Long time no lesson, folks. This one's in honour of national self portrait day, which is this Saturday (November 1st). Technically speaking, it's national (American) not international, but hell - I'm a Canadian and I don't give a damn. I want in on it too!
As with all lesson sets, be sure to complete the basics lessons before moving onto this one. Completing the Dynamic Sketching lessons will also help, though it is not mandatory.
Unlike all of the previous lessons, for the next set (all about drawing people) you'll be free to draw with any medium you see fit. Pencils, pens, digital, paint... As long as you feel comfortable with it, and feel that you can work in sufficient detail.
I will be following up with the head at various angles, so for now just focus on the frontal construction. I considered including more of that stuff in this lesson, but it was getting pretty long already.
Bonus Content
/u/arifterdarkly was kind enough to hunt down some planar reference specific to females, since the one in the lesson is for males. You'll notice that there are still clear planes, but they're more subtle. Front view and side view.
Homework
4 pages of construction sketches, from reference. don't worry about detail, definitely don't worry about shading. Focus on getting your porportions and general shape/layout correct.
8 pages of full face studies, from reference. Frontal view only. Take them as far as you feel you can, and absolutely focus on what makes every face unique. A person's likeness can rest in all sorts of elements - the shapes of their eyes, nose, lips, the definition of their cheek bones, the shape of their jaw, etc. You should be spending a lot of time observing. Ultimately, if you end up spending 45 minutes observing and only 15 minutes drawing with the result being a fairly rough but accurate study, that is WAY better than the opposite.
Don't forget, November 1st is National Self Portrait day! And as always, all questions and homework submissions go in the comments.
[deleted]
2014-10-31 13:18
Let me intrude with this playlist - proko does a great job explaining the head so if the guide the Czar put together is not working, give this one a try as well.
Nice find! That whole oval concept is really neat. I do have a concern about how he deals with the depth of the head, but I'll get into that in my next lesson.
[deleted]
2014-10-31 17:03
Did you look through all of his videos in that playlist? He covers different perspectives and what to think about when doing so, foreshortening and all that jazz.
Ahh.. I think I get it. He's not incorrect by any means, it's just that the approach is completely different - so he compensates for certain differences from the method I was taught with other changes. I'll give the method a shot, it definitely seems very flexible.
Hm... More than anything, I think this submission shows me that you should complete the basics lessons (Lesson 1 and Lesson 2) which start getting you into the mindset of 'constructing' objects rather than simply drawing what you see. It's the difference between replicating a photograph (which is essentially a 2D image) and rebuilding the 3D scene you see in the photograph.
What I'm seeing here in your construction sketches is that you're drawing very loosely. A lot of half-drawn shapes and timid lines. The lessons on this subreddit - the basics, and especially dynamic sketching - try and encourage you to draw more boldly and confidently - even the lines like the circle we start off with, which wouldn't even appear in a proper, "final" image. We're not interested in final images right now.
Here's a bit of draw-over, but I definitely think you should go back to those basics lessons. Gotta work to unlearn what you know thus far, and work with a blank slate. It's difficult, but worth it.
I am doing something wrong here, I feel like my proportions are off even though I am following you instruction. For one, I feel like if I extend the box one more unit, the chin is Way too far down, maybe I am doing it wrong some how? I also feel like my eyes are way off and because they are, my mouth is off as well. Also, for some reason, all of my faces have this weird cartoony look and they all look like crazy people (aside from the eyes pointing in different directions, I did that on purpose because I thought it looked funny hehe) Anyways, these are purely my construction sketches. I tried to do some portraits, but failed miserably. the last page is supposed to be Jim Carreys face.
The proportions on the first page are actually pretty damn good. Then you go all... all wrong. Bad NuggleBuggins, bad! Swats with a rolled up magazine
The rest of your faces end up being too squat, and I know you can tell because you regularly try to correct it by chopping the sides off the original circle. If you stick with the circle and drop a full unit down for the chin, it may feel too long to you, but you're just not used to it.
In this overdrawing, I tackled the corrections in two ways. I reconstructed it from the original circle you started with, and I also gave the face you drew some reconstructive surgery, making her head narrower and bringing her eyes in to match.
Your Jim Carrey's proportions are actually pretty good, even though the faces are creepy as all hell. I think you might benefit from doing this particular set of lessons in pencil (the ink-only rule only applies to the basics and dynamic sketching). Faces and people are just so complicated that ink ends up becoming more of a burden than necessary. You can even do these digitally, if you like. Whatever feels most comfortable for you.
Give me four more pages of faces, all from reference. And try not to make the features too cartoony. You can always stylize later, once you've gotten the concepts down.
Still having some problems with proportions I feel like, Unless I am just crazy haha. And I promise I am not trying to make them look creepy.. they are just coming out like that :/
You need to pay more attention to those proportions. One of the major mistakes I found was that your circle isn't a circle. Drawing a perfect circle's a bitch, and largely unnecessary - all you have to make sure is that it's as wide as it is tall.
Here's some more notes. Another four pages, and pay more attention to those proportions. 'Cause if you don't check, I'm just going to have you do another four!
There's two things that I'm looking for before I let you move forward
Checking your proportions (obviously), because proportions are a theme that will stick all through this set of lessons.
Start moving away from drawing the facial features as simplified icons, and instead paying careful attention to your reference, and the forms that are presented there. This is no different from all the previous lessons, but automatically simplifying the things you see is a normal response to the stress of having to draw a person.
Okay, So I used a ruler this time, just to make sure I was measuring things out properly. I still feel like my proportions are wrong. I am almost positive it is because all of my facial features are just completely screwed up. The mouths and eyes all look too big, and the noses are always just funky looking. Sometimes (especially on the one I wrote "wrong" on) the ears are way to long. And I don't even know how it is possible since I followed the proportions. And of course, again, none of them even closely resemble the photo reference. On the upside, my George Clooney drawing kind of looks like a combination of Bill Clinton and George Bush! :D
Your "george clooney" is actually quite well done. Obviously the likeness isn't there but I'm far more concerned with the proportions, which were solidly done. Whatever you did there - I guess, measuring the proportions on the photo - keep it up. Ultimately they're still the same proportions that I've been repeating, but I guess doing it that way makes them click a little more.
For the others, you felt that they were wrong because they were. The problems are less significant than they were on the last round - the main issue was generally the eyes being too high, and everything else kind of went a little wrong because of that. Also, you have a habit of drawing lips rather large - at least on that first page.
Your individual features are starting to look better. Less like icons, more like actual facial features. I think you should start drawing larger - one face per page, taking up a good deal of the page. The smaller you work, the more awkward it is to put in detail.
Four more pages please! If they all come out like the Clooney, I'll mark the lesson as complete.
Homework I feel like these were a little better.. Towards the end, I was trying to just imagine how I would draw the facial features and just shrink it all by about 20%.
Way, way better. You're still making some mistakes, but you're compensating for those mistakes, which makes the faces look mostly proportional. You still have a ways to go before the proportions become second nature, but you're definitely making enough progress for me to mark this lesson as finished. Also your attention to detail has gotten way better - your individual facial features look much more realistic than they did before.
You're still drawing the eyes too high on the face. Fight the urge! Trust the proportions! Trust the measurements!
Also fight the urge to fully draw the mouths. I feel like a fully-drawn mouth, from the centre of one eye to the centre of the other looks way too wide. I added a really rough explanation of how I like to draw mouths - I pretty much just mark the corners at those points with little inward-pointing triangles.
Anywho. Onward to the next lesson, brave explorer! You have earned the first people-drawing-badge of the subreddit.
Wooo! Thank you!! You have helped me so much! Also, I wanted to ask you, If I somehow make it all the way to the end before you have new lessons up, can I go back and redo older lessons? I would like to go back and do them again too see how much better I am the second time around as compared to the first. And I feel like it will also help me reinforce the things you have already taught me!
sorry I just wanted to make sure that I did the constructions correctly, or if I need to take them further and mark the planes of the face. also I use a slightly different proportion if that's ok.
Also for the 8 pages of full face studies do you want the blank expression or are emotions ok. sorry for the questions.
Sorry that I forgot about your last question - ait slipped through the cracks last night. I'll give you a proper critique tonight when I get home from work, but I wanted to know how your proportion system differs.
From head to chin 1/2 way is the middle of the eyes. From there I eyeball the location of the brow-line based on the subject. Next, bottom of nose is 1/2 from brow to chin and bottom of lower lip is 1/2 from bottom of nose to chin. I use the same units that you use for the width and height of the head, but I find that I don't always use the entire width, sometimes the ears will fit within the box. Also hair line is the same distance from the brow to the bottom of the nose, so I just go one unit of that up from the brow to find the hair line.
Yeah, I'm not a fan of front view either. It often seems really unnatural, but since we rarely draw things in frontal view, we tend to be bad at it.
There's two major elements lacking here:
As you said, your features seem troublesome. You're still kind of caught up in the whole icon-drawing mindset, where you understand an eye to be a particular shape, so you're drawing what you think you know rather than what you're seeing in your reference.
More importantly, you're forgetting about your construction. While you're free to draw in whatever medium you choose, I still want to see the construction lines. Generally, they help you gain an understanding of the head as a complex 3D form with specific planes, rather than what right now s a very flat drawing.
Post one of the references you used. I can give you a more helpful critique by drawing a version of the reference myself, and showing you the differences between your approach and mine.
I start every drawing with the constructions, like the circle and then bring down a unit, find the middle for eyeline etc. but as I do that part lightly so it sort of just goes away as the drawing progresses. I could make sure the construction marks are heavier/clearer for future ones if that's what you'd prefer.
Yeah, definitely draw it in heavier. The construction lines also help me understand what you're doing right and wrong. Also I'm definitely getting the sense that you're not treating them with enough significance in your drawing. Kind of like, you're drawing them, but not using them, if you get my meaning.
Anyways, the jist of my demo is this: line is bad. We must use it, but especially when drawing faces, we try to use as little of it as possible. Imply as much detail as you can. Also, look very closely at your reference for things like eye shape, nose, mouth, etc.
Huuuuge improvement, especially on the first drawing, and I definitely think you're ready to move forward to the next lesson.
Your structure has improved dramatically. I'd still much rather see line drawings with minimal shading over heavily shaded portraits (because it helps demonstrate the structural understanding better, and I also bet you'd be able to do them quicker) but honestly, I don't mind. The structure is still very clear in what you've done.
Just to emphasize, I drew over the first portrait. That's pretty much all of the structure you put in there, and it's mostly spot on. If I had to suggest anything, it'd be to define the chin a little more.
What exactly caused this sudden jump in quality and understanding? Disappear for a month, and all of a sudden your understanding of facial structure (from the front, at least) jumped to a whole new level.
[deleted]
2015-01-21 19:49
Happy new year! I'm back to the lessons, ready to draw some people.
Edit: For each of these I drew the full guidelines and proportions - is this something that eventually you're supposed to stop doing?
You'll need them less and less as time goes on. The guidelines are more there as a form of training, rather than a means to draw a correct head. The goal here is to start to recognize what looks correct and what doesn't, and what the general guidelines are. Furthermore, I want you to start seeing the head as a 3D construction rather than a flat object, much in the way we dealt with things for dynamic sketching. This is an extension of those concepts, so don't be throwing them on the wayside.
I appreciate how far you took your guidelines. There were some mistakes in those guidelines, however - sometimes since we're following such strict proportional rules (which of course don't suit every occasion, but are good starting points), it's very easy to trust that they are correct. Because hey, we measured!
Here's my notes on your homework. The top left has a great example of what I mean. You buggered the circle, making it wider than it was tall. It's not an uncommon mistake (based on what I've seen out of all three people who've attempted this lesson?), and I can understand how easy it is to make. It'll definitely throw your proportions off in a big way though. Measuring circles is hard, but if you treat it like a square, that should make it a little simpler. Just take your fingers and use them to measure the width, then bring that down as the height.
As I said before, the face is a 3D construction. It's made up of a lot of planes. Someone who is new to drawing faces will treat them as being fairly flat, which leads to a cartoony look. The fat deposits on the cheeks and such make it kind of easy to do that, as well. You've got to look deeper, and see the structure that lies under the surface. Once you can start to see that, it'll be a hallmark of gaining a greater understanding of the head as a constructed form.
Also, you're drawing your ears as really consistent curves - take a look at how I've drawn them in the top right of my overdrawing. They angle outwards, with the top of the ear further out than the bottom. This differs from person to person, but it's a good rough approximation to start from.
Finally, facial features. Look carefully at your reference. You're drawing a lot of symbols, for the eyes and nose. For the lips, you're doing a little better (using more indication instead of outlining everything), but they're still coming out very flat. The key is to observe - spend a lot of time doing that. The features are, like the head, not flat. They too have planes (probably because literally everything has planes in this world). The lower lip for instance has a top plane, a front plane and a bottom plane.
I'd like to see you do another set of heads from the front.
[deleted]
2015-01-22 20:07
Phew! Lots to digest. I took another stab at it trying and tried to visualize the head as a 3D object, and I feel like it came out better - my eyes especially. Well, except for the derpy cross-eyedness that popped up. That's what I get for not using a pencil.
The one on the left on this page looks better (though her eyes seem a little close together). A lot of the others are still looking rather wide. I noticed that your ear shapes have improved, and your eyes are looking less iconic, though your nose is still sitting arbitrarily on the face.
Think of the face like a 3D puzzle. All the pieces fit together. You don't necessarily draw all the pieces and the borders between them, but you should understand them as such - and that understanding will ultimately come through in your drawing. How do your noses fit into the puzzle of the face? Right now they're just kind of glued on.
Also, try to tone down your exaggeration - especially on the nose and jaw sizes. Exaggeration tends to make things look cartoony.
Anyway, I'm going to mark this lesson as complete - you still have a ways to go, but at this point it's a matter of rereading the lesson and my critiques, and practicing more. Since the next lesson is related to the head as well, there's no reason to hold you here.
Hey so this may be a strange request but do you mind submitting a few pages of sketches of faces you've done? I like tracing stuff because it helps me feel the way I should be drawing if you get me.
Hm, I'm probably not the person to copy, since people are generally my weaker area (and yet I post these lessons, HA!). As for sketches, I've only really got the stuff I did to critique others.
When I do faces for myself, I usually do value or colour studies. Except for the three heads, those were just off the top of my head, hence the stylization.
So if you use pen to sketch a face I'm assuming you can't do all the boxes and circles and lines is that correct? Because there would be no way of getting rid of them.
We're not aiming to make pretty drawings here. We draw in that structure so we get used to the correct proportions as well as creating the illusion of a 3D, planar form. Over time, this kind of practice will lead to an improved understanding of those elements, to the point where you'll be able to leave out some of the lines and visualize them mentally instead.
That said, with these lessons, I stop stressing the felt-tip-pen-only rule that I enforce with lessons 1-6. That's because I generally feel that drawing humans is generally more complicated, and that restriction will result in far too much frustration for some people. But regardless of which medium you choose, I expect to see the forms/shapes/guidelines laid in.
Okay I understand so if you were making a picture specifically to make a nice picture though you wouldn't use the underlying shapes in pen though right?
That's debatable, I guess. There are a lot of ways to make the guide lines less visible, by allowing them to blend into the rendering, or using line weight to draw attention to other parts of the drawing and allowing those fainter guidelines to simply recede. The second approach is how we handle drawing in lessons 3-6. The results can still look great, and often times those guidelines aren't even noticeable unless you look carefully.
That said, when drawing faces it's riskier. If you're trying to draw a smooth, unwrinkled face, those guidelines can sometimes be fairly noticeable because there's nothing else to draw the attention away.
There's a lot of different ways of doing things, depending on what kind of result you're after, so I would never really discount one approach over another.
Can you provide some pointers for determining the positioning of the lower portion of the mask? I seem to be having a hell of a time relating the mask with the curve of cheeks and chins.
The faces I draw look like people but are pretty far off from the actual models.
You haven't yet submitted the prerequisites for this lesson! You must complete the basics first (lessons 1 and 2) before I will accept the homework for this lesson.
All the same, I drew a quick breakdown/critique of one of your faces (because I didn't realize you hadn't completed the prerequisites until I was half finished). Your proportions are pretty decent, though you tend to let things float in space instead of having them exist as grounded forms. You also don't pay close enough attention to the shapes in your reference. Finally, I'd recommend not using very much shading at this stage. Right now your shading is very scribbly, and isn't really contributing much of anything. Focus on the form and construction.
As for your question, the bottom points align with the end of the jawline and the chin, as I marked in the critique.
Looking at your homework, you seem kind of impatient. That's one of the (many) reasons I believe it is beneficial to have people fully complete the exercises of prerequisite lessons. It helps build up the patience that is really required to properly develop one's drawing abilities. Of course, I forcing people to do so just to access the material would be kind of unfair. Instead, I limit my critiques - which take a lot of time and effort on my part - to those who show the persistence and patience demonstrated by completing the requirements.
So. If you would like me to critique your work, please complete the lessons fully. You'll find the minimum homework requirements in the 'homework' sections of each of the lessons, as well as the required medium. I see that you did a little of each lesson, in bits and pieces, but really not enough to consider the lessons complete by any stretch.
I'm having trouble with likeness. Also how does one draw women without making them look like men? How do you draw teeth, without making the person look like a monster?
I don't really understand how one is supposed to use the proportions, when drawing from reference, do you mould the person into the proportions, or the other way around?
Your drawings look pretty good, actually. The constructions are solid enough, and (most of them) look like actual people rather than weird disfigured messes, so that's definitely a good thing. There are some travesties here and there, but I definitely see progress throughout.
As for your questions,
Likeness - this comes from observation, there's no two ways about it. Gradually you'll learn to pay closer attention to the features and proportions of the face. The proportions that I used in the lesson are good guidelines, but they're not hard-fast rules. For example, sometimes you'll find that the nose dips a little lower or higher. They serve as a solid starting point, though. Always pay close attention to your reference.
Drawing women - your women generally look like women as far as I'm concerned, but the most significant piece of advice I've heard on this topic is that women (that is, young, beautiful women) tend to have very few lines to their face. That is where that 8-point mask shape comes in very handy, because it defines the form without having to use too many lines. For now though, learning the construction by drawing it out will allow you to train your brain into being able to visualize it.
Teeth - don't draw all the lines you see. Separating each individual tooth out is going to make it look weird, because line gives you a limited gradation between values. It's very much either on (line drawn) or off (no line). With teeth, the lines that separate them are usually fairly faint, so it looks more natural if you leave those lines out. Instead, hint at them by implying little notches on the bottoms of the teeth, where those gaps begin.
I'm going to be rewriting all of these lessons, as I did the previous set, so it's up to you whether you want to wait for that or continue on, but I'll mark this lesson as complete anyway.
...Although I am going to be changing up the order and structure of the drawing people lessons, so it's gonna get a little weird and complicated. The badges/lessons are gonna be out of sync.
Uncomfortable
2014-10-30 19:20
Long time no lesson, folks. This one's in honour of national self portrait day, which is this Saturday (November 1st). Technically speaking, it's national (American) not international, but hell - I'm a Canadian and I don't give a damn. I want in on it too!
As with all lesson sets, be sure to complete the basics lessons before moving onto this one. Completing the Dynamic Sketching lessons will also help, though it is not mandatory.
LESSON 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes
LESSON 2: Organic Forms, Contour Lines, Dissections and Form Intersections
Notes
Unlike all of the previous lessons, for the next set (all about drawing people) you'll be free to draw with any medium you see fit. Pencils, pens, digital, paint... As long as you feel comfortable with it, and feel that you can work in sufficient detail.
I will be following up with the head at various angles, so for now just focus on the frontal construction. I considered including more of that stuff in this lesson, but it was getting pretty long already.
Bonus Content
Homework
4 pages of construction sketches, from reference. don't worry about detail, definitely don't worry about shading. Focus on getting your porportions and general shape/layout correct.
8 pages of full face studies, from reference. Frontal view only. Take them as far as you feel you can, and absolutely focus on what makes every face unique. A person's likeness can rest in all sorts of elements - the shapes of their eyes, nose, lips, the definition of their cheek bones, the shape of their jaw, etc. You should be spending a lot of time observing. Ultimately, if you end up spending 45 minutes observing and only 15 minutes drawing with the result being a fairly rough but accurate study, that is WAY better than the opposite.
Don't forget, November 1st is National Self Portrait day! And as always, all questions and homework submissions go in the comments.
[deleted]
2014-10-31 13:18
Let me intrude with this playlist - proko does a great job explaining the head so if the guide the Czar put together is not working, give this one a try as well.
Uncomfortable
2014-10-31 16:28
Nice find! That whole oval concept is really neat. I do have a concern about how he deals with the depth of the head, but I'll get into that in my next lesson.
[deleted]
2014-10-31 17:03
Did you look through all of his videos in that playlist? He covers different perspectives and what to think about when doing so, foreshortening and all that jazz.
Uncomfortable
2014-10-31 17:19
Ahh.. I think I get it. He's not incorrect by any means, it's just that the approach is completely different - so he compensates for certain differences from the method I was taught with other changes. I'll give the method a shot, it definitely seems very flexible.
tonehammer
2014-10-31 15:05
This sub is magnificent and so valuable for someone like me. Please don't stop.
solas_
2014-11-02 11:16
Just wanted to say thanks for all the work you're doing here! It's so useful for us!
Uncomfortable
2014-11-02 11:33
You are very welcome.
[deleted]
2014-12-05 05:17
[deleted]
Uncomfortable
2014-12-06 20:17
Hm... More than anything, I think this submission shows me that you should complete the basics lessons (Lesson 1 and Lesson 2) which start getting you into the mindset of 'constructing' objects rather than simply drawing what you see. It's the difference between replicating a photograph (which is essentially a 2D image) and rebuilding the 3D scene you see in the photograph.
What I'm seeing here in your construction sketches is that you're drawing very loosely. A lot of half-drawn shapes and timid lines. The lessons on this subreddit - the basics, and especially dynamic sketching - try and encourage you to draw more boldly and confidently - even the lines like the circle we start off with, which wouldn't even appear in a proper, "final" image. We're not interested in final images right now.
Here's a bit of draw-over, but I definitely think you should go back to those basics lessons. Gotta work to unlearn what you know thus far, and work with a blank slate. It's difficult, but worth it.
NuggleBuggins
2014-12-26 19:40
I am doing something wrong here, I feel like my proportions are off even though I am following you instruction. For one, I feel like if I extend the box one more unit, the chin is Way too far down, maybe I am doing it wrong some how? I also feel like my eyes are way off and because they are, my mouth is off as well. Also, for some reason, all of my faces have this weird cartoony look and they all look like crazy people (aside from the eyes pointing in different directions, I did that on purpose because I thought it looked funny hehe) Anyways, these are purely my construction sketches. I tried to do some portraits, but failed miserably. the last page is supposed to be Jim Carreys face.
HOMEWORK
Uncomfortable
2014-12-26 20:42
The proportions on the first page are actually pretty damn good. Then you go all... all wrong. Bad NuggleBuggins, bad! Swats with a rolled up magazine
The rest of your faces end up being too squat, and I know you can tell because you regularly try to correct it by chopping the sides off the original circle. If you stick with the circle and drop a full unit down for the chin, it may feel too long to you, but you're just not used to it.
In this overdrawing, I tackled the corrections in two ways. I reconstructed it from the original circle you started with, and I also gave the face you drew some reconstructive surgery, making her head narrower and bringing her eyes in to match.
Your Jim Carrey's proportions are actually pretty good, even though the faces are creepy as all hell. I think you might benefit from doing this particular set of lessons in pencil (the ink-only rule only applies to the basics and dynamic sketching). Faces and people are just so complicated that ink ends up becoming more of a burden than necessary. You can even do these digitally, if you like. Whatever feels most comfortable for you.
Give me four more pages of faces, all from reference. And try not to make the features too cartoony. You can always stylize later, once you've gotten the concepts down.
NuggleBuggins
2014-12-27 20:51
Still having some problems with proportions I feel like, Unless I am just crazy haha. And I promise I am not trying to make them look creepy.. they are just coming out like that :/
Homework
Uncomfortable
2014-12-27 22:07
You need to pay more attention to those proportions. One of the major mistakes I found was that your circle isn't a circle. Drawing a perfect circle's a bitch, and largely unnecessary - all you have to make sure is that it's as wide as it is tall.
Here's some more notes. Another four pages, and pay more attention to those proportions. 'Cause if you don't check, I'm just going to have you do another four!
There's two things that I'm looking for before I let you move forward
Checking your proportions (obviously), because proportions are a theme that will stick all through this set of lessons.
Start moving away from drawing the facial features as simplified icons, and instead paying careful attention to your reference, and the forms that are presented there. This is no different from all the previous lessons, but automatically simplifying the things you see is a normal response to the stress of having to draw a person.
NuggleBuggins
2014-12-28 00:13
Okay, So I used a ruler this time, just to make sure I was measuring things out properly. I still feel like my proportions are wrong. I am almost positive it is because all of my facial features are just completely screwed up. The mouths and eyes all look too big, and the noses are always just funky looking. Sometimes (especially on the one I wrote "wrong" on) the ears are way to long. And I don't even know how it is possible since I followed the proportions. And of course, again, none of them even closely resemble the photo reference. On the upside, my George Clooney drawing kind of looks like a combination of Bill Clinton and George Bush! :D
homework
Uncomfortable
2014-12-28 02:03
Your "george clooney" is actually quite well done. Obviously the likeness isn't there but I'm far more concerned with the proportions, which were solidly done. Whatever you did there - I guess, measuring the proportions on the photo - keep it up. Ultimately they're still the same proportions that I've been repeating, but I guess doing it that way makes them click a little more.
For the others, you felt that they were wrong because they were. The problems are less significant than they were on the last round - the main issue was generally the eyes being too high, and everything else kind of went a little wrong because of that. Also, you have a habit of drawing lips rather large - at least on that first page.
Your individual features are starting to look better. Less like icons, more like actual facial features. I think you should start drawing larger - one face per page, taking up a good deal of the page. The smaller you work, the more awkward it is to put in detail.
Four more pages please! If they all come out like the Clooney, I'll mark the lesson as complete.
NuggleBuggins
2014-12-29 23:54
Homework I feel like these were a little better.. Towards the end, I was trying to just imagine how I would draw the facial features and just shrink it all by about 20%.
Uncomfortable
2014-12-30 01:10
Way, way better. You're still making some mistakes, but you're compensating for those mistakes, which makes the faces look mostly proportional. You still have a ways to go before the proportions become second nature, but you're definitely making enough progress for me to mark this lesson as finished. Also your attention to detail has gotten way better - your individual facial features look much more realistic than they did before.
Here's the over-drawing and notes for this set. Things to look out for:
You're still drawing the eyes too high on the face. Fight the urge! Trust the proportions! Trust the measurements!
Also fight the urge to fully draw the mouths. I feel like a fully-drawn mouth, from the centre of one eye to the centre of the other looks way too wide. I added a really rough explanation of how I like to draw mouths - I pretty much just mark the corners at those points with little inward-pointing triangles.
Anywho. Onward to the next lesson, brave explorer! You have earned the first people-drawing-badge of the subreddit.
NuggleBuggins
2014-12-30 15:52
Wooo! Thank you!! You have helped me so much! Also, I wanted to ask you, If I somehow make it all the way to the end before you have new lessons up, can I go back and redo older lessons? I would like to go back and do them again too see how much better I am the second time around as compared to the first. And I feel like it will also help me reinforce the things you have already taught me!
dth0807
2015-01-08 08:50
http://imgur.com/a/AKU11
sorry I just wanted to make sure that I did the constructions correctly, or if I need to take them further and mark the planes of the face. also I use a slightly different proportion if that's ok.
Also for the 8 pages of full face studies do you want the blank expression or are emotions ok. sorry for the questions.
Uncomfortable
2015-01-08 14:30
Sorry that I forgot about your last question - ait slipped through the cracks last night. I'll give you a proper critique tonight when I get home from work, but I wanted to know how your proportion system differs.
dth0807
2015-01-08 15:04
From head to chin 1/2 way is the middle of the eyes. From there I eyeball the location of the brow-line based on the subject. Next, bottom of nose is 1/2 from brow to chin and bottom of lower lip is 1/2 from bottom of nose to chin. I use the same units that you use for the width and height of the head, but I find that I don't always use the entire width, sometimes the ears will fit within the box. Also hair line is the same distance from the brow to the bottom of the nose, so I just go one unit of that up from the brow to find the hair line.
Uncomfortable
2015-01-10 04:13
Most of that seems fine to me. Ultimately we'll see if it works out based on your homework.
dth0807
2015-01-18 23:32
http://imgur.com/a/5lqFI
blargh I hate the front view it's so awkward. Features gave me a lot of trouble.
Uncomfortable
2015-01-20 00:25
Yeah, I'm not a fan of front view either. It often seems really unnatural, but since we rarely draw things in frontal view, we tend to be bad at it.
There's two major elements lacking here:
As you said, your features seem troublesome. You're still kind of caught up in the whole icon-drawing mindset, where you understand an eye to be a particular shape, so you're drawing what you think you know rather than what you're seeing in your reference.
More importantly, you're forgetting about your construction. While you're free to draw in whatever medium you choose, I still want to see the construction lines. Generally, they help you gain an understanding of the head as a complex 3D form with specific planes, rather than what right now s a very flat drawing.
Post one of the references you used. I can give you a more helpful critique by drawing a version of the reference myself, and showing you the differences between your approach and mine.
dth0807
2015-01-20 00:44
http://imgur.com/DIz2k56
I start every drawing with the constructions, like the circle and then bring down a unit, find the middle for eyeline etc. but as I do that part lightly so it sort of just goes away as the drawing progresses. I could make sure the construction marks are heavier/clearer for future ones if that's what you'd prefer.
Uncomfortable
2015-01-20 01:29
http://i.imgur.com/pfd3N8u.jpg
Yeah, definitely draw it in heavier. The construction lines also help me understand what you're doing right and wrong. Also I'm definitely getting the sense that you're not treating them with enough significance in your drawing. Kind of like, you're drawing them, but not using them, if you get my meaning.
Anyways, the jist of my demo is this: line is bad. We must use it, but especially when drawing faces, we try to use as little of it as possible. Imply as much detail as you can. Also, look very closely at your reference for things like eye shape, nose, mouth, etc.
Draw me more faces!
dth0807
2015-02-19 06:56
http://imgur.com/a/vuZ4j
I know you probably want me to do more than just that but I want to know if I'm on the right track.
Uncomfortable
2015-02-19 22:49
Huuuuge improvement, especially on the first drawing, and I definitely think you're ready to move forward to the next lesson.
Your structure has improved dramatically. I'd still much rather see line drawings with minimal shading over heavily shaded portraits (because it helps demonstrate the structural understanding better, and I also bet you'd be able to do them quicker) but honestly, I don't mind. The structure is still very clear in what you've done.
Just to emphasize, I drew over the first portrait. That's pretty much all of the structure you put in there, and it's mostly spot on. If I had to suggest anything, it'd be to define the chin a little more.
What exactly caused this sudden jump in quality and understanding? Disappear for a month, and all of a sudden your understanding of facial structure (from the front, at least) jumped to a whole new level.
[deleted]
2015-01-21 19:49
Happy new year! I'm back to the lessons, ready to draw some people.
Edit: For each of these I drew the full guidelines and proportions - is this something that eventually you're supposed to stop doing?
Homework
Uncomfortable
2015-01-21 23:49
You'll need them less and less as time goes on. The guidelines are more there as a form of training, rather than a means to draw a correct head. The goal here is to start to recognize what looks correct and what doesn't, and what the general guidelines are. Furthermore, I want you to start seeing the head as a 3D construction rather than a flat object, much in the way we dealt with things for dynamic sketching. This is an extension of those concepts, so don't be throwing them on the wayside.
I appreciate how far you took your guidelines. There were some mistakes in those guidelines, however - sometimes since we're following such strict proportional rules (which of course don't suit every occasion, but are good starting points), it's very easy to trust that they are correct. Because hey, we measured!
Here's my notes on your homework. The top left has a great example of what I mean. You buggered the circle, making it wider than it was tall. It's not an uncommon mistake (based on what I've seen out of all three people who've attempted this lesson?), and I can understand how easy it is to make. It'll definitely throw your proportions off in a big way though. Measuring circles is hard, but if you treat it like a square, that should make it a little simpler. Just take your fingers and use them to measure the width, then bring that down as the height.
As I said before, the face is a 3D construction. It's made up of a lot of planes. Someone who is new to drawing faces will treat them as being fairly flat, which leads to a cartoony look. The fat deposits on the cheeks and such make it kind of easy to do that, as well. You've got to look deeper, and see the structure that lies under the surface. Once you can start to see that, it'll be a hallmark of gaining a greater understanding of the head as a constructed form.
Also, you're drawing your ears as really consistent curves - take a look at how I've drawn them in the top right of my overdrawing. They angle outwards, with the top of the ear further out than the bottom. This differs from person to person, but it's a good rough approximation to start from.
Finally, facial features. Look carefully at your reference. You're drawing a lot of symbols, for the eyes and nose. For the lips, you're doing a little better (using more indication instead of outlining everything), but they're still coming out very flat. The key is to observe - spend a lot of time doing that. The features are, like the head, not flat. They too have planes (probably because literally everything has planes in this world). The lower lip for instance has a top plane, a front plane and a bottom plane.
I'd like to see you do another set of heads from the front.
[deleted]
2015-01-22 20:07
Phew! Lots to digest. I took another stab at it trying and tried to visualize the head as a 3D object, and I feel like it came out better - my eyes especially. Well, except for the derpy cross-eyedness that popped up. That's what I get for not using a pencil.
Homework appended at the beginning
Uncomfortable
2015-01-22 23:41
The one on the left on this page looks better (though her eyes seem a little close together). A lot of the others are still looking rather wide. I noticed that your ear shapes have improved, and your eyes are looking less iconic, though your nose is still sitting arbitrarily on the face.
Think of the face like a 3D puzzle. All the pieces fit together. You don't necessarily draw all the pieces and the borders between them, but you should understand them as such - and that understanding will ultimately come through in your drawing. How do your noses fit into the puzzle of the face? Right now they're just kind of glued on.
Also, try to tone down your exaggeration - especially on the nose and jaw sizes. Exaggeration tends to make things look cartoony.
Anyway, I'm going to mark this lesson as complete - you still have a ways to go, but at this point it's a matter of rereading the lesson and my critiques, and practicing more. Since the next lesson is related to the head as well, there's no reason to hold you here.
victoriarosie
2015-03-11 21:14
Hey so this may be a strange request but do you mind submitting a few pages of sketches of faces you've done? I like tracing stuff because it helps me feel the way I should be drawing if you get me.
Uncomfortable
2015-03-11 21:29
Hm, I'm probably not the person to copy, since people are generally my weaker area (and yet I post these lessons, HA!). As for sketches, I've only really got the stuff I did to critique others.
When I do faces for myself, I usually do value or colour studies. Except for the three heads, those were just off the top of my head, hence the stylization.
victoriarosie
2015-03-11 21:50
"People are generally my weaker area" procedes to link me godly drawings of people
Thanks!
limmillis
2015-03-18 05:30
So if you use pen to sketch a face I'm assuming you can't do all the boxes and circles and lines is that correct? Because there would be no way of getting rid of them.
Uncomfortable
2015-03-18 13:52
We're not aiming to make pretty drawings here. We draw in that structure so we get used to the correct proportions as well as creating the illusion of a 3D, planar form. Over time, this kind of practice will lead to an improved understanding of those elements, to the point where you'll be able to leave out some of the lines and visualize them mentally instead.
That said, with these lessons, I stop stressing the felt-tip-pen-only rule that I enforce with lessons 1-6. That's because I generally feel that drawing humans is generally more complicated, and that restriction will result in far too much frustration for some people. But regardless of which medium you choose, I expect to see the forms/shapes/guidelines laid in.
limmillis
2015-03-19 02:10
Okay I understand so if you were making a picture specifically to make a nice picture though you wouldn't use the underlying shapes in pen though right?
Uncomfortable
2015-03-19 02:15
That's debatable, I guess. There are a lot of ways to make the guide lines less visible, by allowing them to blend into the rendering, or using line weight to draw attention to other parts of the drawing and allowing those fainter guidelines to simply recede. The second approach is how we handle drawing in lessons 3-6. The results can still look great, and often times those guidelines aren't even noticeable unless you look carefully.
That said, when drawing faces it's riskier. If you're trying to draw a smooth, unwrinkled face, those guidelines can sometimes be fairly noticeable because there's nothing else to draw the attention away.
There's a lot of different ways of doing things, depending on what kind of result you're after, so I would never really discount one approach over another.
nightningflash
2015-03-26 04:11
Can you provide some pointers for determining the positioning of the lower portion of the mask? I seem to be having a hell of a time relating the mask with the curve of cheeks and chins.
The faces I draw look like people but are pretty far off from the actual models.
homework
Thanks!
Uncomfortable
2015-03-26 22:44
You haven't yet submitted the prerequisites for this lesson! You must complete the basics first (lessons 1 and 2) before I will accept the homework for this lesson.
All the same, I drew a quick breakdown/critique of one of your faces (because I didn't realize you hadn't completed the prerequisites until I was half finished). Your proportions are pretty decent, though you tend to let things float in space instead of having them exist as grounded forms. You also don't pay close enough attention to the shapes in your reference. Finally, I'd recommend not using very much shading at this stage. Right now your shading is very scribbly, and isn't really contributing much of anything. Focus on the form and construction.
As for your question, the bottom points align with the end of the jawline and the chin, as I marked in the critique.
nightningflash
2015-03-27 05:29
I'm sorry. I didn't realize you want the earlier stuff to be submitted. I did lesson 1 and 2 on scrap paper and so some of it is pretty messy.
lesson 1 & 2 homework
Uncomfortable
2015-03-27 15:43
Looking at your homework, you seem kind of impatient. That's one of the (many) reasons I believe it is beneficial to have people fully complete the exercises of prerequisite lessons. It helps build up the patience that is really required to properly develop one's drawing abilities. Of course, I forcing people to do so just to access the material would be kind of unfair. Instead, I limit my critiques - which take a lot of time and effort on my part - to those who show the persistence and patience demonstrated by completing the requirements.
So. If you would like me to critique your work, please complete the lessons fully. You'll find the minimum homework requirements in the 'homework' sections of each of the lessons, as well as the required medium. I see that you did a little of each lesson, in bits and pieces, but really not enough to consider the lessons complete by any stretch.
nightningflash
2015-03-28 01:07
That sounds fair. Okay. I'll resubmit the previous lesson's assignments in full in the other threads. Thanks.
Golden_Crane
2015-03-28 21:48
http://imgur.com/a/47pds
I'm having trouble with likeness. Also how does one draw women without making them look like men? How do you draw teeth, without making the person look like a monster?
I don't really understand how one is supposed to use the proportions, when drawing from reference, do you mould the person into the proportions, or the other way around?
Also I used Michael Hamptons head proportions
Uncomfortable
2015-03-29 05:00
Your drawings look pretty good, actually. The constructions are solid enough, and (most of them) look like actual people rather than weird disfigured messes, so that's definitely a good thing. There are some travesties here and there, but I definitely see progress throughout.
As for your questions,
Likeness - this comes from observation, there's no two ways about it. Gradually you'll learn to pay closer attention to the features and proportions of the face. The proportions that I used in the lesson are good guidelines, but they're not hard-fast rules. For example, sometimes you'll find that the nose dips a little lower or higher. They serve as a solid starting point, though. Always pay close attention to your reference.
Drawing women - your women generally look like women as far as I'm concerned, but the most significant piece of advice I've heard on this topic is that women (that is, young, beautiful women) tend to have very few lines to their face. That is where that 8-point mask shape comes in very handy, because it defines the form without having to use too many lines. For now though, learning the construction by drawing it out will allow you to train your brain into being able to visualize it.
Teeth - don't draw all the lines you see. Separating each individual tooth out is going to make it look weird, because line gives you a limited gradation between values. It's very much either on (line drawn) or off (no line). With teeth, the lines that separate them are usually fairly faint, so it looks more natural if you leave those lines out. Instead, hint at them by implying little notches on the bottoms of the teeth, where those gaps begin.
I'm going to be rewriting all of these lessons, as I did the previous set, so it's up to you whether you want to wait for that or continue on, but I'll mark this lesson as complete anyway.
...Although I am going to be changing up the order and structure of the drawing people lessons, so it's gonna get a little weird and complicated. The badges/lessons are gonna be out of sync.
Golden_Crane
2015-03-29 07:40
Thanks for the long reply. I'll wait for the next lesson, and do the new lesson 6 & 7.