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Tips on Pencil Portrait Sketching - Using Strong Illumination and Shadows

Published by Remi | January 11th 2009 | Views:

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Value is one of the most difficult elements of portraiture. Most artists are very tentative about tone and do not push the shadows far enough. This is often because:

1. Their eyes are not yet coached to see the subtle variations.

2. The fear of losing a sketch.

Starting artists can see large lights and large darks and half-tones easily enough but it takes eye-training to see the finer variations in tone.

In this commentary we will focus on the interplay of strong irregular lights and darks that are cast upon the subject's skull, i.e., light-dappled patterns.

As usual, we first strike the construct and situate the facial features (brow line and base of the nose).

When dealing with a complicated value pattern the main task is striving to simplify the patterns. Drawing, in general, is always an exercise in simplification, i.e., making choices.

The next step is that of blocking-in the overall dark/light pattern with single tones. At this point do not yet refine the tones because doing so will surely lead to disappointment.

Using a paper or your fingers, stump down the graphite. If you use a paper stump be careful not to deaden the tones. The lights can be added, corrected, and refined with your kneaded eraser.

The facial features and the hair are now carefully sketched in.
Keep these structural lines very soft. Also, continue constructing the value shapes|forms ks, at this point, your sketch should look like an under-painting.

Like color, tone is influenced by the neighboring tone. You can see, for instance, that once the hair is hatched-in and somewhat refined that the facial area now looks lighter than before.

Next, you can return to the facial features and break down the big tonal forms into their various forms and relationships by using cross-hatching, stumping and delicate eraser work.

The challenge with dappled light is to render the delicate patterns while still maintaining an interconnected inclusive. As a general rule, cast shadows have hard edges while shape shadows have soft edges of changing degrees. When using a stump, you should hardly touch the paper. This allows you to maintain the tiny lights that reflect off the paper thereby keeping the image alive and vibrating with light.

To produce the most fragile tones employ the blackest, hardest pieces of kneaded eraser you can find.

As is the case with the facial features, the tones of the hair must be subordinated to the overall light and must match with the face both physically and emotionally.

Lastly, at this point you can leave the sketch as is or you can push it further by adding more minutia. That is an artistic decision left to you.
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