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Tips On Pencil Portrait Sketching – The Six Elements Of Portrait Sketching

Guidelines for Pencil Portrait Drawing – The Six Steps of Portrait Drawing

Drawing in always entails four separate elements: line, value, texture, and form. In the special case of pencil portrait drawing we can refine the list of elements to six: form, proportion, anatomy, texture, value, and planes.

Drawing in always entails four separate elements: line, value, texture, and form. In the special case of pencil portrait drawing we can refine the list of elements to six: form, proportion, anatomy, texture, value, and planes.

In this commentary we will give a detailed description of each of those pencil portrait drawing elements.

(1) Form Shape or Shape – The illusion of three-dimensionality in sketching and art in general has been central to Western art for a long time. The carving out of form using line, structure, and value was vital to almost all Renaissance art.

On the other hand, eastern and much contemporary art emphasize flatness of form although this era in contemporary art is drawing to an end.

All form in sketching can be reduced to four basic 3-dimensional solids: cones, cylinders, spheres, and bricks. The correct use of these forms together with perspective and value leads to the illusion of 3-dimensionality even though the drawing is, in actuality, located on a 2-dimensional piece of sketching paper.

In portrait sketching, the arabesque of the head, the square structure of the head, and all components within the head (nose, eyes, etc.) are all 2- and 3-dimensional forms that add to the overall illusion of 3-dimensionality

(2) Proportion – encompasses all sizing and placements of form. Proportion refers to the idea of relative length and angle size.

Proportion gives answers to these 2 questions:

1. Knowing a defined unit of length, how many units is a particular length?

2. How large is this particular angle?

Answering these 2 questions consistently accurately will give a drawing with the right proportions and placements of all forms.

(3) Anatomy – refers essentially to the underlying parts of bone and muscle of the head.

It is essential to study as much as you can about anatomy. There are many books available on anatomy for artists. For a portrait artist it is really significant to study the anatomy of the head, neck, and shoulders.

Anatomy texts regrettably include many Latin terms which makes it somewhat complicated to grasp. The idea is to study slowly and a little bit at a time because it can be quite exasperating.

(4) Texture – in portrait sketching expresses the degree of roughness or smoothness of the forms. The texture of a rhino skin, for example, is quite different from that of a cloud.

There exist quite a few methods and tricks to help you with the creation of the correct textures. Creating textures presents you with the chance to be very creative and to use every possible type of mark you can make with a pencil. In portrait sketching textures appear in places such as hair, clothing, and skin.

(5) Tone – refers to the degrees in light or dark of the pencil marks and cross-hatchings. Powerful portrait drawings use the full range of contrasting lights and darks. Beginning artists many times fail to reach this full “stretch” of value, resulting in timid, washed-out drawings.

(6) Planes – produce the sculptural sensibility of a portrait. The head has numerous planes each with a unique direction and therefore with a different value.

The idea is to think of the surface of the head as a collection of distinct planes with a certain direction relative to the light source. You should try to identify each of the planes and sketch its accurate shape and value.

The accurate handling of planes contributes a lot to the likeness of your model as well as the illusion of 3-dimensionality.

Do you want to learn the secrets of pencil portrait drawing? Download my brand new free pencil portrait drawing course here: portrait drawing course.

Remi Engels is a pencil portrait artist and oil painter and expert drawing teacher. See his work at pencil portraits.

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