I have been filming Video Critiques every Monday, religiously since 2009. It’s truly what has kept me connected to our close knit member base. In an ever polarized internet where people feel very isolated something very different is happening at members.drawing-tutorials-online.com. People are not only connecting but they are learning how to improve their art on a consistent basis.
The video critique below is a typical example of the service I provide to our members every Monday. Each week members who choose to participate, upload their artwork to our member Critique Gallery. Getting a weekly critique from Drawing Tutorials Online can really help you jump up your skill level in a very short period of time.
The knowledge provided in these video critiques is the same type of knowledge taught at major art colleges for thousands of dollars. I know, I teach at one of the biggest art colleges in the United States, the School Of Visual Arts. SVA is an awesome school. I graduated from SVA in 1990 and have been teaching there since 1997.
The issue today with big art schools is the cost. Too many students are leaving art colleges strapped with major debt. This debt can be paralyzing to many young artists.
The good news is that there is a revolution going on with online learning. You really don’t have to be strapped with thousands of dollars in student loans anymore. Websites like members.drawing- tutorials-online.com provide a quality online education affordable to anyone willing to pay, at least for our service, .66 cents a day. Not only will our site teach you sound technical skills it will also provide you with sage career advice.
If you are looking to follow you passion learning more about the craft of drawing. Definitely consider signing up for month to our membership site. At .66 cents a day you won’t have any five year loans to worry about paying back.
Thank you so much for watching the video critique above.
Learn how to draw a portrait in several easy to follow steps.
1. Start drawing your portrait loose with gesture lines.
2. Measure some landmarks left to right, top to bottom.
3. Draw an edge of the face using the “Angles” technique.
4. Shade in one big shadow shape. A shape that looks easy to draw.
5. Start to separate the shape of hair and shape of face.
6. Use outside open negative space to set the head, neck and shoulders.
7. Compartmentalize the features of the face. Use measuring to see where all of the features are placed.
Of course I explain everything in much more detail throughout the video. However thank you so much for reading the blog post and watching this critique.
I look forward to seeing you in the members area soon!
In this video you will learn how to utilize surface planes to create more dimension within your portrait drawings. Every artist who wishes to get better at drawing portraits should go through the exercise of drawing surface planes.
No drawing the technique itself won’t make your drawings look pretty. But understanding the concept of surface planes and form most certainly will.
If you are stuck and need another set of eyes to look at your work I’m here to help. Sign up to Drawing Tutorials Online and get a video critique this upcoming Monday.
Drawing Tutorials Online is a safe, non judgmental place to get your artwork critiqued.
Thanks so much for watching. Now get out there and draw something today. It will make you feel better.
Let us know what you think. Leave us a comment below.
Are you really good at drawing portraits? Are you pretty good at drawing a likeness of the person too? However there is that one little thing about your portrait drawing that does not look quite right. Perhaps there is a dark under the person’s eye.
However in reality if they had that dark under their eye they would have a bruised eye?
The dirty little secret about drawing killer portraits is being able to match values.
Back in the day when I first started painting book covers for various publishing companies I struggled big time with matching values. I would drop off a painting and the art director would tell me the face was too light. Or perhaps the forehead was too dark. I really struggled big time with simply being able to match the values on the persons face.
On a book cover this was a huge deal.
If the character on the cover looked like they had a black eye, well that wasn’t cool.
So the first place to start is to mainly be conscious of the value scale. For those of you who are members of Drawing Tutorials Online we have multiple tutorials on how to match the value scale.
Being aware of the value scale comes first. Then practicing matching the values on the value scale comes second. You might be super heavy handed which means your light values will look dark. Or you might be light handed which means your dark values will look too light.
You get where I am going with this?
Here is a profound statement. “All of drawing realistically in tone is being able to match the value of any particular shape”. If you can draw a shape and match it’s value you are golden.
That shape could be the shadow under the nose or the white of the eye.
So the next time you draw a portrait be highly aware of the the values. If you are attempting to draw a realistic portrait constantly analyze the values of shapes. Keep your value scale nearby, it’s a life saver.
