Guidelines For Pencil Portrait Drawing - Using Strong Illumination And Shadows
Tone is one of the most vexing items of portraiture. Most artists are very reluctant about value and do not push the darks far enough. This is often because:
1. Their eyes are not yet taught to see the subtle variations.
2. The fear of messing up a sketch.
Starting artists can see large lights and large darks and halftones easily enough but it takes eye-coaching to see the finer variations in tone.
In this expose we will focus on the interplay of strong irregular lights and darks that are cast upon the model's skull, i.e., light-dappled patterns.
As always, we first strike the construct and locate the facial features (brow line and base of the nose).
When dealing with a complicated tonal pattern the prime task is looking to simplify the patterns. Drawing, in general, is invariably an exercise in simplification, i.e., making choices.
The next step consists of blocking-in the overall dark/light pattern with single tones. At this stage do not yet refine the values because doing so will surely lead to disappointment.
Using a stump or your fingers, blend the pencil dust. If you use a paper stump be careful not to dull the tones. The lights can be added, corrected, and refined with your putty eraser.
The facial area and the hair are now carefully plotted in.
Keep these structural lines very soft. Also, continue constructing the tonal shapes|forms keeping in mind that, except for the sun-dappled pattern, the value must be suppressed, i.e., nothing in the darks must stand out.
This is a subtle balancing act. Tone must be added and then delicately modeled and/or taken away. This is an exercise in going back and forth.
Also, do not yet want to finish the facial features but be sure that the likeness is already evident and that the proportions are accurate. That is, at this stage, your sketch should look like an under-painting.
Like color, value is influenced by the surrounding 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.
Now, you can return to the facial area and break down the large value masses into their various shapes and relationships by using cross-hatching, stumping and delicate eraser work.
The challenge with dappled light is to make the delicate patterns while still keeping an interconnected entire. As a general rule, cast shadows have hard edges while form shadows have soft edges of varying degrees. When using a stump, you should hardly touch the paper. This allows you to keep the small lights that reflect off the paper thereby keeping the image alive and vibrating with light.
To produce the most delicate tones utilize the blackest, hardest pieces of putty eraser you can find.
As is the case with the facial area, the values of the hair must be subordinated to the overall light and must harmonize with the face both physically and emotionally.
Lastly, at this stage you can leave the drawing as is or you can push it further by adding more minutia. That is an artistic decision left to you.
