Materials
• Good quality drawing paper such as Chanson Drawing paper 220gsm “C” à grain. This paper is a fine tooth white paper for drawing in pencil, charcoal, chalk, ink wash and poster colour. For this drawing I have used an A3 sheet.
• Tracing paper or a light box.If you are using tracing paper instead of a light box you will also need a coloured pencil.
• Good quality graphite pencils that will give your drawing a smooth and finally textured finished. You will need a hard pencil, either an H or 2H, for drawing up the portraits outline and a range of softer pencils including 2B, 3B, 4B and 5B for adding tone to the portrait..
• A good quality sharpener is also needed; your pencils should always be kept sharp with a fine point. Alternatively you could use a Stanley or craft knife and shave of the wood around the graphite pencil, this will take a while longer but the pencil will stay sharper for a longer period of time.
• An ochre watercolour pencil, or any colour of your choice. Try not to use a colour that is too deep, as it will take away attention away from the portrait itself. Watercolour paint or diluted acrylic or gouache and also be used, however, watercolour pencil will give you more control around the portrait.
• Watercolour brushes,preferably smaller sized brushes both round and flat and a slightly larger brush
• One basic coloured pencil, any colour
• Masking tape
• Spray fixative (workable)
• A high-resolution photograph printed at the size you want the portrait.
STEP ONE
After finding the photograph you want to use, use a sheet of tracing paper and a 2H or H pencil to trace the main facial features of the person. This will give you accurate placement of the person’s face and its features.
STEP TWO
Flip over the tracing paper, so that the traced drawing is underneath and place it on the paper you are using to draw on. Use some masking tape to hold the image in place whilst you use a coloured pencil and go around the lines you can see that you have drawn, and rub them down onto the paper. This will create marks from the pencil you used to trace the image and create an outline of the portrait on the paper underneath. Spray the outline with fixative to avoid smudging when drawing.
STEP THREE
Once you have the outline drawn up you can start to build up tone. Although the way I was taught to build up tone was on the drawing as a whole (starting with lights all over and building up the dark tones all over), I much prefer to build up the drawing in sections as I work better seeing the lights to darks straight away. Use a 2B pencil at first with detailed areas such as the eyes, mouth and hands, working your way up to 3B and 4B. For tone around the face and hands lightly use a 4B first before using it with more pressure. For dark areas around the face, the hair and the clothing, use a 5B or an even softer pencil if preferred.
STEP FOUR
Using the watercolour pencil, go around the perimeter of the portrait, building up an outline of colour around 15mm thick.
FINAL STEP
Wet a small brush, wiping the excess water of the brush and apply it to the watercolour you have drawn. Using a slightly larger and wet brush add more water and blend it out so that you get a washed out line. Work in sections, as you don’t want it drying before you blend it out.
Artist’s Hints and Tips
• It is best to print the photograph horizontally flipped so that when you trace the portrait and place it on the paper it is viewed the same as the original photograph. Also print out a smaller copy of the photograph so you can use it as reference when drawing the portrait.
• For portraits like this in which the head is cropped to the edges of the frame, it is more aesthetically pleasing to have a white border around the portrait rather than having the drawing go all the way to the edges of the paper. To do this use masking tape and place it around the perimeter of the paper you are using. Be sure to take away some of the glue from the tape first by sticking it to clothing or even carpet before using it. This will make the masking tape much less sticky and make it easier to remove without ripping the paper when the portrait is done. When removing the tape be sure to remove it very slowly and carefully.
• The larger range of pencils you use will give you a wider range of tonal values in your portrait and create more depth
• When drawing the portrait and building up tone you should work left to right if you are right
