Drawing heads/portraits | Tips and Process

I've been drawing portraits for years and today I want to show you how I do that. I've been taking courses and classes, I've practiced a lot and I finally came up with a method that works great for capturing everything right from proportions to details. My name is Kate, I'm an artist and welcome to my channel. In this video there will be lots of faces, tips and chatting. Let's get started. Here are the supplies I'm going to use and all references I found on Pinterest. I tried to pick different angles, expressions and features, so I can tell you more about tackling various little challenges along the way. Whenever I plan to draw more than one portrait in one sitting, I start with something I find easier. For me that's usually a three-quarter angle like this one and I consider it easier than a front view face because it's not complicated by symmetry that much. Also I want to mention that I'll be sharing the process as it happens in real life with all refining, erasing, redrawing. I think that's important. I remember taking a course by an artist whose portraits I absolutely adore and usually, you know, in courses everything is so polished, it looks like everyone nails proportions, values and forms on the first try like they're pros. They've gone through the process so many times and that's what they do. But this artist showed her real unpolished process with mistakes and I thought, wow, she makes mistakes too. It happens to everyone and it is absolutely normal. That really lifted the pressure of chasing perfection for me. I was so excited to realize that it's okay to draw asymmetrical twisted features that notice the mistake, erase and redraw. With this portrait I tried really hard not to overwork it and keep a sense of softness and a cotton pad makes it much easier to achieve this effect. Once I've discovered all the benefits of blending sketches with a cotton pad, the process became much faster and easier. I know there are special tools like blending stumps for those purposes but actually I've never tried blending stumps. If you try that, let me know if it's worth it. There is another option to blend with your finger. I saw some people do that but I wouldn't recommend this method because oils from skin could result in grease and make the sketch look dirty. And how do you like the first portrait? I didn't expect it to look beautiful. I thought it would be like a warm-up but it turned out so clean and soft. I love it. It reminds me of these medieval renaissance portraits. Do you see that? Also, please give this video a like, it would be so helpful for my channel to grow and subscribe for more videos like this. Thank you! The next reference I picked was a profile view and even though the proportions are pretty much the same, it can be tricky to place every feature where it belongs. You've probably heard of the Loomis method for drawing faces. It's pretty popular. But if you haven't, I'll quickly explain. You start with a sphere, then cut off the sides to create flat planes where the ears go. A center line and a brow line help face the features in proportions and from there you map out the jaw, the nose, eyes and mouth, adjusting for different angles. I mostly follow this strategy but over time I've stopped using the sphere part and if you wanna get better at drawing heads or if you are just starting, I definitely recommend learning more about the Loomis method. It's a great way to memorize proportions and build any portrait from any angle. I still remember how surprised I was to learn that the eyes are placed in the center of the head. That just didn't make sense to me at first but it turned out to be true. Eyes usually sit right in the middle. I think the confusion comes from the fact that there's so many features below the eyes, while the upper part of the face feels kinda empty. Another surprising fact, ears are the same length as the distance between the eyebrows and the bottom of the nose. Faces are full of surprises. Even though I didn't really capture much likeness from the reference, I think the second sketch turned out pretty nice with realistic shading and neat hatching. For the third sketch in the spread I raised the stakes and chose a reference with a strong emotion. She seems to be looking at something disturbing or shocking. I'm sure that's a picture from a movie scene, I just don't know which one. So if you've seen it, let me know what made her look that surprised. This was a challenge to capture the emotion. In my usual process I do everything I can to achieve that expression in the early rough stage of the drawing, when I can easily erase and refine anything on the face and that's my advice. It might sound obvious but it's worth saying. Spend a little extra time on the rough sketch to make sure the proportions are right and the emotion comes through. Later, especially after blending, it takes much more time and effort to fix mistakes. Honestly, I've been there so many times when my drawing was almost finished and then I noticed something was off and instead of erasing and redrawing, I tried to cover it with more layers and in most cases it didn't work. The sketch ended up ruined or at least not the way I wanted. I think you know what I mean. It's worth double checking and fixing anything you can as early as you can. Now I wanna talk about hatching and how I use it in my drawings. First of all, I love how it looks. If it's a pencil sketch, I use hatching in most cases. Do you agree it looks amazing? There are a few rules I follow to make it look cohesive and appealing. The first layer of hatching is usually pretty loose and goes in any direction because I'm going to blend it later, so it doesn't really matter what direction you put your hatching in. But when I want the hatching to stay visible, I think more carefully about its direction. One approach is to keep all the lines in the same direction, but what I prefer though is trying to make the strokes follow the form. On a sphere, for example, the hatching gradually curves around the shape. With a face, it's a bit trickier, but I found an easy way to practice. Just search all master's face sketches on Pinterest. You might not be into old master's art, and that's fine. It's such a quick way to find tons of beautiful sketches with great hatching to use as guidance. Okay, back to my sketch. Do you think I captured the emotion? To me, she looks kinda surprised, but in a positive way. Not like the reference. In this video, I'm going to draw 9 sketches, 3 per each spread. And here is the finished first spread! I really like all the drawings. And let's move on to the next spread. For the next spread, I chose this dramatic cinematic reference with deep shadows, interesting lighting, and also a strong emotion. What I also found interesting was this slight angle. She tilted her head towards us, and that's why all the facial features slightly shift. Sometimes it's not obvious that the head is tilted, but there is one way to detect it. In a neutral, straight view, the ears are usually placed between the eyebrows and the bottom of the nose. But if the head is tilted downward or upward, the position of ears changes. Like here. The ears went up, while the eyes, nose, and mouth shifted a little bit down. At first, I wanted the drawing to really look like her, but something went wrong, and I decided not to focus on likeness, but instead on accurate shading and proportions. But I also blew it, because I noticed a little too late that the nose was too short, and I should've erased it and redrawn it, but I kept it this way. I cannot say that was a huge mistake, so that was okay. Now I want to share why I always use these exact pencils. I actually own a full set of graphite pencils from soft to hard leads, but I haven't been using them in a while. One reason is that they need sharpening too often. When I first tried this mechanical pencil, I was so excited not to have to sharpen it anymore. I use a Pentel 0.3 with H or HB lead. I couldn't be happier, honestly. For details, I like using a black colored pencil, in my case it's a polychromos, because it doesn't smudge and it's highly pigmented. Smudging is the biggest problem with graphite pencils. Some artists use a piece of paper or a special glove, but I just rely on these supplies and it works. This Pentel pencil does smudge a little, but nowhere near as much as soft core graphite pencils. Maybe it's the way I hold my pencil, I tend to touch the drawing over and over, so it's important for me to avoid those situations. I'm so curious to know how do you deal with unintentional smudging. My favorite step when it's time to use the black pencil. That's when the drawing really transforms. I'd also say it's most important to emphasize the eyes in a portrait, so I went over her eyes with the black pencil and look how much better the whole portrait looks. I actually like how the sketch turned out, even though it didn't end up looking the way I planned. Did I mention there will be 9 face sketches in this video? If not, now you know. And here is the sketch number 5. I tried really hard to find references that look as different as possible. Angles, features, colors and so on. This one cut my eye because of her fragile soft beauty. Blonde eyebrows and lashes and lighting that made everything look even softer and more subtle. So my plan was to showcase those exact qualities and I blew it. At first it was looking promising, but then I made a mistake. I used the same cotton pad that was already full of pigment from previous blends. The whole point of blending is to build a nice midtone and then work up the shadows and highlights. But in this case the midtone turned out too dark for the effect I wanted. And then I almost lost hope in this sketch, but I decided to keep going and be content with whatever result I got. And that's what this practice is about. Each time I draw, I get better. It's not always that obvious because it's not like every next drawing will be better than the last. But from these drawing sessions we always gain new insights and ideas from the experience. I hope you'll find something helpful in this video, maybe pick up a little insight from my approach. And sometimes I actually prefer these chatty drawing videos over strict tutorials because they feel more relaxed but still packed with valuable information. How do you prefer to learn? Do you take paid courses, go to art school or search for tutorials on YouTube? And here's the sketch. It's not that bad. After all, it's just nowhere near subtle and soft. The last sketch in the spread is the first male portrait. The difference between drawing men and women isn't that big. The proportions are the same, the technique is the same. The only difference in approach is making the shapes more angular and the structure more visible. Personally, I love when a photo shows a clear eye socket outline or a prominent cheekbone, basically when the skull bones are visible. I find it very beautiful. But if I get too carried away with those details in a woman's portrait, it can add age or look too harsh. Which makes me wonder, why don't I draw male portraits more often? I really should. You know why it's easier to sketch with pencil than with paint or any other medium that involves color? Because color can be very distracting. That's why it makes so much sense to invest time in one-color drawings before moving on to color. If you wanna get better at portraits and make your drawings look 3D, the study process really should include this kinda boring step of exploring values. It sounds simple, like of course I can see what part of the picture is darker and what is lighter, but in reality, it's not that obvious. Have you seen those reels where artists demonstrate just how wild color theory can be? You've probably come across them. If not, definitely google it. It's really mind-blowing. Back to the drawing. I love how it turned out. Now I don't even know which sketch is my favorite. The first one or this one. Another sketch and another beautiful reference. My first thought was that this photo would be perfect for a stylized portrait. If I wanted to turn her into a character, I'd make her a fairy. I would add wings and maybe a flower headband and some other whimsical elements, shimmering lights and so on. That's actually a good idea for another video. Like how to turn a simple reference into a whimsical illustration. Would you watch that? Here's another tip for drawing portraits. Some details you see in a reference should be omitted. As someone who's been doing portrait commissions for years, I've learned that certain details look normal in photos and in real life, but in drawings they can add age. The most common example is smile lines or nasolabial folds. I hope I pronounced it correctly. It's very common to have a little line or a shadow there and if it's visible in a photo, I don't copy it exactly in the drawing. I either leave it out or draw it very subtly. And it's not only about making someone look younger. In stylized drawings those details often look harsh. Especially if you draw them as hard lines. This sketch was coming along really well and I noticed how much faster the process was compared to the first couple of sketches. This next reference is probably the best one for face study out of all the ones I used in this drawing session. Because of the strong lighting and deep shadows, she's also squinted her eyes a little which makes it interesting to draw. At first my sketch looked rather angry, so I had to fix it and stay more truthful to the reference. Sometimes subtle changes like curving the eyebrows a bit more can make a huge difference. In just two strokes a person can go from angry to kind. This time I decided not to erase anything but instead refine the details after blending and it worked really well. Another thing I love about this reference is that strong shadows do half the work for you, making the drawing look more polished and professional. A great way to improve any portrait is to add clear definition between light and shadow. If you want to get better at drawing, I highly recommend practicing with references that have strong defined shadows. It really helps you understand facial structure and like I said, it just looks more professional. Our eyes naturally notice it. Try this. Next time you see a portrait drawing you love, take a moment to ask yourself what makes it look so good. Chances are defined light and shadow are a big part of it. By the way, I'm curious how do you usually pick your references? What makes a good reference for you? And here is the eighth sketch completed. I think this one turned out amazing. What do you think? Here is the last reference for today and I think it's a great one for practice. The light comes from the upper right side, soft and diffused, so the shadows are going to be soft too. There are just a few strong highlights under the right eye, on the nose and on the lips. I like to map those out at the beginning. For more accurate placement of the features, I measure the space between the eyes and lips and draw imaginary lines between the edges to make sure everything lands in the right spot. I also took a photo a couple of times and flipped it to check symmetry and make sure nothing shifted too much. Actually, I'm surprised I never mentioned the head model I used. It helps me a lot. Especially when I'm unsure about the shadows and highlights. I'll leave the link for it in the description for you to check it out. At this point her face started to remind me of Irina Shayk. Do you see that too? That's it for this portrait practice. As I promised, I shared some tips and walked you through my process. I hope you found something valuable in this video. If so, please let me know what it was. Your likes and comments really help and motivate me to make more videos. Most of the content on my channel is much shorter, like nearly it's about 10 minutes, so this one was a bit of an experiment. If you watched until this point, thank you so much! I hope it inspired you to draw something and bring more creativity and art into your daily life. See you soon in the next video. Bye-bye!