Drawing Tutorials Online | Drawing Tutorials Online Blog

Portrait Painting Critique

by Matthew | Sep 11, 2018 | Video Critiques | 7 comments

Yvon is a current member of Drawing Tutorials Online. I recently critiqued her acrylic portrait painting. The main suggestion was to utilize the line that separates the light from the dark. In essence blocking in the shadow shapes.

Without shadow shapes a portrait can become quite flat. In this particular case Yvon chose pretty amazing photo reference. If you have trouble with seeing the shadow shapes try squinting. When you squint you eliminate the small details and focus on the big light and shadow shapes.

The other main suggestion was to work with a limited color palette. Yvon had asked about using transparent tones.

My suggestion with paint, use translucency in the shadows, opacity in the lights. This will help to create form and depth.

Take a moment to check out the video below. It will definitely give you some useful painting tips.

If you are looking for feedback on your artwork, I’m here to help. I devote every single Monday to critiquing member artwork. Through the use of Drawing Tutorials Online weekly critiques you will improve faster. You will know what to start looking for.

Sometimes we can get too close to our own artwork. Another set of eyes is always helpful. Thanks for sharing Yvon!

Portrait Drawing – Lesson Twelve

by Matthew | Sep 4, 2018 | Drawing Tutorials | 3 comments

In this last lesson twelve I share with you how I finish up the portrait drawing. The one key takeaway from this last lesson, good things take time.

Now please don’t take this out of context. Some of my favorite drawings are ten minute gesture drawings. What I’m talking too here is in direct relation to a style associated with drawing in a realistic way utilizing tone.

If you like a drawing style that is somewhat realistic you have to put in the time. An hour just won’t cut it. So know what you like, know what you aspire to. Be realistic with the time it takes to get there. This quite frankly is half the battle to creating a realistic looking portrait.

Thanks so much for taking the time to watch these lessons. I’m currently working on a new portrait drawing course. I hope to share that with you soon.

Portrait Drawing – Lesson Four

by Matthew | Aug 31, 2018 | Drawing Tutorials, The Blog | 1 comment

Okay great you have made it to lesson four. Once you have taken the time to get the basic shape of the head with a light middle tone it’s now time to dive in deeper. In essence you have basically drawn big shapes, then drawn smaller shapes within the big shapes.

Start progressing into refining the features of the face, getting a bit more aggressive with a darker middle tone.

You can accomplish this by looking more at the photo reference than you look at your drawing. You also will want to have a value scale nearby to ensure that you are using the proper value structure. Not too dark, not too light.

You will also want to start adding more value to the shape of the hair as well. This will really start to balance your drawing out.

Thank you so much for watching. I appreciate you taking the time to watch these portrait drawing tutorials

If you like this style of drawing definitely consider a membership to Drawing Tutorials Online. My main goal for the website is to help members create better art, period. Learning through well thought out courses as well as getting your portrait drawings critiqued will help you to improve in a much faster way.

Portrait Drawing – Lesson Three

by Matthew | Aug 28, 2018 | Drawing Tutorials, The Blog | 3 comments

In this lesson three I share with you the importance of adding shapes within shapes and refining edges.

One you have established some basic shapes it’s then time to add smaller shapes within the big shapes. For instance once you have drawn the eye socket shape it’s time to place the eye within the eye socket shape.

You will want to see the eye not as an eye but as a series of shapes. For instance the white of the eye is a triangle. The iris is a rectangular shape etc.

Work on refining the edges of each shape. It’s the edge of each shape that will enable you to get a likeness

I see too many artists ignore the quality of the edges in their drawings. Trust me I know, I was one of those artists. I used to have way too many inconsistencies in my edge quality. In this particular portrait drawing the model’s profile edge is a major component in achieving a likeness. Draw the edges correctly and you will most certainly achieve likeness.

I want to thank you for taking the time for watching the portrait drawing tutorial above. I will be creating many new portrait drawing courses this Fall. If that sounds interesting to you definitely take a moment to check out Drawing Tutorials Online.

Now get out there and draw something that you love.

Portrait Drawing – Lesson Two

by Matthew | Aug 28, 2018 | Drawing Tutorials, The Blog

In this sped up drawing tutorial world that we see on YouTube and Instagram we tend to forget that a good drawing takes time. It really takes time for me. A fourteen minute video clip up is basically a nano second in my drawing world.

It’s really important that you figure out what about drawing makes you happy. For me it’s all about sitting in my studio and creating something worth while. I love rendering for hours with a pencil while listening to music and drinking good coffee. I also get satisfaction from doing a five minute gesture drawing from life.

However long drawings are where my passion is. What about you, what part of drawing makes you happy? Once you figure that out you are on your way to drawing success.