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I have a bit of trouble figuring out the stages in pencil drawing
I drew a LOT in my childhood and youth, but later forgot about it. My skills and my patience is pretty much gone. I look at my old drawing and wonder, did I really make that? Damn. But I'm slowly trying to get back in the game.
I know how to get the outlines in place first, but I'm unsure how to go about the shades of grey. Some instruction online suggest that you concentrate at one area at the time. Others seems more like you're supposed to start out with the brightest shadows and slowly move towards softer leads.
Does any of you have some kind of structure here?
I achieved this drawing with the second method you mentioned, where you outline, then shade from lightest to darkest. I like to outline the edges of the shadow veeeeery lightly and fill it in lighter than it should be. Then outline the darker area, shade that, and keep going until I have all the different shaded areas. Then I'd go back and darken the ones that need adjusting. You probably already know this, but you can always go darker, but you can't go lighter (at least not easily).
https://imgur.com/a/YYNerLf
Thanks, the tones looks pretty good in that one! I think I'll give it a try. I was just sort of hesitant because it sounds a bit tedious, going over the entire drawing with a H pencil except the lightest areas. But I'll dive into it, see what it feels like.
I think thats the only way to do it.
I played with portrait drawing over covid, never done it before, and this was one of my better ones. https://i.imgur.com/sKbZuVt.jpeg
Exactly as you said, started with an outline and then slowly added more shading as I went, eventually getting to the very dark, pronounced lines on the eyelashes. On this one I also experimented with using a white pencil to actually put some reflection on the nose and ears but it was a bit too much.
Honestly Ive watched some of those 'artists' on instagram who have posted their portraits and Ive picked out a few who are 100% faked. I find it VERY hard to believe that an artist can fully complete one section at a time and draw a consistent tone and shading while working down the drawing from top to bottom one section at a time. But it IS easy to take a photo, shop it into a pencil drawing and then erase most of it and pretend you've drawn it like that.
Maybe Im too skeptical but it just doesnt make sense to draw that way. Like if Im drawing the eyes Im constantly comparing them to each other and then to the mouth and the nose to make sure they are all still in proportion and aligned properly. If I was fully drawing an eye to completion that would be impossible.
The grid method you're referring to is exactly how Chuck Close made his hyper realistic portraits.
The grid method allows the artist to keep everything in proportion and lined up as they go. The ones Im referring to have no grid, they just appear to start at one corner and draw a fully completed section at a time to the bottom which I find incomprehensible exactly because there is no reference on where to place the features. Like this: https://i.imgur.com/y0sVPWN.jpeg
Holy shit yeah I see what you mean now.
It's a bit of a tangent because they're not realistic portraits, but the latter is how Kim Jung Gi drew his drawings and it's absurd to watch
https://youtu.be/MGbvhyTZXfs
He's very talented. Thats an impressive drawing!
If want to go the Skillshare route instructor Bret Eviston has a great (and long) course on “The Art & Science of Drawing”. It does focus more on traditional instruction but it was just what I needed to restart my drawing practice after 20 years.
Edited to add with more time to reply: this is proper instruction from an actual teacher of fine arts and not someone on social media. It goes from “you’re holding your pencil wrong” to how to properly draw (you work on the drawing as a whole not one part at a time, etc.), see things with an artists eye all the way to more advanced figure drawing classes. You will learn volume, perspective, shading, line quality and a bunch of other stuff you need to learn before you can do a realistic drawing. Something like a realistic portrait is super advanced work and you will need the basics in place and a lot of practice - a portrait would be months down the line from class starting, most likely.
I thought I knew how to draw from years of it but what I learned was self taught and/or generic school classes. This course basically throws all of that out the window because it was incorrect.
Started on Bret Eviston at Skillshare and loving it! Thanks for the recommendation. (just did the scrub jay drawing, but somehow managed to make the legs turn the wrong way. I though I was smart when I first looked at the bird and took written notes, then put it away and started drawing.)
Oh, that's neat to hear that my recommendation was good and you're enjoying his class!
Are you primarily working in graphite? If so, you will definitely have to get used to building up your values gradually.
As far as the techniques you mentioned, it may just be down to your own preference after experimenting with both. I would suggest buying or making a card for finding the value of an area. They go by several names like "grayscale finder" or "grayscale value card." It will help you isolate the value of an area. Divide your subject into large planes of similar values and concentrate on getting each area close to the value in the finder. You'll end up with a not very good blotchy drawing, but if you squint you'll be able to see something happening. After you get those blocks of value down, start blending their borders together with a stump. I'm not sure what they are called in Danish. The French call them tortillons I think.
I admit I'm not a very good instructor. My main advice would be to not worry about detail until you get your tones down.