Negative Space
A tool that allows you to see a positive shape solid space dearer by focusing on the negative shape empty space next to it. Negative space is defined as the empty space surrounding a positive solid shape. The whole of a picture is made up of positive and negative spaces or shapes . People normally look at a shape and draw it like a vase or a flower. If the drawing doesn't look right, they wonder how it became distorted. Artists, being the tricky folks that they are, pay attention not only to...
Shade the nose without lines
Get into the habit of never using lines to indicate the side of the nose. Avoiding lines on the side of the nose will limit the temptation to leave them in your completed drawing. Create the bottom of the nose with lines. Shade this area, all the while remembering to blend in the lines of the nose. Resist the temptation to leave them in Create the top and sides of the nose with shading only. This will show the distinction between the cheek and nose without using any of those pesky lines. Ask...
atural artists
People I call natural artists are those who, for some reason, have been able to draw accurately without knowing exactly why or how they are able to do this. Generally speaking, this ability seems to be spotty. They can draw some things well and other subjects not so well. Such comments as, I can draw animals and landscapes great, but I can't draw people, are very common. These artists have learned some drawing techniques naturally, but have yet to learn how to change all their perceptions about...
yelid creases
Above the eye, the upper eyelid forms a crease. In the average eye, this looks like a line following the upper eyelid. When the crease is very high above the eye, it's called heavy lids. When it's very close to the eye or doesn't show at all, it's called overhanging lids. Pay close attention to the location, direction and appearance of the upper lid crease. Both the upper and lower lids have a thickness to them, as shown in the drawing to the right. The upper lid's thickness is indicated by its...
Seek
A tool for seeing a particular shading pattern by seeking out round objects in your subject. I have a confession My husband, whom I adore, loves the banjo. There, I've said it. He studies the banjo. He plays banjo and bluegrass music in my presence. He takes banjos apart. He knows who made what banjo, the year each was at its peak and every major banjo picker in the world. Rick can walk into a music store, a pawn shop, a garage sale, an attic or a living room, see a banjo and know everything...
rstanding shading tools
To understand shading, you need to know three things What to look for, how to evaluate what you're seeing and any useful techniques to make your drawings better. The only additional tip for shading your drawing is practice. Shading involves hand-eye coordination. Emerging artists have trouble with shading not because it is more technical or difficult they struggle because it requires new physical skills that come with practice. Shading involves training the eye to see what artists call value...
Train your mind
Learning to recognize shapes in a photograph or image takes training. You need to train your mind what to look for. Once you become aware of something, it's easier to see it. For example, when you are buying a new car you spend time studying the cars on the market. You then go to a dealer and look over the selection. You might fall in lust with a particular model and color. Afterwards, it seems like everybody has the car you were looking at. Did everyone suddenly go out and buy the same car No,...
drawing so hard
Before you continue in this book, I strongly advise you to complete a pre-instructional drawing. This is a yardstick by which you will see improvement in your skill level of drawing. As your drawing skills improve, your knowledge of drawing leaps ahead of your actual ability to draw. It is easy to become frustrated by your apparent lack of progress. Yet, in fact, your abilities have improved tremendously. Tracking progress by using pre-instructional drawings will help you see clearly what you...
One shot
Look at your photo and try to find the multiple shapes that make up the nose in that one image. Drawing a nose will become much easier once you have identified all the indi vidual parts that create the total image. Note I am referring to the average nose in the following description. The site of the nose is contained within a rectangle that begins in the forehead. It is as wide as the inside corner of the eyes on the female face shown on the bottom left and the start of the white of the eye on...
Drawing Hair 1
Drawing hair can be interesting, to say the least. Because there are so many hairstyles, this chapter covers just a few general tricks and techniques. In order to make great hair, you should be prepared to spend some quality time with your pencil you are going to be at it for awhile. Dull pencil points make for flat hair, not fine hair. Don't just start scribbling somewhere hair has a start, end, highlights and dark areas. Drawing hair also includes beards and mustaches. You will apply the same...
ealing with teeth
Drawing teeth seems to cause a great deal of grief to some budding artists. This is usually due to the picket fence effect. They draw each tooth as a separate shape and place hard lines between the teeth. If you emphasize the separations between each tooth, your drawing of the mouth becomes distracting and unrealistic. Increase the shading as you move toward the back of the mouth. Don't draw lines to separate individual teeth. Indicate the top shape of the tooth. Don't draw lines to separate...
Flattening and Optical Indexing
When you first used your pencil as a measuring device, you extended your arm and closed one eye. Why did I ask you to close one eye Try it with both eyes open. It doesn't work. It takes both eyes to have depth perception, which you don't want, because you're drawing on a two-dimensional piece of paper. Closing one eye flattens the world around you. Aha You've just established a drawing technique To draw a three-dimensional image on a two-dimensional piece of paper, you must close one eye. The...
The female face
Female faces tend to be more narrow in the chin and jaw area and have a more narrow nose. The eyes are the same width apart as on male faces. Yet, because a female face is more narrow, the eyes may look larger in relation to the rest of the features. Also, the eyebrows tend to be higher and thinner on female faces. Children have different proportions that change as they grow older this is especially apparent in the face . The lower face grows and lengthens with age. This drawing clearly shows...
Carrie Stuart Parks
Carrie Stuart Parks is an award-winning watercolorist and internationally known forensic artist and instructor. In 1981, Carrie began working as a part time forensic artist for the North Idaho Regional Crime Lab in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Four years later she attended a composite drawing class taught by the FBI, and became the first composite artist in her area. Soon Carrie's peers were asking her to share her knowledge with them. Carrie developed a sure-fire and condensed instructional course to...
Examples of completed eyes
So, you think you have learned how to draw every eye, huh Not so fast You must also take into consideration how varying eyelids and eye shapes can change the appearance of irises and eyelashes. Study the next few examples, and see if you can point out the differences between them. Overhanging lids of a person of Asian descent You might have noticed that few poets have waxed eloquently on the nose. Even emerging artists seem to stumble when it comes to drawing noses. If much of this chapter...
Introduction
You will quickly notice in this book that I approach drawing faces from a very different direction. It might be easier for you to understand if I share some of the roads I have traveled down to get here. My background is similar to that of most artists. I was originally trained as a commercial artist in the days before computers did all the layout and lettering work. I would sit with my classmates and peer at a table full of junk that the instructor called a still life. It was assumed that we...
Shading the mouth
We could, in a manner of speaking, say that the lips contain five balls, that is, the lips form rounded shapes. These shapes may not appear in many mouths, but if you are sensitive to them, you will seek them when you shade the mouth. Within the lip there are small lines or grooves. Use caution here, as they are usually subtle. Shading in the direction of the lip structure will help you define the roundness of the lips. Though upper and lower lips are about the same shade, artists usually shade...
Parts of the mouth
The lips can be divided into three major areas of concentration the upper lip, the line where the lips come together and the lower lip. I usually start with the line of the mouth. Yes, the mouth is one of the few facial areas that actually contains a line. It is formed from the upper lip and lower lip touching each other. Pay particular attention to this line. Does it go up or down at the corners Is it straight or wavy Use a ruler to help you see the direction. The upper lip is like a mountain...
Drawing Hair
Creating Different Types of Hair Different Hairstyles Conclusion 141 Index 142-143 For the first ten years of my artistic career I only painted animals and used the wet-on-wet watercolor technique. I began painting birds, and they all had fur rather than feathers I now use my bird paintings for competitions. Collection of the Frame of Mind Gallery, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho 28 x 22 71cm x 57cm
yebrows and eyelashes
Eyebrows are made of short hairs. Interestingly enough, a pencil stroke is shaped like a hair fat where it starts and tapering off into a thinner end. Comb eyebrow hair with your pencil place the pencil lines in the direction the eyebrow hair grows. Eyebrows vary quite a bit. Most start at the edge of the eye and end in a line that runs from the nose past the eyes. You generally won't be able to see eyelashes when you look straight on at most eyes. The exceptions to this are mascara-coated...
Drawing Realistic Faces
The ears are an important and difficult feature to accurately draw. They are very detailed and vary greatly from person to person. Learning the parts of the ear early on will save you a lot of grief later you will always know what parts to look for, no matter how much they may vary from person to person. Plus, you can impress your friends with your in-depth knowledge of ear anatomy Learning the parts of the ear early on will save you a lot of grief later you will always know what parts to look...