Drawing tutorial

Originally did this for facebook and a drawing forum but thought I'd share it with you guys too!

Pencils: 4H, 2H, HB, B, 2B, 4B
Materials: Sharpener, paper stompf, knead-able eraser, erasing pen, soft brush, big brush (I use a powder-brush) to brush away erasing stuff with (running your hand over your drawing might make you cry as you will smudge it out)


Step 1:
Use a 4H pencil to lightly sketch out the features. Don't worry about details, this is just for you to get an accurate placement of the features. Do not press with the pencil, that will ruin the paper and will also be hard to erase.
Fix it up and erase what you don't like and re-sketch it. Hold the paper out to get a different view of it, go away from it for a little while and come back or scan it to easier spot mistakes and things that are off. Define some good lines with a 2H if you want to.



Step 2:
Start drawing. I usually start with the eyes. Remember that eyes are moist and therefor will have a defined highlight, mostly also when they are in shadow. I used 2H, HB and B for the eyes.

Step 3:
Start shading. I start by drawing gently with a 2H, then HB, then B. After that I blend with a stompf (if you don't have one you can use a q-tip) and fill in some more on the darker parts. Avoid smudging with your fingers, it damages the paper and it creates an oily surface that can make it hard to edit.


Step 4:
Do the mouth. Try not to leave sharp edges around the mouth, it will make it look like a clown. The upper lip is usually a bit darker than the lower as the light usually comes from above. The lower lip usually has a highlight. Don't go crazy with the lines on the lips, too sharp lines will look weird.
Sculpt the face with your shades! Remember that the face is rounded. Objects further from you will be darker and closer objects will be brighter.

Step 5:
Keep shading to sculpture the hand and neck. The closer to objects are to each other the darker the shadow is.


Step 6:
Take out your 4H again and gently sketch in the hair. Smudge the hairline a bit so there will not be a sharp edge.

Step 7:
Use a 2B pencil to draw in the hair. Brush it with a soft brush to create softness.



Step 8:
Add a few more layers of 2B, brush between each. Also add a layer of 4B, but fewer lines. This will create structure. Brush it!

Step 9:
Add shades and highlights to the hair. Add stray hairs and fix the shadow by the hairline to look natural.
I use an eraser pen to make the highlights, but you can also cut a pointy piece from a regular eraser or form a knead-able eraser to a pointy tip.
Remember that even white hair will have very dark areas, just as black hair will have bright highlights.



Step 10:
Add some finishing touches and you're done!

Pencils:

Pencils are graded with numbers and letters, such as 2B, 4H, HB etc.
H means "Hard" and B means "Black". A 5H is harder than a 4H, just as a 6B is darker than a 4B. An HB is in the middle range.
The harder a pencil is the brighter the lines become. Hard pencils are not made for pressing against the paper. Think of it like this:
The paper has "teeth". The hard pencil will be hard to chew graphite off but will also damage the teeth more, while the softer pencil will be easier to chew graphite off and will not harm the teeth as much. Got it?

Shadows
Small lightning source will make the shadow wider the further from the object it gets:



Big lightning source will make the shadow narrower the further from the object you get:



The surface and nearby objects will reflect in the object. The light bounces off the surface of this table up to the egg:


(images taken from http://hippie.nu/~unicorn/tut/xhtml/ )

Speculars
All materials will have speculars, a highlight where the light bounces off. Smoother materials (like silver, glass, metal) will have more exaggerated speculars while very "rough" materials (like cotton, dirt) will have speculars so soft that it is hardly visible:



(pictures borrowed from http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm )

Damnit, I only have 2 minutes left. Post the other steps already!



Looks great so far

Thanks JP. ^^

dam nice tutorial permision to print screan and lirn?

Permission granted.

I'd love to see your final work too! So please scan and post it here,or snap it with a camera! Would be fun to see.

I will try I have a perliminery drawing of chare but that is in my old home as i havent finished moving yet,.. this will help me well thank you so much