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Guidelines for Pencil Portrait Drawing - Blending and the Kneaded Eraser

Published by Remi | January 4th 2009 | Views:

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Once you have hatched the large tone masses of your portrait it is time to blend and "take out" the lights with a kneaded eraser.

A stump is a cylindrical tool tapered at the ends and generally made of rolled paper.

Stumping then is to smudge or blend your hatchings with a stump. The point of stumpingis to produce gradations and halftones and to give certain tone regions a softer appearance.

Blending can be done in other ways. You can utilize tissue paper or even your fingers or both. When utilizing your fingers be sure to clean off any oily residues with a tissue.

Stumping must be done in a sculpturally manner. You should figuratively fashion out the form while invoking both the structural anatomy and the changes of the planes. As you sketch identify each anatomical feature. This is particularly advisable when you work on complicated structures such as the nose and the eyes.

In a similar fashion you can utilize your kneaded eraser to "take out" graphite to lighten certainareas. Again, go about it in a sculpturally fashion. Utilize the kneaded eraser as if it is a brush.

Now and then you may want to utilize the concept of "finality". Your mind has a propensity to fill in the holes in your observations. That is, the mind has a need for "finality". You can make thoughtful use of this propensity and leave certain parts of your portrait uncompleted. It adds interest to your drawing as the vietusion. The smile-line is also difficult. If you over-emphasize it you will end up with a sneer. It is best to under-emphasize it and let the viewer's sense of closure finalize it for you.

An significant consideration must be made when sketching from a photograph. A photograph should only be suggestive material. That means artistic decisions must be made. For example:

- What type of emotional reaction are you after? When people view your portrait what type of initial visceral reaction do you want them to have to your sketch. Good technique is certainly necessary. But it will count for very little if it is frosty cold and dry.

- Make choices. You should not draw every tiny detail but only the significant ones. Use your artistic judgement to make these choices.

A hard 4H pencil can be used to make the already dark regions even darker with hatching.

Careful attention needs to be paid to the edges of the shapes in your sketch. For example, as a form turns away from the light source its tone gradually gets darker and takes on a soft edge.

A cast shadow has a hard edge. The shape of a cast shadow is determined by the shape of the entity casting the shadow and the shape upon which it is being cast.

Terminate the sketch by paying attention to the significant details. You also want to further tweak and balance the constructed values. Your sketch must always read as a cohesive entity even though you choose not to bring it to a complete finish.

These few simple tips will set you on the right path. Apply them correctly and soon your pencil portraits will look a lot better.
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