Draw in Detail, it's Easy!

Choose a subject and then select the best picture for your drawing. You want to make certain you can see all the details you want to put into your drawing. If the photo is blurry, it will be difficult to see and cause your drawing to be less interesting. Here is the photo I used to create this drawing. If you will notice the "pupils show up very red. I just ignored that and made them the natural tone.

Make a simple sketch of the overall picture. It doesn't have to be very detailed. You can use your gummy eraser to fix the mistakes. Also have a ruler close by to measure the distances between the eyes, nose and other features. If you get them in the right place on your drawing, just by adding the shadows will make your sketch like the original drawing. If you don't, your drawing might look similar but not exact. So get them as close as you can. Remember to SKETCH lightly!

This is important. If you are right handed, then start on the left side of the paper. If you are a lefty, then start on the right side. You will be using an "ebony" pencil for the shadowing. Ebony is the darkest lead pencil you can get. The reason you start at one side or the other is that the palm of your hand will smear if you lay it down on the dark areas.

Using an ebony pencil will add great details to your sketch if you use it properly. You will want to start off slow and add shadows only where you see them, and go light at first. You can darken up as you go and don't forget you have your gummy eraser.

Below is a slide show of 7 pictures in order. You will see how the drawing begins to take shape in each one. I use a blending stump “shown in picture #1.” Another name for it is “tortillion.” It looks like a pencil with one end that is pointed. It is made out of paper and used to blend the pencil marks on the paper.

Now that you have most of the face drawn in you can move to other areas. You don't have to be completely finished with the face, you will be able to come back later and add more details pulling the drawing together.

Below I have a series of sketches showing the addition of my fingers. As you scroll through the drawings you will see them appear. Pay particular attention to how light I sketched in the finger nails and knuckles. You don't want to make the outlines of the fingers very dark. You do this later on as you add shadows to your drawing. The shadows that you add later will make your drawing look 3-D. It gives the appearance of one object sitting on top of another.

Once you have everything in your drawing, you can look around for areas that need to be dark or lighter. You can use your gummy eraser to lighten. You might try just "tapping" softly with your eraser to see if that is enough. If it isn't removing the pencil marks, you can rub the eraser on your drawing to remove the excess. Where it needs to be darker, make it darker with your ebony pencil. This effect will give you the REAL look you are trying to achieve. Use your tortillion to blend everything together.

The slides below show you a few more details and then the final drawing. You need to spray some clear spray over your finished drawing. Otherwise it will fade or smear. The clear spray can be purchased at any art supply store. Good luck and happy sketching!!

Make sure you leave comments below, thanks.

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