How can I improve my shading when I draw?

Question

Personally, I think I'm a pretty good drawing. If I were to rate my artistic ability I would give myself a high 6 or 7 on a scale of 1-10. (all personal opinion of course).

If I have an image of something, I can draw it pretty accuretely. However, they don't look too realistic when their portraits of people.

How do I improve or get started on shading when I draw images of things like faces?

-thanks.

** I meant drawer/artists. Not a good drawing. haha.

Answer 1

Practice! The best way to improve your drawing skills is to practice. Try looking for pictures (or taking your own) where there is strong lighting because it will make it easier for you to see where the shadows fall, so you can practice shading. Try lots of different lighting angles (from the front, side, top, etc.) There are also many good books available, you should look for one that focuses on shading techniques. If you are really serious about improving your drawing skills, you might try taking a life drawing class from a local art center or college, or looking for someone that teaches private lessons. You can also buy books of reference photos for artists such as facial expressions or people in various poses to practice from.

Answer 2

Yea, yea, I know how frustrating a "Practice makes perfect!" answer is, so I'll give you a real answer to help.

Remember: In a portrait, THERE ARE NO LINES!
It may not look realistic because you're drawing a border around the entire eye, and the sides of the nose, etc., and it looks like a cartoonish outline. Make the shapes with SHADES. About the shading:

I bet you're not drawing any dark shades on the face. The first step of shading a face is to shade the ENTIRE FACE one flat, light gray. Then you won't be scared to do a darker shadow where the shadows are and if you need a really bright highlight on the face (like on the pupil), you can "erase" a highlight into it with an eraser.

The first thing a beginner artist needs to get over is their fear of dark shading. And you can draw lines initially when making the face, but you should never see a line (unless it's a black border like the eyelash line or the middle lip line) in the entire drawing. The lips themselves, for example, are just a slightly darker shade of the skin tone, NOT three lines for the top, middle, and bottom of them.

Hope it helps.

UPDATE:
I just noticed the girl's answer above me. Good work. It's a hard thing to notice because we are so used to drawing dark lines when drawing.

Answer 3

If you can forget a face is a face and learn to see the head and face as shapes and planes this will help you understand why shadows fall the way they do. Using an intense light source on your subject really helps too. You can play around with light to give different feels to your portraiture. Sometimes when I draw I will just sketch an outline and fill in all the darkest shadows, when I am satisfied then I draw the detail work over top. It's something you have to play with until you get just the right feel your looking for. Good luck and don't give up!

Answer 4

There are five great answers to your question already, I'll just add my 2 cents. Look . . . really observe. When ever you see a face you would like to draw observe. Whether it is an older person whose face has character, or a young beautiful girl "see" how the light defines the texture of young skin and compare that mentally to the line etched face of an elderly person. Remember, generally speaking the quality of the light will make a difference as well, in bright sunlight the lines will appear "deeper" than they would in the softer light of an overcast day. Light brings it forward, and the shade or darkness cause it recede visually.

Have fun!

Answer 5

When I was learning to draw faces, what helped me a lot was to realize that people really do not have lines on there face. In other words, do not draw lines for a nose, gradually build up the shading around the nose. Really look at the contours and subtleties of the face.

Also, realize the average proportions of a face. (Eyes are in the center of the face, etc.) Draw from photographs and real people when you can. Don't rely on memory, really look at the subject, and draw, draw, draw!
Good luck.

Answer 6

To blend a shade, a good way to do it is get a tissue and fold it up, then rub it on a darker shaded area to blend it more into the drawing. It makes things more realistic. Still, I think I still need to work on shading too, so basically, all the advice I can give you is that practice makes perfect.

Answer 7

If you intend to learn to draw the right picture all that's necessary is time and Realistic Pencil Portrait Mastery guide from here https://tr.im/X7Nje to be in the right path.
The instructions from Realistic Pencil Portrait Mastery guide contain 208 pages and an overall total of 605 illustrations.  The essential method used is that you begin with an image, bring a gentle outline of the function, and then color it in.
Realistic Pencil Portrait Mastery is the right allied to really make the ideal draw.

Answer 8

If you want to discover the secrets of drawing realistic pencil portraits you really need to visit this site: http://pencilportraits.toptips.org

These drawing lessons, both throughly enjoyable and productive, go well beyond casual sketching: students learn to observe minutely the details of any given face, to see what is, and what is not, before them, and how to translate what they see into what are after all just pencil marks on paper.

I highly recommend it for both the experienced and the inexperienced artists alike.
Hope it helps.

Answer 9

Do what i did when i first wanted to learn how to paint portraits in oils. I went to the library and checked out as many books as i could on portrait drawing and portrait painting. I am a self taught artist and my work is posted at hellosanantonio.com under the name ''Guerro''. Though i don't consider myself a portrait artist those seem the type of paintings i am usually commissioned to paint. So, hit the books, practice, and i'm sure you will do just fine.

Answer 10

Practice makes perfect. Seriously, nothing helps more. Just do at least one value tone or drawing exercise a day, it will help you immensely.