When tracing isn't an option, there are still ways to transfer a photo to your drawing surface, and you should learn both of them. They will save time for experienced artists and LOTS of frustration for beginners. The first method is the slide method. This will only work if you want the finished work
One of the easiest ways to polish your drawings to a professional level is to take a little extra time and protect your lines. This is going to be especially important in areas of high contrast (such as the side of the face against a dark background) ... ... places where different textures touch,
Drawing expressive noses can be something of a challenge... ... in that the nose doesn't have nearly as much freedom of movement as the other features of the face. As you would expect, the change in the nose is subtle. Most of the expression is shown in the lines that run from the corners of the
In addition to what the face itself tells about the mood of the character, body and head position play a crucial role as well. We almost never hold ourselves completely still unless we're concentrating on being quiet. Even when we stand straight, the head tilts to the side, hands emphasize points by gesturing, limbs
The mouth is one of the most important features involved in creating facial expressions. It has a tremendous range of motion, and can do everything from pucker to yawn. The corners of the mouth can raise or lower, the lips can push out, stretch flat, or pull wide. And we use our mouth continually, not
Eyes are the windows of the soul, and as such, they are also the cornerstone of facial expressions. We look to the eyes first to see what a person is really feeling or thinking, and when the mouth contradicts what we see there, we believe the eyes. Expression in the eyes is shown by the outer
The most effective means of capturing a realistic hand, no matter what position it's in, is to begin by seeing the exterior shape of the whole. Visualizing the exterior shape is useful for a number of reasons: first of all, it is a simple way of starting the drawing. You have to start somewhere, and
To draw the hand flat, palm facing up, visualize two exterior shapes: the hand wrist to fingertips without the thumb, and that same area with the thumb. You'll find that the first shape is a long, skinny oval attached to the wrist and that the latter is a lopsided egg shape. Divide that shape in half
The exterior shape of the fist may be either a square or rectangle depending on the position of the hand. Observe proportions carefully to determine which best fits your drawing ... ... and don't forget to add the wrist extending off the bottom at an angle. Cut off the corners as shown to make a
Before you can draw the hand realistically, you need to acquaint yourself with the underlying bone structure. There are three types of bones in the hand; phalanges, metacarpals, and carpals. Combined, these bones give the hand and fingers an extremely varied and wide range of motion, such that drawing the hand can become highly complicated.
Eyebrows are funny things, generally relied on too heavily by cartoonists and not enough by realistic artists. In truth, they do have a wide range of motion and are very important to showing expression ... ... realistic or cartoonish--on a face, because they reflect how the muscles are pulling in the forehead. Scowls, surprise,
Begin with two shapes; the shape of the fingertips to the wrist without the thumb and that same area with the thumb. You should have a long, skinny oval for the first area and a lopsided egg shape for the second. Divide the oval in half and mark off four equally sized fingers. The guideline
Perspective drawing is structured around these two concepts. They are crucial to making objects look like they are diminishing into the distance at an accurate rate ... ... making planes appear to converge as they retreat from the viewer, and showing that planes foreshorten as they twist towards the viewer. But what are vanishing
When you need to translate irregular sizes to a plane in perspective, a measuring line is very helpful. Draw your object, complete with its vanishing points and horizon line. Extend a horizontal line off the bottom corner of the shape. This is the measuring line. It should run adjacent to the face that you
The techniques of perspective drawing are based on principles of simple geometry. For instance, you can find the center, or midpoint, of any square or rectangle by drawing the diagonals of that shape. The center is the point where the two lines intersect. Knowing that, you can quickly find the center of rectangles and
Once you can draw a box in one, two, and three point perspective ... ... you can draw most anything, because any three dimensional object will have a top, bottom, and sides. Therefore, even if it doesn't look like a box, it can be put into a box and the rules of foreshortening and
There are three types of perspective ... ... each one named according to the number of vanishing points it employs. In one point perspective, such as the classic picture of a head-on railroad track diminishing to a pinprick in the distance, the observer's line of sight is perfectly in-line with the parallel lines, and
Pen and ink is an excellent medium for depicting animals with a lot of linear qualities, like long fur or wrinkled skin. You can use dip pens to build up tone using line techniques, or you can paint in tone with brushes. Before beginning a finished work, practice the different strokes that you'll need
Shaggy fur isn't as easy to draw or paint as it might seem. It's more than simply scribbling a few lines on the page; in order to make fur that looks realistic ... ... you have to be able to see the overall shapes and then to pick out the few details that make the
Short fur, especially from a distance, may not look like fur at all. Animals such as giraffes, horses, and some dogs have such short fur that the bone and muscle structure is easily seen beneath it ... ... which makes accurate drawing essential, since you can't disguise mistakes with shaggy lines. Short fur is depicted