Guidelines For Pencil Portrait Sketching – Sculptural Awareness Mode
There are many modes of sketching: linear, value-wise, gestural, etc. In this commentary we will center on carving out shape with a sculptural awareness.
This manner of sketching is very much like working with putty except that we are drawing on paper, of course, and using our fingers, a stump, tissue, and the putty eraser as our painting tools.
As always, begin with striking the arabesque and establishing the fundamental proportions of the facial area.
Before hatching-in the prime light/dark patterns you should squint and look at the model or the photo. Squinting distills the lights and darks into simple patterns of one given value because it obscures the details.
At this point, just concern yourself with the big masses, maybe even just two, a light one and a dark one. Do not yet attempt to break down the darks at this point.
Drawing in this way is also good training for painting because this is how you build up a painting especially when using the One Stroke method of painting.
Sketching, painting, and sculpture are additive/subtractive activities. You first add something and then you take something back, all the while progressing towards the final drawing.
You also will use your putty eraser to take out the lights. When doing this pay careful attention to the anatomical structures; every shape indicates a skeletal marker.
We all have our personal preferences about how we sketch. At this point, you may prefer to improve the arabesque and work on the facial features. Other draftspersons will continue working tonally without any line drawing. As you gain expertise and grow as an artist you will make your own choices. That is what art making is: choices – good and bad.
Now that we have the fundamentals down including the overall proportions, we can start resolving the darks and the lights. The purpose is to go for the “full stretch” of tones, i.e., from the darkest darks to the lightest light.
Starting and intermediate draftspersons often fail to go for the full value stretch. Quite often the reason for this is the apprehension of destroying their drawing and also because they have read, or been told, not to overwork the sketch.
As a beginner you should take a sketch as far as you possibly can, even to the point of collapse. That way you will learn exactly how far you can go. If you always stop short you will never know what lies beyond.
Use your fingers, a tissue, and a stump to blend the tones. The best thing is to start dividing each tonal mass into two separate smaller forms of different tones wherever your observations tell you there is a distinction in value to be made. Keep in mind the varying planes and the anatomy of the subject’s features.
The hair is kept dark and simple with only a few strokes of the putty eraser to suggest the disheveled locks of hair. Do not overdo these strokes or they will look bleached.
In closing, when using the sculptural manner of sketching a pencil portrait always treat your tools as if they were brushes. Pretend as much as possible that you are painting instead of sketching. Constantly keep in mind the anatomy and the varying plane bearings that you note in your subject. Always sketch from the general to the specific or from the large to the small. As you acquire more expertise, try to remember the things that work for you and incorporate them in your style of sketching.
Do you want to learn the secrets of pencil portrait sketching? Download my brand new free pencil portrait drawing course here: pencil portrait tutorial.
Remi Engels is a pencil portrait artist and oil painter and practiced sketching teacher. See his work at pencil portraits.
Info about working with children – visit this parenting blog.
