so I've been working on learning how to draw faces and I've definitely improved, but I'm not completely happy with how I draw. I don't really enjoy realism but whenever I try to simplify or stylize it either looks awful or I find myself defaulting back to copying the ref image as closely as possible. also drawing takes me [i]forever[/i], none of the following sketches are taller than an inch or two but they all took 45 min to an hour at least.
here's some ballpoint portraits, tell me what you think I should work on?
[img]https://i.imgur.com/yW0eCn9.jpg[/img]
^these are from [url=https://www.pinterest.com/aaldoori/portrait/]aaldoori's 100 faces challenge[/url] if you want to see what ref material I used
[img]https://i.imgur.com/Yp2PhIG.jpg[/img]
also I want to add color but idk what medium to use, I'm not sure what would work well w ballpoint (which I like and want to keep using) except for watercolor, which generally seems much more washed out and pale than what I'm interested in. thoughts?
I'd like to try digital at one point (preferably by keeping my traditional lineart and scanning it into an image editing program rather than starting from scratch) so if anyone's got any advice on where to start w that and which (preferably affordable) programs are best to use, that'd also be helpful.
so I've been working on learning how to draw faces and I've definitely improved, but I'm not completely happy with how I draw. I don't really enjoy realism but whenever I try to simplify or stylize it either looks awful or I find myself defaulting back to copying the ref image as closely as possible. also drawing takes me
forever, none of the following sketches are taller than an inch or two but they all took 45 min to an hour at least.
here's some ballpoint portraits, tell me what you think I should work on?
^these are from
aaldoori's 100 faces challenge if you want to see what ref material I used
also I want to add color but idk what medium to use, I'm not sure what would work well w ballpoint (which I like and want to keep using) except for watercolor, which generally seems much more washed out and pale than what I'm interested in. thoughts?
I'd like to try digital at one point (preferably by keeping my traditional lineart and scanning it into an image editing program rather than starting from scratch) so if anyone's got any advice on where to start w that and which (preferably affordable) programs are best to use, that'd also be helpful.
@
Demagogue i don't have any super helpful advice in regards to technical art stuff other than you will definitely get faster at it over time, which might be something you already know, but i do have advice for art programs!! i really recommend Krita! it's a completely free program and it's really great, especially if you want to try out digital art but don't wanna drop money on one
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Demagogue i don't have any super helpful advice in regards to technical art stuff other than you will definitely get faster at it over time, which might be something you already know, but i do have advice for art programs!! i really recommend Krita! it's a completely free program and it's really great, especially if you want to try out digital art but don't wanna drop money on one
You could try washes of coloured ink. Ink is like watercolour but you can get some really bold colours with it. Good quality watercolours can also give you nice vibrant colours but yeah, generally they're used for a softer look.
but you can go pretty far with just other coloured ballpens. Edizkan on instagram is an artist that comes to mind. He also works in other mediums so you could try those out too
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByfqcQjAFq3/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
speed comes with practice so don't worry about the time it takes. 45 mins for an almost photo real drawing isn't bad. You've captured the character and the mood and that is really good. the most important thing is getting the drawing to look how
you want it to look. that might mean starting it over or it might just mean sticking a piece of paper over the bit you don't like and drawing over it (sticky notes are good for that)
Pen (like a quill, a random stick or object or paint brush) and ink can be a fun experiment to get out of your comfort zone and create wacky drawings, maybe you'd come up with some inkling of the direction you want your style to go in after messing around a bit with some harder to control utensils
Harsh critique
Overall the hatching could be neater and possibly more contoured to the shape of the face/neck/hair. I think it would be a little nicer to see some more tonal variation in your lines and shadows, sometimes your darks could go just a bit darker, especially around the eyes. Eyes are really important when you're doing faces you'll want to find a way to make the eyes look alive by some sort of contrast be it tonal, line weight or spatial distance between features.
Just generally, your line work is really important because that's what you're working with. It needs to look more deliberate, it's a bit scratchy in places.
Practice your hair, you don't need to draw it in strand by strand, you can if you want to but make sure to give it some volume when you're doing it. Lots of great hair tutorials out there
You could try washes of coloured ink. Ink is like watercolour but you can get some really bold colours with it. Good quality watercolours can also give you nice vibrant colours but yeah, generally they're used for a softer look.
but you can go pretty far with just other coloured ballpens. Edizkan on instagram is an artist that comes to mind. He also works in other mediums so you could try those out too
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByfqcQjAFq3/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
speed comes with practice so don't worry about the time it takes. 45 mins for an almost photo real drawing isn't bad. You've captured the character and the mood and that is really good. the most important thing is getting the drawing to look how
you want it to look. that might mean starting it over or it might just mean sticking a piece of paper over the bit you don't like and drawing over it (sticky notes are good for that)
Pen (like a quill, a random stick or object or paint brush) and ink can be a fun experiment to get out of your comfort zone and create wacky drawings, maybe you'd come up with some inkling of the direction you want your style to go in after messing around a bit with some harder to control utensils
Harsh critique
Overall the hatching could be neater and possibly more contoured to the shape of the face/neck/hair. I think it would be a little nicer to see some more tonal variation in your lines and shadows, sometimes your darks could go just a bit darker, especially around the eyes. Eyes are really important when you're doing faces you'll want to find a way to make the eyes look alive by some sort of contrast be it tonal, line weight or spatial distance between features.
Just generally, your line work is really important because that's what you're working with. It needs to look more deliberate, it's a bit scratchy in places.
Practice your hair, you don't need to draw it in strand by strand, you can if you want to but make sure to give it some volume when you're doing it. Lots of great hair tutorials out there
@
Demagogue - I can't give too much advice on how to draw people as I'm not very good at it myself, but I will say that I notice that some of your drawings (specifically in the first picture, #6) look a bit "skewed" or uneven, like part of them is stretched a bit too much on one side because the perspective is a bit off. This is something that happens a lot when I draw, and one trick that helps me correct it is flipping the image every once and a while. You can just flip the canvas if you're doing digital, or if you're drawing on paper you can flip it over and hold it up to a light so you can see through the back.
It can be really disheartening the first few times you do it, but seeing your drawing from a different angle can really help you see what mistakes you are making that you didn't notice before.
You did improve on this quite a bit in the second image. second down on the far left looks especially good.
As for color, I'm not exactly sure what to use with ballpoint pen, I would imagine any kind of wet medium would smudge the ink. You could look into colored pencils maybe?
For watercolor, I would specifically look into getting decent watercolors and paper and not bother with the really cheap stuff (if you haven't already, that is). They would be much more vibrant than your cheap craft-type paints, though watercolor in general isn't as vibrant as other mediums just by default. You could also look into gouache which is basically opaque watercolor, or I think some people just use very watered down acrylics, but I think that would cover up your lineart unless you applied it very thinly.
I would also recommend looking into alchohol markers, like copics. Copics specifically are super expensive but there are cheaper brands that are still good, like prismacolor. One downside is that you do have to buy quite a few colors. You can layer markers to get different colors but it doesn't work especially well, at least I don't think so.
Lastly, this a pretty good guide on how to scan and edit lineart so you can color underneath it in photoshop. I'm not sure what program you plan to use but I imagine that some of them have similar options:
https://www.deviantart.com/megsyv/art/5-iii-645052048
@
Demagogue - I can't give too much advice on how to draw people as I'm not very good at it myself, but I will say that I notice that some of your drawings (specifically in the first picture, #6) look a bit "skewed" or uneven, like part of them is stretched a bit too much on one side because the perspective is a bit off. This is something that happens a lot when I draw, and one trick that helps me correct it is flipping the image every once and a while. You can just flip the canvas if you're doing digital, or if you're drawing on paper you can flip it over and hold it up to a light so you can see through the back.
It can be really disheartening the first few times you do it, but seeing your drawing from a different angle can really help you see what mistakes you are making that you didn't notice before.
You did improve on this quite a bit in the second image. second down on the far left looks especially good.
As for color, I'm not exactly sure what to use with ballpoint pen, I would imagine any kind of wet medium would smudge the ink. You could look into colored pencils maybe?
For watercolor, I would specifically look into getting decent watercolors and paper and not bother with the really cheap stuff (if you haven't already, that is). They would be much more vibrant than your cheap craft-type paints, though watercolor in general isn't as vibrant as other mediums just by default. You could also look into gouache which is basically opaque watercolor, or I think some people just use very watered down acrylics, but I think that would cover up your lineart unless you applied it very thinly.
I would also recommend looking into alchohol markers, like copics. Copics specifically are super expensive but there are cheaper brands that are still good, like prismacolor. One downside is that you do have to buy quite a few colors. You can layer markers to get different colors but it doesn't work especially well, at least I don't think so.
Lastly, this a pretty good guide on how to scan and edit lineart so you can color underneath it in photoshop. I'm not sure what program you plan to use but I imagine that some of them have similar options:
https://www.deviantart.com/megsyv/art/5-iii-645052048
@
Demagogue
One thing I noticed is that your facial proportions are off. The face should be divided into thirds below the hairline. The upper third is between the hairline and the eyebrows. The middle third is between the eyebrows to the bottom of the nose. The lowest third is the bottom of the nose to the bottom of the chin. You're also drawing the mouths too low on the face. These things can vary a bit since no one has a "perfect" face, but the mouths seem consistently too low and the vertical facial proportions seem to vary a lot with each picture.
@
Demagogue
One thing I noticed is that your facial proportions are off. The face should be divided into thirds below the hairline. The upper third is between the hairline and the eyebrows. The middle third is between the eyebrows to the bottom of the nose. The lowest third is the bottom of the nose to the bottom of the chin. You're also drawing the mouths too low on the face. These things can vary a bit since no one has a "perfect" face, but the mouths seem consistently too low and the vertical facial proportions seem to vary a lot with each picture.
First of all, I think you have a great style; your faces are really expressive and distinct and tbh, though some of the positioning of facial features is a little skewed, it kind of adds to the style.
That said, if you want to push towards more realism, I'd recommend focusing on the positioning of the eyes relative to the other parts/outer contours of the face.
[img]https://i.pinimg.com/564x/92/be/db/92bedb8745460ec04310a5c17e16b3cf.jpg[/img]
Looking at the third head on the graphic above, you can see that the places you can put the eyes (and other facial features) are limited by the curves and contours of the face, like the cheekbones and sides of the head. In some of your drawings, like the sixth face in the first picture and the third man in the second, the eyes are drifting too far apart, making it look a little off.
As for digital art programs, I use Clip Paint Studio, which is a little expensive, but often goes on sale for $20-25, which is a steal considering how much it offers!
First of all, I think you have a great style; your faces are really expressive and distinct and tbh, though some of the positioning of facial features is a little skewed, it kind of adds to the style.
That said, if you want to push towards more realism, I'd recommend focusing on the positioning of the eyes relative to the other parts/outer contours of the face.
Looking at the third head on the graphic above, you can see that the places you can put the eyes (and other facial features) are limited by the curves and contours of the face, like the cheekbones and sides of the head. In some of your drawings, like the sixth face in the first picture and the third man in the second, the eyes are drifting too far apart, making it look a little off.
As for digital art programs, I use Clip Paint Studio, which is a little expensive, but often goes on sale for $20-25, which is a steal considering how much it offers!
A hatchery dedicated to Lightning reps and the Lightning aesthetic
echoing a couple of other people, your facial proportions are a little off! it looks a little bit like you're drawing the facial features first and then working out the rest of the face around them - it's a common pitfall, but it can throw your proportions off in a way that's hard to fix.
starting by sketching the broader features of the face, like at the top of the second picture, can help with this - try and focus on the 3D shapes by watching where the light falls. otherwise, it just comes down to practise. you've got a strong start, though! stylization will come naturally as you expand your visual library of shapes, and that just comes the more you draw.
you mentioned drawing takes you a long time - this is also something that'll come with practise, but a really good exercise is trying to force yourself to draw faster by setting a time limit. a lot of figure drawing websites will have a timer option - try warming up with 30-60 second drawings. see how much of the basic shapes you can get down when you're forcing yourself to be quick. it'll help train your eye and your hand at the same time. it's also important to learn not to be too perfectionist about your art! sometimes a sketch will just turn out wonky, but it's much easier to throw it away if you've only spent a minute or two on it than if it's taken the best part of an hour.
i know this ultimately just boils down to "draw more", which is basically the most common art advice BUT it's also the best! but i think you have really strong foundations, and as long as you stick with regular practice you'll definitely see improvement soon!
echoing a couple of other people, your facial proportions are a little off! it looks a little bit like you're drawing the facial features first and then working out the rest of the face around them - it's a common pitfall, but it can throw your proportions off in a way that's hard to fix.
starting by sketching the broader features of the face, like at the top of the second picture, can help with this - try and focus on the 3D shapes by watching where the light falls. otherwise, it just comes down to practise. you've got a strong start, though! stylization will come naturally as you expand your visual library of shapes, and that just comes the more you draw.
you mentioned drawing takes you a long time - this is also something that'll come with practise, but a really good exercise is trying to force yourself to draw faster by setting a time limit. a lot of figure drawing websites will have a timer option - try warming up with 30-60 second drawings. see how much of the basic shapes you can get down when you're forcing yourself to be quick. it'll help train your eye and your hand at the same time. it's also important to learn not to be too perfectionist about your art! sometimes a sketch will just turn out wonky, but it's much easier to throw it away if you've only spent a minute or two on it than if it's taken the best part of an hour.
i know this ultimately just boils down to "draw more", which is basically the most common art advice BUT it's also the best! but i think you have really strong foundations, and as long as you stick with regular practice you'll definitely see improvement soon!