Tip on Pencil Portrait Drawing - Working With Strong Lights and Shadows
Tone is one of the most vexing and troublesome elements of portraiture.
Most artists are very tentative about tone and don't push the darks far enough.
This is often because: 1.
Their eyes are not yet trained to see the subtle gradations, and 2.
The fear of losing a drawing.
Beginning artists can see big lights and big darks and halftones easily enough but it takes eye-training to see the finer variations in value.
In this article we will focus on the interplay of strong unconventional lights and darks that are cast upon the subject's head, i.
e.
, light-dappled patterns.
As always, we first strike the arabesque and establish the facial area (brow line and base of the nose).
When working with a complex tonal pattern the primary task is looking to simplify the patterns.
Drawing, in general, is always 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 failure.
Using a stump or your fingers, stump down the graphite.
If you use a paper stump be careful not to deaden the tone.
The lights can be added, corrected, and refined with your kneaded eraser.
The facial area and the hair are now carefully plotted in.
Keep these structural lines very light.
Also, continue constructing the tonal forms keeping in mind that, except for the sun-dappled pattern, the tone must be suppressed, i.
e.
, nothing in the shadows must pop out.
This is a delicate balancing act.
Value 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 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 drawing should look like an under-painting.
Like color, tone is affected by the value of its neighbors.
You can see, for example, that once the hair is blocked-in and somewhat refined that the facial area now appears lighter than before.
Next, you can return back to the facial area and break down the large value masses into their various shapes and relationships by employing cross-hatching, stumping and delicate eraser work.
The challenge with dappled light is to render the delicate patterns while still maintaining a coherent whole.
As a general rule, cast shadows have hard edges while form shadows have soft edges of varying degrees.
When using a stump, you should barely 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 lay down the most delicate tones use the blackest, hardest pieces of kneaded eraser you can find.
As is the case with the facial area, the tonal values of the hair must be subordinated to the overall light and must harmonize with the face both physically and emotionally.
Finally, at this stage you can leave the drawing as is or you can push it further by adding more detail.
That is an artistic decision left to you.
Most artists are very tentative about tone and don't push the darks far enough.
This is often because: 1.
Their eyes are not yet trained to see the subtle gradations, and 2.
The fear of losing a drawing.
Beginning artists can see big lights and big darks and halftones easily enough but it takes eye-training to see the finer variations in value.
In this article we will focus on the interplay of strong unconventional lights and darks that are cast upon the subject's head, i.
e.
, light-dappled patterns.
As always, we first strike the arabesque and establish the facial area (brow line and base of the nose).
When working with a complex tonal pattern the primary task is looking to simplify the patterns.
Drawing, in general, is always 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 failure.
Using a stump or your fingers, stump down the graphite.
If you use a paper stump be careful not to deaden the tone.
The lights can be added, corrected, and refined with your kneaded eraser.
The facial area and the hair are now carefully plotted in.
Keep these structural lines very light.
Also, continue constructing the tonal forms keeping in mind that, except for the sun-dappled pattern, the tone must be suppressed, i.
e.
, nothing in the shadows must pop out.
This is a delicate balancing act.
Value 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 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 drawing should look like an under-painting.
Like color, tone is affected by the value of its neighbors.
You can see, for example, that once the hair is blocked-in and somewhat refined that the facial area now appears lighter than before.
Next, you can return back to the facial area and break down the large value masses into their various shapes and relationships by employing cross-hatching, stumping and delicate eraser work.
The challenge with dappled light is to render the delicate patterns while still maintaining a coherent whole.
As a general rule, cast shadows have hard edges while form shadows have soft edges of varying degrees.
When using a stump, you should barely 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 lay down the most delicate tones use the blackest, hardest pieces of kneaded eraser you can find.
As is the case with the facial area, the tonal values of the hair must be subordinated to the overall light and must harmonize with the face both physically and emotionally.
Finally, at this stage you can leave the drawing as is or you can push it further by adding more detail.
That is an artistic decision left to you.