it. You know, the ones we used to fill in the little circles on our multiple choice tests in school.
Well yes, those are pencils, but a set of good quality drawing pencils comes with a lot more variety than that. All of the pencil types mentioned above come in varying degrees of hardness and are labled with a number and the letter H or B. The pencils labled H are on the hard side and the ones labled with a B are the soft ones. I don't know where the "B" comes from but that's the way it is.
Pencils range from 9H (the hardest) to 9B (the softest).
The number 2 pencils we're so familiar with are right in the middle in terms of hardness. They're equivalent to an HB pencil. If you're just starting out drawing or you're just doing some doodling or sketching an HB or #2 will work just fine for you. But, if you want to get a much more interesting drawing you'll have to have some contrast between lights and darks. If all you've ever drawn with before is a number 2 pencil, the way you achieve your darker tones is simply to press down harder.
But there is a better way. That's where the softer pencils come in. After #2 in terms of softness comes B then 2B, 3B ect. all the way up to 9B. Although many artists never use anything softer than a 6B. With a 6B you can get some very dark tones and it's not going to be as soft and thus crumbly as a 9B.
For the harder pencils, I rarely use anything harder than a 2H and that's usually just for the initial line drawing before any shading takes place. Doing the initial line drawing very lightly allows you to erase any mistakes you might have made. Once your line drawing is acurate, it's time to get the softer pencils out and start shading.
So to wrap this up, if you're planning on getting a little more serious with your drawing you'll want to get a set of pencils. There are some sets out there that have just 4 pencils in them. So if you're strapped for cash this is an option. Pencils are also available individually so you can pick and choose whichever number / letter combo you need.
I prefer traditional wooden pencils for my drawings and my brand of choice is Derwent. They make sets of 12 pencils that range from 4H to 6B or from H all the way up to 9B. And, you can get a set of 12 pencils for about $12 - $15 so it's not terribly expensive to get into drawing.
So now go out, get yourself some good pencils, and start drawing....
About the Author: Adam Valentine is a professional artist specializing in realistic graphite pencil drawing. His work can be seen online at http://www.adamvalentine.com He also has instructional DVDs available for anyone that wants to learn to draw.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vAg-onZF-UT06e4aJFVVAZR9ls0mxKa1WjX-MI-868Jd5bgz9XXTzeCM8cznMGGGisN15ExE3mnjSnVwZ57vYnu18G76v-zTfG_9jvUSUE02RlVCBiveUApIqgSMADgStce36qd5xsg7ALiD8dNdo=s0-d)
Drawing Hands Made Simple, Great Tips to Help You Master Hands
Start with blocking in the hand. Artists do this differently, do it the way you feel comfortable. A quick block-in might look a little like a fisted hand outline, with fingers outstretched.
When you are drawing the hand, you do not have to worry about all of the detail, this will come later. You always want to start with the overall shape and then work the finer details last. Break down the hand with simple shapes.
Then form the fingers. Notice the shape of them and the space between them. Make sure your proportions are correct. Once you have everything in the right position, then and only then, can you begin to refine the hand. Make sure the thumb is in the right position relative to the other fingers. You can use the thumb and pencil method to check these proportions.
Once your block-in or lay in is complete, you can finish with some shading and refining. Draw the main visible wrinkles, shadows, nails and then refine the lines.
Add some rough shading to bring the form out. Then refine with more subtle shading while observing the fine lines of the hands. It's good to know where your light source is coming from so you know where the shadows will fall on each finger.
There are some tips that you can consider when drawing hands that are helpful. First, draw your own hands. Set your hands in various poses and look for how the light falls on them. Next, know what's underneath the hand. Have a good understanding of the structure of the hand from an anatomical view point. This should give you a good understanding and help you with how the shading should be handled.
Start with easier poses and then work on more complex poses as you become more familiar.
Get critiques of your drawings. Feedback is very important when learning to draw anything. Get new perspective from others comments and don't be afraid to try them out.
Lastly, drawing takes a lot of practice. Don't get discouraged if your first few hands don't turn out. You'll get it, with persistence and practice, you'll be mastering hands in no time.
About The Author
Todd Harris is a master artist who is working as a concept art director for a multi-billion dollar company. He is trained in the Florence Academy Method and loves art. Learning2draw.com is a resource web site devoted to aspiring artists wishing to explode their figure drawings to new heights. For more information on how to draw people and faces visit http://www.learning2draw.com. You can also sign up for a free newsletter with hundreds of tips, tricks and techniques of the masters.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_t9AUm4dCzub2R85hA5EF7rIMXbg477g_cBF3tRm0kM2wzLJKcDmen54CkB5KGQSH1kjegRhlCEG0Wefycjeg1fxzW6rAU8VwfzGdcgdlUaJEnjrtuzpL2KEwDCaYQg0rbfZYRa7kETDzQJ_ivzvOA=s0-d)
3 Rules For Sketching Outstanding Realistic Drawings
For novices it is even more difficult, they have to exercise hard to climb a steep learning curve. It's long-familiar that good drawing skills are the result of hard exercising. Instead learning the three most crucial rules of third-dimensional drawing will make things easier for you. They will be a shortcut to better drawing skills and help even experienced artists to pinpoint elements that need a makeover.
So what makes a picture look naturalistic and three-dimensional? There are three rules that contribute to the realistic outlook of your pictures. Each of them has to be understood thoroughly. Collectively they guarantee outstanding outcomes:
* Composition
* Perspective
* Lighting and Darknesses
Composition
Does composition actually contribute to the three-dimensional appearing of your drawings? Naturally! The three-dimensional outlook of any picture is strongly influenced by the relation between the different objects within the picture. You can produce an image consisting of objects that all follow the laws of perspective and have perfect lighting and shadows. But a bad composition will spoil most of the three-dimensional appearance.
There is just one crucial composition rule: let your picture's objects intersect! Frequently I see beginners averting to let elements in their pictures intersect , because they're afraid to mess it up.
Indisputable - if your picture has lots of overlapping parts it is more difficult to depict. There are more shadows and also perspective and proportions of the objects must be much more exact.
That is demanding indeed. Tightly arranged elements in your picture will relentlessly uncover all weak points. On the other side when you manage to get the perspective, lighting and shades right, a closer composition will beef up the three-dimensional appearance.
So have bravery to arrange your picture's elements nearer together. Let them intersect and demonstrate how good you are able to draw them following the rules of three-dimensional pictures.
Perspective
Creating a drawing employing correct perspective is the moment where a bit bit maths comes into play. No need to worry - no complicated know-how, simply drawing some additional lines.
When producing a picture keeping the laws of perspective in mind you ensure that:
* your drawing's elements have the proper proportions and size
* your drawing's elements have the proper deformation according to the distance of the viewer
* your drawing's elements are correlating properly to each other
All this is accomplished by employing one simple rule:
" Objects and parts of them get smaller the further they are away."
This rule cannot be emphasized too much. Once you fail to apply it properly, your drawings will appear warped and awkwardly. So drawing some additional lines will help you to apply this rule properly.
Light and Shadow
The proper lighting and shading is the 3rd vital law for realistic appearing three-dimensional scenes. It's because of the lights in your drawings that shades emerge. And shades are necessary for a realistic appearing drawing - except you depict "gray rainy day" scenes only.
To craft realistic shades there are some rules you have to consider:
* you must recognize where exactly the illumination originates from
* this enables you to find the right size of the shadow
* the right bearing and direction for the shadow
* and the proper silhouette of the shadow
Unluckily realistic dark shades aren't that comfortable to create. But there are some helpful tricks. Just in this moment I'm writing on a tutorial revealing these methods stepwise. It will follow here soon.
About The Author
This is just a draft of my conceptions on how to learn drawing.
You find updates, a comment area and perspective drawing tutorials on my Website.
http://drawingsecrets.com
You find updates, a comment area and perspective drawing tutorials on my Website.
http://drawingsecrets.com
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vlFF6W92eekZeef3jtpQ9rnBTQKSbves8MIWymg3pv95T58zSqFys0pOSk-tQVROYmJUS7BwnmitlgL3iLrQTUrYCrqBEFbynRNglF9xosN9_gszpTSOhbHXWlebL2kaaERJpwY1V8DGaJpN0ziGhK=s0-d)
Children'S Portraits
Let me try to help move some of those stumbling blocks out of your way so you can enjoy and profit from the business of painting children's portraits in watercolor.
1. GET TO KNOW YOUR SUBJECT. The most successful portraits are always those that capture the personality of the child. They show a certain tilt of the head, a smile, or a gesture that's characteristic of the individual. Discovering these special qualities can be accomplished in a very short period of time if you know how to handle yourself during the first meeting with the child. I always make a point of going to the client's home, whether it's down the street or on a buffalo ranch in Wyoming, rather than asking them to come to my studio. While my studio is certainly better equipped and more comfortable for me than the client's home, I need to see the children in their own surroundings: It gives me a more accurate sense of their character and the opportunity to select more meaningful props and background material.
I also prefer going to clients' homes because it makes them feel more at ease. When children are relaxed and comfortable, their expressions aren't strained. It's important for everyone to be cheerful and optimistic during this first encounter, so I talk to the children and reassure them that what I'll be doing will be easy and fun for them. I need to help them get over the fears any person might have--whether young or old--about being painted.
Before I begin making sketches or taking photographs, I walk around the house with the children, asking them to show me their bedroom, favorite toys, and pets. I take mental notes about any repeated expressions or gestures, and I evaluate the possibility of using objects and decorations in the home as props or background material for the painting. No matter where I'll be working, I make it plain I don't want any other family members in the room with me. The "helpful" participation of parents can be an annoying distraction to both me and the children.
Most importantly, I focus on the children and watch what happens. I don't go into portrait sessions with preconceived notions about the poses or props. Children have a wonderful ability to be free and open about the way they present themselves. If I ask them to sit the same way they do while watching television, they're only too happy to oblige. Or when I ask children to show me their favorite "lookout spot" up in a tree, they'll climb up faster than a cat and, without prodding, show me how they can hang upside down. (Just try getting a corporate executive to do that!)
2. MAKE CHARACTERISTIC DRAWINGS. When I travel to a client's home, I carry a hardbound 11"-X-14" sketchbook, a variety of drawing pencils ranging from 2H to 5B, a small pencil sharpener, and a kneaded eraser. The sketchbook is durable and easy to carry, and after it's filled it becomes a record of the many people I've had the good fortune to meet.
When drawing children's portraits, I keep in mind their overall body proportions (as illustrated in Figure 1) and the ways in which they differ from the proportions of an adult. (Figure 1 omitted) For example, the head of a child is bigger in relation to the child's body, and the features of the face dominate the lower haft of the skull. While adult hands and feet are comparable in size to the face, a child's hands and feet are smaller when similarly compared.
I ask my subjects to pose in a well-lit area, and I try to have the natural light coming in from one side of the body to make the shapes and contours of the face more discernible. I need to be at eye level with the children, so if they're more comfortable on the floor with a toy, I sit on the floor with them.
I keep my sketches quick and open-ended, and I like to work on two or three at once. It's unfair to ask children to sit perfectly still, and if they freeze up I run the risk of missing their spontaneous and animated expressions. I draw them from whatever angle is comfortable for them. If one happens to be a real wiggler, there's nothing like a television program or videotaped movie to settle the child down. I often have a couple of videotapes of children's movies in my tote bag for just such an occasion. I used to carry a cast-iron frog named Fred with me, and he almost always guaranteed me twenty minutes of drawing time. As I draw, I add written notes about my client in the margins of the notebook. These notations about personality and special features become invaluable to me later.
There's no way to compensate for a lack of drawing ability--especially when dealing with children's portraits. A quick pencil sketch of posture, hand position, or shading can be the most valuable reference an artist can have when painting. That's why I encourage all my students to enroll in a life-drawing class and attend regularly. The skills you learn will be quickly put to good use when you try to draw a five-year-old who moves even faster than his golden retriever. And when the child's mother asks you to put the retriever in the painting, you'll be especially glad you learned how to draw quickly and accurately!
3. TAKE LOTS OF PHOTOGRAPHS. Even the best-natured children become weary, restless, or downright cranky after posing for a couple of hours. That's why the camera has become an essential tool for almost every artist who paints portraits of children.
There are several common mistakes artists make when taking pictures of children. One is taking the picture with the children too far away from the camera, and the second is taking it from a position too far above them. In the first case, the resulting photographs don't offer enough useful information about the subject, and in the second the figure is totally distorted by the radical angle of the shot.
A third common mistake artist make when taking photographs is not posing children in proper lighting. These pictures turn out either too dark or too light, or there are strange shadows cast by the nose and chin. Using a flash can result in lifeless photographs and, ultimately, lifeless portraits. A flash aimed straight at a child's face will flatten all the features and burn out any delicate color changes. Working from photographs taken by a professional studio photographer can be equally disappointing because the lighting used during the shoot is meant to soften contours and remove color "imperfections," leaving little for the artist to work with.
The best lighting for natural skin color and descriptive contours is soft or diffused daylight; a hazy, slightly overcast day produces soft shadows and is therefore ideal. The light available during either the morning or late afternoon is preferable for outdoor photography since too much sunlight can yield severe shadows and squinting eyes. If I have no choice but to work in the middle of a sunny day, I pose the children in a shady area under trees or a porch roof.
It's important to keep the photo session casual and fun. If I can get the children to play with me while I'm taking photographs, the results will be much more satisfying. I use a 35mm Nikon camera with a standard 50mm lens and Kodacolor 100 film. When I'm working away from my studio, I take along a small Olympus camera just in case something goes wrong with the Nikon. Using both cameras, I take between 70 and 100 photographs, being careful to include profiles, close-ups, and hands. If there's a family pet or a specific background that has to be included in the painting, I take ample shots of that as well. In short, I take more photographs than I think I could possibly use. Nothing is worse than beginning a painting and discovering I don't have enough information to work with.
Occasionally, a client will request a portrait painted from an existing photograph that the family is especially fond of. Frankly, I see little merit in copying someone else's work. I let my clients know I prefer the intimacy and originality that comes from using my own photographs and sketches.
4. KEEP THE COLORS CHILDLIKE. Watercolor has always seemed the perfect medium for children's portraits because of its pristine colors. I organize mine in the compartments of a John Pike palette so I have a choice between a warm and a cool version of each. Here are the tube colors I use most often:
Reds
Warm: scarlet lake or cadmiumred medium
Cool: alizarin crimson or permanent rose
Yellows
Warm: cadmium yellow medium
Cool: cadmium lemon
Blues
Warm: cerulean blue
Cool: phthalocyanine or Winsor blue
Browns
Warm: burnt sienna
Cool: raw umber
In addition, I use lots of raw sienna and yellow ochre for the flesh tones, and I make my darkest values by adding Payne's gray to other colors. There are many suitable colors, but I find the transparent colors best for skin tones since too much opaque color can make skin look chalky and dull.
One frequent mistake made in painting children's skin is using too much blue or gray. The liveliest sense of color is achieved when a harmony of warm and cool colors are used. Remember, however, that blue skin tones become more pronounced when placed next to warmer, rosier tones.
I avoid using dark gray in recessed areas like nostrils, inside the ear, and in the folds of the skin around a smiling mouth. Although these areas appear darker, they're warm tones that are generally not as dark in value as you might think. I paint all the shadow areas of the skin with subtle veils of color, and I consciously avoid the tendency to make them too dark and heavy when working from photographs.
Choosing a suitable background color for the painting can be confusing. When selecting any color for a painting, I consider the focal point and the overall look of the picture and ask myself whether a color would reinforce or detract from that focal point. I often use color swatches I pick up at paint and hardware stores to help me make better choices. I can hold the chips up against the painting to better judge both the color and the value.
5. KEEP THE BRUSHWORK LIVELY. When working on children's portraits, the key is to keep the colors and brushwork as lively, fresh, and spontaneous as the personality you're trying to present. For this, there's no better medium than watercolor. However, fresh and lively colors become dulled and muddied when too many corrections are made. To avoid the common problems of dull and muddy color combinations, overworked brushstrokes, and harsh edges, you have to learn the best way of handling the medium and you have to plan ahead. Let me describe the procedures I've developed during many years of practice.
After meeting with my client, I take my photographs and sketches back to my studio and do some compositional studies of how I might arrange the figure, props, and background in the painting. Regardless of the medium you're using, I recommend making a thumbnail sketch before beginning the finished painting to indicate general masses and values. You may have a good idea about the character of the features, but how much of the figure will you show? What about the hands? What color is the background, and what additional items will be included in the painting? All of these questions (and more) should be considered before the brush touches the paper.
After I've made my thumbnail sketch and settled on a plan, I draw those elements lightly in pencil on a sheet of watercolor paper that I've previously soaked, stretched, and allowed to dry. I produce a fairly detailed drawing on the watercolor paper, putting down all the shapes I see, from the shape of the small highlight on the nose to the shapes in the background. I never work from just one photograph but from several photographs and sketches.
I never project my photographs directly onto the paper, but I often put a sheet of gridded tracing paper over my best photograph of a child's face, draw a corresponding grid pattern on my watercolor paper, and then carefully transfer the lines indicating the outlines of the facial features. This procedure helps me get a better likeness of the child and avoid drawing too many pencil lines on the paper.
I almost always work with the painting surface tilted in an upright position because I find that the pigment settles more cleanly and easily when it's pulled by the force of gravity. I also like being able to step back from the painting and see how it's progressing. Since the finished picture will be viewed from about eight feet away, I make a point of looking at it from that distance as I work.
For portraits I recommend using a paper that can take scrubbing and erasing. Even the best-laid plans sometimes require change. My favorite paper for watercolor portraits is Arches 140-lb cold-pressed paper because of its workable, textured surface and the slightly warm white hue that complements skin tones. Generally, I paint with a one-inch flat and a No. 10 round sable brush. The collection of brushes I use includes some Pro Arte brushes and one Utrecht Giant round.
I begin by painting pale washes of the skin tone and then apply light washes to indicate the clothes, props, and background. If I'm unhappy with the color combinations or placement of elements, I can adjust them at this early stage.
The next three hours of the painting process are the most critical as I move from painting soft wet-in-wet shapes to more sharply defined facial features. Rewetting the paper so my brushstrokes have soft edges and easy transitions between colors, I bring up the values in the face from light to dark. If I paint a feature and it looks too hard and lifeless, I paint over it with a brushload of clear water to soften and blend the edges.
I continue working on the clothing, props, and background--everything in the picture except the person's eyes. I leave the eyes for last since they're the smallest and most crucial details of the portrait. By the time the portrait is finished, I've usually worked for a total of 12 hours over two or three days.
On average, one out of every three or four portraits turns out to be a failure, and I have to tear up what I've done and start over again. I don't hesitate to do that if I have any serious doubts about a painting.
DEMONSTRATION: CHRISSY
Step 1. Here are the photographs and sketches I made while visiting one of my clients. In all of them, I was trying to capture the child's natural gestures and posture while she sat in sunlight outdoors.
Step 2. After photographing and sketching Chrissy, I soaked and stretched a piece of 140-lb Arches paper and, once it was dry, made a light drawing of the figure with a No. 2 pencil. I then painted light washes of color over the entire picture. By keeping the skin tones light at the beginning of the painting process, I can easily make corrections later without sacrificing the freshness of the watercolors.
Step 3. Keeping the paper damp so the shapes I painted would have soft edges, I put down all the lights and middle tones. I made a point of keeping the brushstrokes quick and broad to give the portrait all the vitality of an active young girl.
Step 4. I always save the detailed work of rendering eyes until the last stage of the painting process. I rarely use masking fluid because I prefer to paint around light areas such as whiskers and loose strands of hair.
The completed painting: Chrissy, 1992, water-color, 20 X 17. Private collection.
FIVE TIPS ON BUSINESS PRACTICES
1. CONFIRM YOUR APPOINTMENTS. A few weeks in advance, confirm the portrait sitting in writing and make note of the date and time, the price, medium, and approximate size of the painting, and the deposit required. On the day before or the morning of the sitting, call again to reconfirm the appointment.
2. BE ON TIME. Frazzled nerves created by being late for a portrait sitting can interfere with concentration--both yours and the client's. Timeliness is also important in meeting a delivery deadline. If the family wants the painting completed within a time frame that doesn't work with your schedule, be up-front and tell them you can't meet the deadline. Then tell them when you will have it ready. If the painting is to be given as a gift on a date you can't meet, make up a gift certificate the client can present instead, stating that the portrait will be ready on a specific date.
3. BE FLEXIBLE BUT NOT SUBSERVIENT. Clients have every right to be pleased with the finished product, but don't compromise your integrity. If they ask for something you feel you can't or won't do, offer recommendations of other artists who may be better able to meet their requests.
4. BE OPEN TO CRITICISM. After the painting is completed, listen to any suggestions or criticism offered, even from the child. Clients may not be artists, but they'll pick up on a drawing error or missed judgment call. Many of these points can easily be corrected and then mentally filed for future reference. With every suggestion or criticism made, see the opportunity for growth.
5. LOOSEN UP! Many artists say that accepting commissioned work inhibits their spontaneity. It needn't. If the painting is going badly or the client is unhappy, loosen up and start over. Very often, all that's needed is to schedule another portrait sitting. Few clients remember the inconveniences of portrait sittings when faced with the finished painting of someone they love.
Mary Whyte graduated from the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She has earned a national reputation as both a landscape and portrait painter in watercolor and oils, and her paintings have been included in juried shows organized by the American Watercolor Society, Allied Artists of America, and The Greenwich Workshop in Southport, Connecticut. She teaches portrait- and figure-painting workshops throughout the United States and maintains a studio on Seabrook Island, South Carolina.
ds-dom.ru
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/art-and-entertainment-articles/childrens-portraits-819315.html
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tQ2HrdUCbGxrIReQ3nz81QUZf7EbvsLeXjTEPeipHR1NWDSX1Y8UMIGgj0OcH7waZ-vEqjXklVJeOFVl2oC1jhO-qZkfx5RgJyDqXt3i6qmoTiOcI_RDTnh3g4nGn1P_f4Bwc6_6QLi_T-HJ16HdkK=s0-d)
5 Short Steps to Drawing the Perfect Rose
Paul Wagner, artist and founder of Art Training Intl, serves aspiring artists with simple step-by-step training in How to Draw Multimedia Lessons. Includes an e-book, 15 in-depth video lessons, reference graphics, and access to our complete library resources. Check out how-to-draw-online.com
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vy7FXq-sZqKYuPfXIzopJ16agnLYAK7nSKTWwosOfxOH-507ddf6DeT8gmPjE7ZiMDSKX1FQu588DVjmNVFYtc0vH2qB7rSQnvuJS40fg7B1LReEGcP6PRFo74fRz3cPzjSy8i2vUBnkk0DYs0XDE=s0-d)
How Tor Draw an Impossible Object/Illusion
This video shows how to draw a impossible object/illusion.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uqhQotYtcIeio1IwZaUIu9V2pJxoAWL9Wq-IYnms-JKf8YOT7q5n_W8zgbpoE_9oDbDOvy4OGRhsxlE351xLCzSjmBnKvRP1xTNkALm-J3NwhzZRoto0BrG7SeZKKK81WAmkKOwrtABu3lEZQzMX3S=s0-d)
3 - Artist's Secrets To Learning How To Draw When You Can't Draw Well
You can easily learn to draw. "But..." you will say in reply... "I can't even draw as well as a child at school" In reality it doesn't matter how bad your drawing is...
Let's list a few popular drawing subjects... A Car, A Dragon, A Wolf, A Tree, A Rose or other flowers, A Cat or a Dog, A Lion or a Tiger, A Horse or a Pig
Yes, it's difficult to draw a realistic Car. It's hard to draw a Dragon because they don't exist. And, an animal doesn't keep still unless they are asleep.
So... "How do you draw a picture when you can't draw well?" Here are 3 artist's secrets...
- Use a grid to Copy
- Use clear tracing paper to Trace
- Use a projector to project an image
Even professional artists use any or all of these methods... I have used all of them to produce paintings and drawings. They can't make your drawings look perfect but they are great drawing guides that can help you.
Although you are unlikely to get a perfect copy the 3 methods are great for... Getting an idea of shape and form... Getting drawing layout right (repositioning objects and figures)... Increasing and reducing object size (Scaling)
So... "Where can you use the 3 copying methods...?
Imagine you want to draw portraits of your children as they grow up...
You will have photographs of them from the time they were babies through to leaving school. Why not use one of these photographs to learn to draw?
1. Use A Grid to Copy
Get some transparent graph paper and draw the outline of the face, the nose, the ears, the mouth and eyes.
To draw a picture the same size all you have to do is turn the paper over and draw around the outline with a pencil. To transfer the image to your drawing you turn the paper again to the top side and draw around the original pencil marks.
When you have finished the picture will be copied through to your drawing
2. Easy Image Enlargement
It is easy to enlarge the image... scale up using larger squares... use 10 squares for every 1 original square and you have increased the image size by a ratio of 10 to 1.
3. Use A Projector
Perhaps the easiest way to increase the scale of a photograph is to use a projector, projecting the image directly on to the drawing paper.
These techniques may be considered by some people as cheats... Do you care if they help you learn how to draw what you want?
Get your Free Drawing Lesson and discover how simple lines and circles help you create a Moonscape Drawing.
Michael Dale is the author of 1- Color Is Best (the quick and easy way to learn to paint watercolor) and 3- Colors Are All You Need (mix any color you want fast using only 3 colors). Contact http://www.Paint-And-Draw.com to find out more.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Dale
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vgDgToI_FKm3PBmaIH1azdKaaJ5sCDYos7GWTsR4msQUHCHMbiWvswEFSWluQ5omMyMpr9PN36ZhKWfWYgfuA0bbVSmEvUw7gFP50V2OyNmHCtY5ht293c5s5qWsg3qXvqx7RY5l2lfPnomOx5K7XA=s0-d)
Learn To Draw Cars
Cars could be a really cool subject to draw, especially if you love racing and other sports related to it. Nevertheless, may you be a car fan or not, cars are definitely one good subject to draw. This is because they can be seen anywhere and they could stand still for days and not even move giving you more time to draw its main essence. Here are the essentials if you want to learn to draw cars.
Be Familiarized
To start you should first get some exposure to different kinds of cars. Try to look at different pictures of cool cars. Study their shapes along with the shape of their spoilers. Other than shape take note of their colors and graphics. Try to study how extras features work, like butterfly doors and spoilers. Doing this can greatly help you visualize the way and orientation of how you should draw them on different positions.
Get A Model
You should get a model. You can get a book with car pictures, have a real car to draw or even get a toy car. It all depends on your preference. Although it is tempting to have a number of cars to draw in one picture, it is best to start out with just one at the moment.
Keep It Simple
Start making a sketch of a normal shape of a car. Remember to keep it simple. You can do this by using basic shapes. Create an oval to mark as its windshield, have a trapezoid for its hood, sides, and the passenger area. Lastly, add simple circles as its the wheels.
Add Some Emphasis
Next, start emphasizing your car by adding some pressure on some of your sketch lines. Try employing progressively darker lines. This can thresh out the shapes you’ve just drawn in the previous step. Cool cars have dynamic shapes. They usually have flowing hoods or sharp angular hoods. In most cases they also have pretty small passenger seats. For instance, a corvette usually has large flares on its front wheels. However, if you look closely, you’ll see that these flares are just simple arcs which flow to the hood and up to the passenger area.
Get Cool And Accessorize!
If you want to have a really cool car, then it is a must that you pimp it up by adding graphics and cool accessories. One example would be a spoiler, which looks something like a fishtail. It comes right off your car’s back portion. You can draw this in whatever way you want it to be. However, once you start drawing it, try your best to imagine that the car is moving and the wind is flowing through the spoiler. Draw your spoiler in a way that it looks natural and has the ability to cut through air.
It could also look like a fishtail that is turned on its side to look like as if it was created to push air which forces the car’s nose into the ground. Draw this right from the back. It has to be an angular line which transforms into a quite shallow arc. After this, cup a shape under it that would connect it back into the angular line which attaches to your car.
Draw Some Car Art
If you’ll be drawing racing cars, for sure there are many graphics on it. If so, remember to draw the graphics directly right on your car. This is so that they would wrap around its body. This gives a much natural look.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vef4hI-6eACqFMY8VCMCJBluVBMFeTB1WoT-bPfp9zFB2uzsvx8QBlKNZRp9UV9SQHPFjoqIX_K2A6sVpMBYJJePqRPPxGR7GunQssQwxQ86Ypde5159tSWDpPPY7QQdZ02ASTgfTdRHWLuhBsqngU=s0-d)
Learn To Draw People
Learn Proportion
One of the most common mistakes when drawing people would be the proportion. You should take note of this when drawing. The ideal proportion would be 7 heads tall for a man figure. Here are some of the other important proportions to take note of, all of them are 2 heads long:
1. From the kneecap’s middle to the foot’s bottom
2. The femur’s head to the whole kneecap
3. The elbow’s size to the extended fingers’ tips
4. The collarbone down to the belly button
5. The chest width from each shoulder’s end.
Observation
Other than mastering the skill of proportioning, you should also learn how to observe. You can have a perfect drawing if you learn how to closely observe faces and people. Being able to observe and view correctly could be helpful in your artistic improvement in the long run.
Ask yourself questions such as: Were you able to see the correct outline of your model's eye? What is the thickness of the outline? How about the eyebrows? Is the chin’s positioning at the right place? Did draw the neckline curvier than it should be? Take a look at your drawing. Is it a real representation of what your model looks like? Did you miss something? Take a look again.
Precise observation is needed if you really want to draw people. For you to do this, take some caution when observing.
Express Emotions
For your work to be appealing, it should also express emotions just like real people do. Remember to give extra effort with your figure’s eye brows, eyes, and mouth. These are the 3 areas that you’ll be utilizing to express your character’s emotions.
For instance, if you’ll be drawing eyes, remember that the eye surface is moist and that it reflects light. To achieve this kind of effect, try to add little white dots on the black part of the eyes. Doing this would make your character more appealing and lively.
Start Out Big
The trick to drawing precise figures is that you should start out big. Try to draw the gross parts of the body first. In this way, proportion could be secured. After you’ve drawn the bigger portions of the body, this would be the good time to add the details. So, eyes and other intricate features are to be added on the later part of your work.
Be Environmental
You should also take good note of the environment that your character is in. For instance, if your figure would be beside the window, then you should take note of how light falls upon the body. The lighting would definitely make a difference, especially on the shadings of your drawing.
You should also be able to establish the environment. Is it an indoor or outdoor scene? If it’s indoor, then add some indoor furniture or accessories. If it’s outdoor then place a figure that resembles the outside world, like trees or lamp posts.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tjvmRJ1qCbCGBwkrJAprf6aKsjNeK9TB_CYALsC1aubvW_y_0wpi3FUSMQiixr8_ogP5BvAKssADv-ge3_xxXFdxhdLDArzZC7eNFDKEzbR5CS0mKCOla7U4l2ZvxSudF7QV4plE7EAY1fEtJHzd7Q=s0-d)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
