First attempt at portraits...

[Cabal Tattoo]

Ok, so I was asked to post the reference for these and I understand why, thanks.

These were done in about an hour each, it was a quick contrast and proportion exercise to get me going, what do guys think...?

[Vinoshitto]

try to think of it as a build up of areas in different shades of gray, rather than "an eye", because, then you will draw what you think is an eye, not what it really is.. which is a pattern in a relationship between light and dark..

And as one would often do, try to limit the use of outlines.

Keep it up, your on the right way! :)

sorry for retarded grammar.. Swedish.

[Vinoshitto]

also.. dare to use a more darker tone in the heavy shaded areas..

and in the second pic, try to get the flow of the hair on the side burns..

[Cabal Tattoo]

Thanks man, yes that is something one has to learn to steer clear off when doing portraits, lines...!
But yes, more values of gray, working on that... ;)

[Cabal Tattoo]

Yeah, hair is hard, I know that there are a couple of tricks for that. Do you know of any good books from pros...?

[acink]

Do a quick google search mate loads of good info and on you tube plenty of good ref materiel to be had

[CajunDave]

ur on right track keep at it u got a ways to go. subtley is the key with ur lighter shades. highlighted areas need to be pulled out with a kneeded eraser on the right side of boys face(by right eye socket area)ur overdoing it a bit on the midtone. to much midtone on the left side of the boys face around eye socket area. shoud of used mostly light except a bit of mid on the folds in the eye etc. dont outline anything. everything should have a soft edge. shade in the hair, pull highlights out with a kneeded eraser. use a cuetip or ur t shirt or a sock or what ever and soft blend alot of this shading to get the grain look out.

theres some other tricks but ill let u figure them out as it took me decades to figure them out on my own :) do these things to the boys face and it will look 100x times better! do a crapload of these then start trying to freehand um but using a ruler for proportion marks. then after u start nailing those, lose the ruler.

[CajunDave]

also dont try and complete the entire drawing in one fast go . really good drawings take time work from one side to the other doing one quadrant of the face at a time ....or even a smaller area at a time if the picture is really detailed. u can do good drawings with just an hb pencil but for starting it might help to have 4. id recommend a 2H pencil for light tone u can press this one light for a lite tone and a little harder for a light midtone., HB for mid but dont press hard with it.... a 2B for some dark tone ...dont press hard. and a PRISMACOLOR EBONY PENCIL for ur blacks. press decently hard. u can get these shades with just a 2h and an hb if vary ur pressure and layering...

[Cabal Tattoo]

Cool, thanks a lot, I'm soaking all of this in, yeah the paper was really textured for the medium I was using...! ;) I think I did them with an HB and 2H...;)

[Tattoosbyjjones]

one thing i've learned to get good midtones- draw subtractively.
get a chamois, blending sticks,kneadable eraser, and even possibly an electric eraser.
you can use the chamois or even a piece of cloth to get a good light tone over the entire piece- then, use your erasers to subtract your light areas/highlights.
its really just a matter of adding dark, and subtracting light.

i hope that makes sence, its painfully more difficult to explain in type, than to just show.

[Cabal Tattoo]

Yeah cool, exactly, got to try those electric erasers with the subtraction technique.
Here is something really old, kind of the subtract technique but you draw the highlights instead and use the black paper as the shadows, anyways tried to...;)

I know allot of stuff in wrong with this, proportions and all, it was also my first with this technique and I think I did not have a reference, can't remember, maybe for the eyes...

Some portrait master told me to try this and I do believe everybody would benefit in trying this cause what you trying to do is to see the highlights and nothing else, kind of like sculpting, it is a kind of subtract technique I think. ;)