Tips and Tricks: Portrait drawing #2 (contd..)

6 - Use hard and soft edges or lost and found edges (The same thing) especially on the outline of a person's face...Lose the line in some places (Lost or Soft edge) and in some places make it harder or darker (Found or Hard edge).

7 - Smudging or blending your pencil or graphite into the paper is ok but don't do it too much otherwise it starts to look mushy. On top of the blended areas, put in a few directional pencil strokes to show the form. ie...If part of a person's face looks as though its curving around like the cheek follow this form with your pencil stokes whichever way the form seems to go.

8 - Point your drawing or painting at a mirror and look in the mirror yourself to see if your portrait is structured properly...You can often see your mistakes more easily this way

9 - Variety is the key to good depth in a portrait so use a variety of tone from the lightest lights to the darkest darks, there is a lot of shades between these two extremes and its this variety that gives you the depth.

10 - More often the eyes are the most important feature in a person's face, make them stand out more than any other part of the person's face by making the darks a touch darker and this will make the lights a touch lighter.

to be contd...