Why Are My Portrait Drawings Flat?

Why Are My Portrait Drawings Flat?

by | Jun 21, 2017 | The Blog, Video Critiques | 2 comments

Recently Maria, a member of Drawing Tutorials Online, posted up a portrait drawing for feedback. Her main question, why is the drawing flat?

First off I want to thank you Maria for presenting this awesome teaching opportunity. There are many reasons why a portrait drawing can look flat. Let’s touch on four of them.

  • There is no background tone. With no tone in the background you have no foreground and background. Thus your portrait drawing is just sitting on white paper. Plus a tone or gradation placed in the background can provide you with an opportunity to soften the hair’s edge. Soft hair equals depth.
  • There are no gradations within the skin tone. When you have no shading from the light side to the dark side of the face your portrait drawings will look flat. There is most likely always a light hitting the model. If there is a light source there is definitely a gradation from side to side or top to bottom. Including gradations with create much more three dimension in your portrait drawings.
  • There are too many outlines. Line is awesome. However line alone can be flat in some cases. Drawing with a consistent outline will almost always create a flat outlined look. Combining tone with line promotes much more dimension.
  • There is no modeling with tone. Yes you can model with line. However modeling with line and tone is much better for creating dimension. What exactly are you modeling? You are modeling how light hits the form of the face. Understanding how surface planes work is super important. Understanding how to implement the modeling factors is vital as well.

I want to thank you so much for watching this video critique. If you are looking for a critique on your work just like this one consider a membership to Drawing Tutorials Online.

Our critique gallery is a kind nurturing place for you to learn and grow fast.

Thanks again for watching. Questions or comments, I would love to hear from you! Leave a comment below.

Why Are My Portrait Drawings Flat?
Understanding How To See Surface Planes

Understanding How To See Surface Planes

by | Jun 5, 2017 | Video Critiques

Understanding form is paramount when trying to incorporate three dimension into your figure drawings. We have a pretty cool lesson for members of Drawing Tutorials Online in our Begin Here Step By Step course titled, you guessed it, “Understanding Form”.

I really enjoyed creating this lesson. It brought me back to my George Bridgman days. I’m a big fan of Bridgman. Studying his books over the years has really helped me to understand form.

However trying to see, then draw form from looking at the figure is a whole other can of worms. It’s super hard for a lot of artist to see the exact location of where the front plane meets the side plane. Not to mention all of the layers including shallow ovals.

Hopefully in this video critique you can see how I start to map out the surface planes on this models body. If you struggle with this always try to draw from a model that has form light. Yes you should be able to see surface planes in front light, but form light is best for this exercise.

If you need both feedback and photo reference we are here to help you.

Consider a membership to Drawing Tutorials Online. You can post your art up for a critique and download our figure photo reference!

 

I’d love to hear what you have to say about this video critique. Leave a comment below!!

Thanks for watching.

Do You Draw With Too Much Detail?

Do You Draw With Too Much Detail?

by | Jun 3, 2017 | The Blog, Video Critiques | 2 comments

Have you ever looked at your drawings and something seemed not quite right? The drawing was beautiful but a touch flat. I know I certainly have. Both my paintings and drawings had a flat look at one time.

After many years of trial and error I finally learned why my paintings and drawings looked flat. I was putting much too much detail everywhere. I was putting detail in the light, I was also rendering detail in the shadows. I was putting details in the background as well as the foreground.

If you are detail orientated like me you most likely love to render. You love to put details all over your images. You might want to consider using less detail to create more depth and atmosphere.

For example keep your shadows shapes fairly simple. Add details and texture in the light instead. Another tip, don’t put too many details in the background of your images. Think more shapes in the background, less texture. Render most of the texture and detail in the foreground.

These are simple tips for you to consider in order to create a well balanced drawing or painting. Letting go of detail in these two specific areas, the shadows and background will enable you to create an image that has depth and atmosphere.

If you have questions about this topic leave them in the comments section below.

 

 

 

Are you looking for feedback on your artwork? If you are check out what we have to offer in our membership area.

Thanks for watching!

Drawing From The Wrong Photo Reference

Drawing From The Wrong Photo Reference

by | May 27, 2017 | Video Critiques

Have you ever tried to draw a portrait for a friend that didn’t go so well? You had a great photo of a friend or family member and when you tried to draw from it, it was not a good experience.

It’s most likely the photo had front lighting from flash photography. Your friends looked great, but the photo had no shadow shapes to cling onto. Drawing a portrait from front lighting is super difficult. Of course it can be done, however you have to be well versed in seeing subtle value shifts.

The key to drawing from flat front light is practicing matching values. It’s also all about understanding form. Once you understand form and can match values you can pretty much draw from any photograph.

I see many new members of Drawing Tutorials Online struggle when trying to draw a portrait from front light. I get it, you might have a photo of a dear friend and you want to draw a portrait for them.

My suggestion is that you invite them to your studio in order to take a new picture of them. Make it fun, have a drink, relax and definitely use form light. Turn the flash off. Form light will provide you with shadow shapes that you can actually use. Drawing shadow shapes accurately is the key to drawing a likeness.

Take a moment to check out the video below. It will definitely help you if you have to draw from a flat photo.

If you would like a critique of your artwork definitely consider a membership to Drawing Tutorials Online!

Thanks for watching:)

How To See Gesture

How To See Gesture

by | May 20, 2017 | Video Critiques | 1 comment

This video will teach you how to see the gesture of just about any pose. It’s important to be able to see through complicated fabric folds. Fabric certainly will mask your ability to see the clean gesture lines within a figure.

You want to see gesture from the top of the figure to the bottom. Seeing what I like to call “Long Gesture” is crucial to drawing figures that have grace and flow.

Without gesture what you have is a stiff figure drawing. One technique that can really help you is the “Opposite C” technique. The “Opposite C” technique provides you with a physical way to draw the natural flow of the human body.

If you need help with your figure drawings consider a membership to Drawing Tutorials Online. Through our weekly video critiques we can help you to see the gesture in just about any pose that you try to draw.

Thanks so much much for visiting our blog. Enjoy the video below.

Read more about what Drawing Tutorials Online has to offer you.