How to learn to draw a portrait:
Sketches Automatic translate

Table of contents

Sketches

A quality drawing is born from a combination of a sharp eye and a confident hand. Constant arm training is the best way to acquire these skills. Start with people who may not change their position for a long time, so that you can draw them in time — you will find many such “models” on beaches, trains, pubs and cafes. Sketches of people in different poses develop your visual understanding of the human figure, motionless or in motion.

Do not worry about incomplete sketches and do not go into details, especially if people are moving - focus on the main forms and try to catch the movement itself.

Never throw away your old sketchbooks - they are witnesses of your progress. In addition, in the future you will be able to create more finished works on their basis.

If you draw moving figures or fleeting poses, you should work quickly, focusing only on the main body shapes. Details you will add later. Previous sketches from a notebook or book on drawing theory will help you complete unfinished forms. In addition to developing confidence in the hand, you will train your eye so as not to be distracted by other things and look only at the people you want to draw. The best way to acquire such skills is to sketch identical stationary figures in the intended time period, first in one minute, then in two, five and twenty minutes.

Use a pencil to check the proportions, while distinguishing the most important from those that can be neglected. Weigh the time it takes to measure and transfer it to paper, with the accuracy that is required for your sketch.

Even if you have a lot of time, learn to minimize the number of lines that you draw; this will develop a certain accuracy of your hand and add strength and persuasiveness to your work. Having correctly caught the basic forms and movement, the rest of the time you can spend on working out the expressiveness of the sketch and transmitting the play of light and shadow on the figure.