Sign in to join Remi Engels's fan club.
Guidelines for Pencil Portrait Drawing - Stumping and the Putty Eraser
Remi's Arts
Once you have blocked-in the major tone masses of your portrait you are ready to blend and "remove" the lights with a kneaded eraser.
A stump is a cylindrical tool tapered at the ends and generally made of rolled paper.
Stumping then is to smear or blend your hatchings with a stump. The purpose of stumpingis to produce gradations and halftones and to give certain tone areas a softer appearance.
Blending can be done in different ways. You can employ tissue paper or even your fingers or both. When utilizing your fingers be sure to clean off any oily remainders with a tissue.
Stumping must be done in a painterly manner. You should figuratively cut out the form while keeping in mind both the structural anatomy and the plane changes. As you work identify each anatomical element. This is in particular true when you work on intricate structures such as the nose and the eyes.
In a comparable fashion you can employ your kneaded eraser to "take out" graphite to lighten certainareas. Again, go about it in a painterly manner. Utilize the kneaded eraser as if it is a brush.
Now and again you may want to make use of the concept of "closure". Your mind has a predispostion to fill in the gaps in your observations. That is, the mind has a need for "closure". You can make thoughtful use of this predispostion and leave certain parts of your portrait uncompleted. It adds interest to your drawing as the viewer's mind will involuntarily finalize the portrait for you.
After you have done a good bit of stumping and removing graphite with your kneaded eraser it is time to further articulate the forms and planes by cross-hatching with a harder pencil (e.g., a 2H pencil). But, there are a few things to look out for at this point.
Be careful not to render the light side of the face too darkly or it will look like a bruise. The smile-line is also difficult. If you over-emphasize it you will end up with a sneer. It is best to under-emphasize it and let the viewer's sense of finalitiy finish it for you.
An essential consideration must be made when sketching from a photograph. A photograph should only be reference material. That means visual decisions must be made. For example:
- What type of emotional response are you after? When people view your portrait what type of initial visceral response do you want them to have to your drawing. Good technique is absolutely necessary. But it will count for nothing if it is frosty cold and dry.
- Make choices. You should not draw every little detail but only the essential ones. Use your artistic sensibility to make these choices.
A hard 4H pencil can be used to make the already dark areas even darker through cross-hatching.
Careful attention needs to be paid to the edges of the forms in your drawing. For example, as a form turns away from the light source its value gradually gets darker and takes on a soft edge.
A cast shadow has a hard edge. The shape of a cast shadow is determined by the shape of the object throwing the shadow and the shape upon which it is being thrown.
End the drawing by paying attention to the essential details. You also want to further tweak and stabilize the constructed values. Your drawing must always read as a cohesive entity even if you choose not to bring it to a high finish.
These few simple tips will set you on the proper path. Apply them correctly and soon your pencil portraits will show much improvement.
Article submitted Friday, January 16, 2009 & read 157 times.
Remi Engels, Ph.D., is a pencil portrait artist and oil painter. He is also the author of a popular Pencil Portrait Drawing Course. Get Your Free copy here: Remi's Pencil Portrait Drawing Course while supplies last.
Leave your comments through Blogz:
51-0-1-0-2-ADSO
Copyright © 2012 IcoLogic, Inc.