Now that we are feeling more comfortable with our pencils, let’s discuss sketching a portrait from reference. To begin this lesson, I want to first talk about some of the most common mistakes that a newer artist might make when drawing portraits. If you have made these mistakes, join the club! I have too! When I was first learning, it is very common for your brain to take over the job and “think” it knows how to draw an eye or a nose...but when we stop LOOKING we derail from our reference, generalize forms and often flatten an image. Let me show you what I mean...
Hopefully watching these videos will just help you be more aware of how easily it can be to slip from an observative state into a “thinking” state. Try to stay observant throughout the entirety of your sketch.
Obviously, if you love drawing faces you probably LOVE eyes! Me too! I decided I would do a study of the eye for you too. It’s very useful to isolate these features and do studies of them in your sketchbook. The more familiar you are with the structures of the face they more confident you will be when drawing.
Here is the reference photo I used.