In this live stream scheduled for Saturday September 19 at 10 AM we complete a drawing from a John-Baptiste Greuze. From start to finish we will cover multiple portrait drawing techniques.
John-Baptiste Greuze has some amazing paintings and drawings that we all can learn from.
Thanks so much for watching.
Nancy has been getting her artwork critiqued weekly for a while now. The biggest struggle I see for Nancy is her photo reference choices.
Nancy usually takes screenshots from her favorite Netflix series. Sometimes the lighting is just , well, horrible. However, as of late Nancy has been making better picks in terms of photos
What I stress over and over again in the critique gallery is repetition. I’m a big believer in systems. Most artists hate systems, they think they are too restrictive.
I find the opposite to be true. Let’s use portrait drawing as an example. When you start a portrait draw the same way every time, you will improve faster.
My system for portrait drawing is simple, first draw the outer edge hair, second draw the inner edge of the hair where it touches the skin. Then draw the shape of the face. The features should fit inside the container of the face.
In Nancy’s portrait drawing the features did not fit inside the container of the face. After a couple of tweaks we can see that Nancy was not that far off. Looking forward to the next one Nancy.
Sometimes it is the little things that make a huge difference. I am here to help you improve your artwork. You can get feedback in Drawing Tutorials Online member critique gallery. I also offer one to one coaching if you prefer that route.
Thanks Nancy!
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
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.
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!.
