The Four Boxes Technique

The Four Boxes Technique

by | Nov 13, 2019 | The Blog, Video Critiques

Jan recently posted up this portrait drawing for a critique. It was from my Shea Portrait course. Jan is looking to get a likeness when drawing a portrait.

Being able to get a likeness is difficult. Sometimes a student will need to use many diverse techniques. Some techniques click with certain students while others do not. You will need to experiment with multiple techniques until you find the one that works for you.

In this video, I share with Jan the Four Boxes Technique. It’s pretty simple. First, you should draw the exact size of your photo reference frame. So if your reference is 8 x 10 inches, draw an 8 x 10-inch boarder on your piece of paper.

You will need to split the frame vertically down the middle, then across the middle. This will leave you with four boxes. You then draw what is in each box. Nothing earth -shattering here.

this is just a drawing technique that will help you look at drawing a portrait differently. Again, this is just an exercise. This four boxes technique just give you a different perspective on drawing correct proportions.

Thanks so much, Jan for sharing your artwork in DTO’s member critique gallery. 

 

 

If you are looking to get your artwork critique definitely check out Drawing Tutorials Online. I offer member critiques every Monday. If you are looking for a more in-depth approach to having your artwork critique read more about my one to one coaching.

 

Seeing The Head As A Box

Seeing The Head As A Box

by | Oct 29, 2019 | The Blog, Video Critiques

Arjun consistently uploads his work for a critique every week. In this week’s critique, I help out Arjun with seeing how to fit a box to a head. You might ask, why even bother with this technique, what’s the point?

I think what Arjun is practicing is super important. He is trying to understand how to see and decipher the surface planes of the head. Placing a portrait within a box is the most primitive way to see the surface planes. It’s the most macro, front and side.

There is a multitude of surface planes on the head. With portraits, it’s important to know where the big surface plane shifts occur. They occur at the temple and cheekbone, otherwise known as the Zygomaticofacial foramen. I know, anatomical terms, ugh.

Understanding where to see and place the big surface planes will most certainly help you to improve the way you draw a three-dimensional portrait. It’s even better when you light the portrait whereas the front planes catch the light, and the side planes are in shadow.

Lastly, trying to place a perfectly geometric box around an organic head just does not compute for a lot of artists. That is why I suggest drawing curved edged, organic boxes instead of right-angled boxes.

The human body is not synthetic, it’s super curvy. In other words, round all of your corners.

 

 

Thank you so much for checking out Arjun’s critique. You can check out his Instagram page @AKTracer.

 

Five Tips For Drawing A Portrait Likeness

Five Tips For Drawing A Portrait Likeness

by | Oct 22, 2019 | The Blog, Video Critiques | 1 comment

I recently completed a critique of Arjun’s portrait drawing. Arjun is a member of Drawing Tutorials Online. He is a super hard worker and is improving immensely as of late.

Here are five tips to help you capture a likeness the next time you work on a portrait drawing.

First, you will want to pay attention to the centerline of the head. This will help you tremendously in terms of measuring both sides of the face. It will aid you in getting the correct angle of the head.

Second, do your best to look out for the three angles that make up the lower jaw bone. The mandible is an important structure. It acts as a frame for the lower half of the head. Do not overlook the jawline.

Third, avoid using high-contrast value shifts within the model’s face. Especially when drawing from photo-reference that has soft lighting. Extreme value shifts within the light will make your drawing look too patchy.

Fourth, tilts will most certainly help you capture the model’s likeness. I like to look at the tilt of the eyes. You can also use the tilt of the mouth from corner to corner. This is often overlooked.

Fifth, see the whites of the eyes as shapes that you must draw accurately. Yes, easier said than done, I understand. Take some time to study the shapes of the whites of the eyes. This will help you capture the model’s likeness.

 

 

I want to thank Arjun for uploading his work to Drawing Tutorials Online‘s member critique gallery on a regular basis. His hard work is really paying off.

Check out Arjun’s instagram @aktracer.

 

How To Draw Soft Hair

How To Draw Soft Hair

by | Sep 12, 2019 | Drawing Tutorials, The Blog | 11 comments

I just recently finished up a new portrait drawing course. I wanted to share with you a technique for drawing soft hair.

You want to work in layers. Your first layer in terms of drawing hair is to block in tone. Don’t try to put in your darkest dark all at one time. You’ll want to gradually lay in tone.

With the technique shown in the video, I put down tone, then pushed the tone into the paper with a stiff bristle brush. What this does in push the pencil into the texture of the illustration board.

You will want to do this process a few times. Blocking in tone, using the brush to push it into the board. In the final layers that is where you will refine the details with both an eraser and your pencil.

When working on the final layers you should use a more pliable brush. One that is more forgiving. You can then proceed to pull out the light with a thin eraser. With this drawing, I used a mono-zero cylindrical eraser.

When you use the bristle brush, not a blending stump, you can easily pull out lights with your eraser. Try it it’s a ton of fun.

 

 

Let me know what you thought about this technique. Leave a comment below.

 

Shapes Equal Likeness

Shapes Equal Likeness

by | Jul 30, 2019 | Video Critiques

I wanted to share with you Michael’s critique. This week Michael shared one of his drawings in our member critique gallery. He had mentioned that he might have chosen the wrong photo.

I mentioned to Michael at the beginning of the critique that the photo was a good one. It’s good because it has some pretty good shadow shapes to cling onto. Michael is off to great start with his drawing, he just needs to focus on shapes.

If I had to give one piece of advice to any artist who aspires to draw portraits with a likeness, it would be to focus on drawing shapes, not things. Don’t draw the eyelid, draw the shadow shape around the eyelid.

Do not draw the lips with an outline, draw the shadow shape that makes up the upper lip and the shadow shape under the lower lip. In order to capture a person’s likeness, you must capture and draw their shapes accurately.

Now some would say that I’ve said this before, many times. Yes, I have because it works. When it comes to portrait drawing you want to be repetitive with certain things. One, always work from a photo that has good light and shade. Two, capture the likeness not through outlines but through shapes.

The modeling comes after you have blocked in light and shadow shapes. You do not need to learn fifty portrait drawing techniques, instead, you just need to master a few.

 

 

Drawing Tutorials Online is coming up on eleven years in business helping artists pursue their passion for drawing. Now is a great time to join, I am doubling down on making the website even better with shorter more instructive lessons. I look forward to helping you improve your artwork!.