That one key sentence”it takes practice and time” that is it, you have to PRACTICE!! Don’t be lazy, you have to do the WORK! When people see us out urban sketching and they say “ oh you are so talented....” yes and I have been doing this for years and years. I did a class with Frances stone, from sktchy . It was great practice.. thanks for the video..
I’ve been doing portraits for a while and can say this. Forget doing them in pencils. You have to use ink. You hear me? Ink. Forget graphite when doing faces. You’ll never get them right if you do. Why’s that? Because when you try doing faces in graphite…the graphite drags on the paper forcing you down in the trenches. You have to constantly make sure the lines show up when you do them in pencils. And this makes you forget the creative juices and makes you worry about your lines, etc. This wears you down. So stop drawing faces in pencils and ditch the graphite. Stick to ink and you’ll quickly get better. Why? Because the ink flows on paper more quickly allowing you the time to concentrate on the areas that interest you. The ink does the hard work…not your wrist digging down into the paper.
Humans have evolved to recognize faces, to recognize the slightest variations of form and movement. We do those errors with landscapes, with everything we draw, but we have evolved specifically to watch faces. That's why we struggle with portraits, we see the smallest untruthfulness. Thank you for this video.
Over my last 2 years of learning to draw i routinely would attempt, then give up on human portraits. Im now a month into my solid study of faces and am super happy with the results
The lower lip of the girl needs to be extended a smidge to the left which will move the line of the opening of the mouth to the left too. Interestingly enough, I'm seeing some of your younger daughter in your female portrait. I did that with one of mine quite by accident but my daughter saw it right off and covered the eyes and she was right! I had inadvertently been painting her mouth and nose without focusing on the actual picture I was painting from. I'd had my daughter on my mind a lot in those days..... Thank you so much Steven. Your use of the water brush for these is phenomenal! Thanks so much for sharing!!!
OMG! "Draw what you see." My 7th grade art teacher said that over and over again. We spent months examining eggshells in various mediums because he said if you can do them realistically, you can do anything. .....every broken fragment of shell. OI! Hated it BUT very valuable lesson. Thank you for sharing your endless wisdom and talent. I appreciate your videos beyond words.
I have just 2/ 3 months ago started studying portraits ( I dabbled in it before when I was younger and remembered how much I liked it) and it's hard and enjoyable at the same time. But I agree with you, you have to really want to do it and practice every day. Now and then I manage a drawing of someone I know looking very much like them, even, and that is a feast and a lot of encouragement!!!
Thank you for posting this, Steve... I did some drawing back in the late 50’s and 60’s, but life and other pursuits got in the way. Now, I think I’m ready to start over again. I think that I had the makings of becoming an artist, but as time passed by, I found other things to do... maybe now that I’m retired I can once again try my hand at it... and at my current age I may have developed the patience that I lacked way back when...
Right with you, Bill. I, too, had a significant gap in life that excluded art. At my wife's urging, I am returning to drawing and painting in preparation for retirement next year. At the onset, I decided to switch to my left hand. I am a natural lefty. Steve has been very instrumental in my progress. This posting re-inforced many things I learned and forgotten about drawing portraits.
You go guy! I'm 63 and started painting 2 years ago. It's become my obsession. I can see gradual improvement. Now I look forward to having the time to do something I enjoy. Of course, Steve Mitchell is the man! One of the best w/c artists for instruction on TH-cam!
Good for you Ann Angel! I will be improving soon as well. Practice practice for me. In returning, I am haunted by Degas who said "Everybody has talent at 25. The difficult thing is to have it at 50." I guess we have guts!
I appreciate this post. Art is a serious hobby for me - my day job is as a financial advisor, but I have been getting commission inquiries from posting my drawings and paintings on Facebook over the last few years. Most of my commissions have been pet portraits - and I think they've been pretty good - and in some cases, very good. Human portraits - so much more difficult. Eye placement, noses too long, lips too low - I continue to make those mistakes when I practice, but as Steve mentions, practice is the key. As to my success on animal drawings versus people drawings, I guess it's some sort of mental block. I get nervous about what an eye, nose, or mouth should look like, but if I'm drawing or painting a dog, or bird, or cat -- it's easier for my brain to let me just focus on shapes.
What's helped me a lot is sketching with more permanent tools (like ballpoint pens) and I'll definitely try watercolour! I think it made me think about proportions before I put down lines, since they're permanent. I still have to correct a lot, but afterwards I can still see my mistakes and learn from them (it's something I've been taught in school, particularly maths, cross out your mistakes in a way you can still see them so you can learn from them later on). In my opinion, what makes drawing portraits hard is that we see faces literally every day and THINK we know them, so we tend to draw what we think is right. On the other hand, humans have evolved to see faces since we're a very social animal and we can tell if faces are off. It's this kind of paradox we have to navigate around when drawing and painting them. However, we can learn the basic structures to help us. It's probably what's behind my love for drawing faces, I have theory to fall back on, to use as a crutch. And if you do manage to capture likeness, it's one of the best feelings in the world tbh haha
Wow... I missed this one! This is so encouraging!! After about a month of working on my drawing skills, I was considering diving into portraits and just purchased Andrew Loomis's book " Drawing the Head & Hands" last week and then heard you say about the Loomis method. I was not familiar with this until just a couple weeks ago. I haven't jumped off the diving board yet... but I've climbed the ladder ;) Thanks again for the encouragement and inspiration!
I had never thought of drawing with watercolour like this. What a brilliant method. Thanks for sharing your skills and wisdom. I can’t wait to have a go.
The most interesting post you ever accidentally did was of a tree with fantastic fantasy roots. Ever since you posted that I’ve been hoping you would produce more. Fantasy art is so fun, especially using watercolor
Thank you for all these tips. So true, I had to struggle with each of them but I'm able now to draw an honest face... quite every time. Some expressions or angles can still make it difficult but learning to draw portraits enables you to draw anything. I'll try sketching with watercolor it looks great, I love it.
Having a skull model does help a lot, if you can find one. Years ago, I bought a real skull from a biological supply company (I named him Skinny, as i mentioned before) I asked where it came from, they just said "don't ask" (doh!). So there is that. Plastic ones are available though. Early on, when trying to draw a likeness, I told myself I didn't draw who I intended to, but I did draw someone that looks a lot like them, like maybe their parent or sibling, a family resemblance. Hah. I have found when working from photos, it helps to use a straight edge, or brush handle, held vertically and move it across the photo, and find out which landmarks line up along a line. Then hold it horizontally and do the same thing. That can reveal when proportions are out of whack.
Portraits are my specialty but all you mentioned about how much study and observation that it takes is so true. I feel folks give up to soon and just seem surprised that they automatically can't do it.
Thank you Steve. Good advice. I’d love to eventually paint portraits in water colour and since I’m only a beginner watercolourist, I suppose I’d better get practising on drawing faces so I’m ready to go when my watercolour skills match my aspirations! 😊
When this video came out, I didn't watch it because Portraits Are SCARY. Well, for some unforeseen reason, I'm learning them now. First just getting some down to see my mistakes. Next is some practice with skulls. Taking it slowly. This is HARD! Thanks for this video!
Thanks for sharing this. I really appreciate the breakdown of how go about getting the basic head structure and proportions in the right place. I started out with drawing just facial parts: eyes, noses, mouths instead of the studying the structure of the skull first. I have attempted to draw to portraits of myself from photos and found that because I was too focused on the details of facial parts instead of the skull or the direction of angles of the face everything was off. I am still working on getting a portrait looking better. This is definitely a great help for me.
Perfect timing, thank you! I'm currently working through Sktchy 30/30 pencil drawing portriates. (Of course I've got to break out the WC on some of them after. ) I highly recommend their courses. I'm taking my time with the instruction and have no desire to rush and do them all in 30 days. No need. I own the right to use the course for ever. It's a ton of fun and feels like a huge accomplishment. Especially for someone who never thought they could draw. And yes, I've watched TH-cams on the Loomis Method, such a great foundation.
I've been working on Sktchy classes for about 2 years now and I've learned a lot. But, I've never thought about doing the portrait with a watercolor brush. I love how these turned out and I'm anxious to try a few!
I carved NWC masks for years, and am new to watercolor. I’m jumping right into portraits (after a few fun antler animals). This is a great video. Thank you. I rely on a lot of my centerline (lines) I learned while carving, but it applies to sketching/drawing a face.The lines are important, and the negative positive space. Really cool. Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you. Yes, very helpful. Portraits are difficult. I make a lot of the mistakes you talked about. I keep trying. I love seeing a portrait come to life.
I think among challenges, most photo reference I find online does not have great lighting for beginning portrait drawing/painting. The value shifts can be really subtle and challenging to communicate. Also depending on the type of result you want, it can be really challenging to convey character or energy of the person. I saw this exhibit of David Hockney drawings where he had relatively simple contour drawings of close contacts but I felt like they were elegant psychological representations with quite nice emotional insights into character.
Thanks Steve, I’ve always loved doing portraits and want to improve my watercolour portraits. You were right to point out our difficulties. The eyes ( in my case the size and distance) and the nose. Very encouraging. Going to have another go at my son tomorrow.
Wow! Perfect timing on this one. I'm 2 months in on a couple of sktchy classes I purchased this year. I've been quite happy with my progress(not perfection). While I'm no portrait artist, I do feel these classes have improved the way I see faces. Sometimes in watercolor all you need is to suggest it and it conveys the idea. Thanks for another great video!
My favorite artist from Mad magazine in the 70s was Mort Drucker. I need to get back into doing some portraits. I can draw like him, except hands are hard to draw.
The eyes are why I want to sketch portraits, to capture that mood or depth of personality that shines through the eyes. Of course, the complete face captures the mood but if I cannot portray that depth of feeling through the eyes then why try to draw? That's why sketching faces is important to me and I have little ability to sketch them now. I hope one day my brain will connect with my hands so I can sketch what I'm after. I used to sketch faces and yes, there was a likeness (won two awards in school for drawing Abe Lincoln and my pastor but I was so young) but even back then I knew I was missing something, the personality of the person and their mood. Then life happened, I got too busy for art. Maybe one day, I'll find my way back to faces again.
I have never been able to draw a portrait, though I have tried. I think you made this video just for me. I am saving it and will watch it several times. I would like to be able to do this, and I will try again with this inspiration and teaching. Thank you, Steve.
Thank you so much for this video. I have a project going. I am doing graphite portraits of my family and this video is the best video on portraits that I have seen. Thanks 😊 again Sharon
I think it's true for many artists that after doing same subjects you are naturally inclined to change the subject...sometimes even mediums...I used to be extremely interested in pastels before now watercolour is my interest besides oils which never moved. Would be interesting to know why artists like change in media
My art practice has been a mix of figure drawing, some portrait and w/c plein air. All these were difficult at first but will a good instructor along with recommended printed resource I have progressed with my craft. Drawing is key. If I may recommend these books: Drawing People by Barbara Bradley, The Natural Way to Paint by Charles Reid and various art books from Dover Publishers. Presently I participate most weeks with a small group of artists at a private studio for life drawing. Wish you all confidence in your work.
Hi Steve, thank you very much for this and it is a joy to watch your process, as usual. I found it super inspiring and motivating on many levels and appreciate your sharing your own experiences, it is so nice to know that us learners are not alone in our struggles. I also found it helpful your outline of the hierarchy starting with the skull, ... basic face structure ... likeness ... expression/personality. What you said about learning from the skull at different angles is particularly encouraging. Just to mention, in case anyone else may find it helpful, I found 3D digital models on sketchfab which you can rotate around - was a huge help for me. They have many examples (some not great, but some excellent) free to view. I recommend models by Terrie Simmons-Ehrhardt who is an anthropologist.
Agree with all your tips. But I would add to not attempt your loved ones. The results are bound to be heartbreaking! These are the people who you know best, see the most, and understand the most. So little misses will be glaringly obvious to you, even if not to others. It's bound to be disappointing. I've vowed not to try it again for awhile. And not until I have a ton of time and patience.
ahh I think I've finally found a good, productive way to phase out my lower tinting strength colors from my palette thanks to this!! I think exercises like this would be perfect for my less intense colors :)
I feel both encouraged and discouraged after watching this, knowing how long of a journey will take to be even halfway competent with portraits 😅 Thanks for vid and insights into your process, the first portrait sketch is amazingly lifelike
So good~ I feel so proud of myself that I discovered your channel! Pls keep updating so that more videos like this can be seen, love it so much and really appreciate your effort on making this beautiful artwork! Ny eyes got stuck on your video, and for no reason i finished watching this beautiful artwork and realise that i've a smile on my mouth 😌😌😌 Thank you for this video~ Love from Malaysia 🇲🇾
Thanks so much for this video, Steve. The first portrait I drew was a few weeks ago of my new baby grandson and I got the proportions wrong with the first one so he looked like an alien! The second one was much better. I used pen so no erasing at all! It was really fun too so I hope to continue. I want to try to use your technique of sketching with watercolor but my mind hasn't decided if that will be more difficult or less! I have hear some people suggest turning the reference photo upside down so that you are more likely to draw what you see and not what you think you see.
Yes, drawing with watercolor is a bit more challenging. And the upside down trick is valid. It works. You can do it side ways also. Another trick is to cut a window out of a sheet of paper (revealing maybe 1/4 of the image) and draw one adjacent section at a time.
I swear...there's always one a hole that down votes good art videos just to be a jerk. 🙄 LOVE your videos! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experiences.
Been dabbling a bit in portraits some time ago, learning through the Loomis' method (his excellent books are free domain). -Edit, I wrote this while watching the vid, you actually recommend him at the end🤗- But I have just used more forgiving mediums (mainly charcoal, a bit graphite). Now I have started experimenting with watercolor, I think I should try portraits in watercolor. It's a bit intimidating, but your encouragement works 😉9
Very helpful! Would love to see more visual cues for the tips being shared. For example, in this one, it would be great if the tips were listed on the screen but in other scenarios you could display pics of other samples outside of what you’re working on. I get a lot of good info out of this regardless so just a thought!
Thanks Catherine. Yes it is very helpful.The Loomis method actually is what I would call a skull method. It's a a simplified diagram of it. The actual skull fills in details.
Appreciate the video. Guess for me I need to do the work. Won’t give up. Just need Reese to go on tour and stop in.🤗 I haven’t tried the watercolor brush so I need to find my Derwent. Thanks Steve.
Lesson i just learnt, don't draw wife as your first portrait ! And certainly don't show her! Thanks for sharing your personal progress, more practice for me (once the bruises have healed)👍🤪
Hi Steve, thanks for the videos, you teach the way I learn and make sense of the world. I really appreciate that. I’m wondering if you would be willing to consider a tutorial on storing your paintings. I am practicing and practicing and just piling up slightly warped paper in a file folder. It’s starting to get out of hand. What tips tricks and suggestions do you have to store your art?
Thank you for a good and very informative video. Love your technique of using a waterbrush as pencil. DO YOU KNOW IF the Koi small waterbrush is as fine as the Derwent? I know it's finer than the smallest Pentel. Thank you. Years ago I picked up a mini skull on a lanyard. Got them for night walks in my subdivision. It's been a fun thing to draw.
I’ve not heard and I really appreciate the exercise suggestion of drawing the skull diagram of faces. No details. Yeah! I can occupy myself with that challenge for quite some time. Get familiar with the honey landmarks and planes.
Unfortunately the sktchy app is still iOS only. The classes are via the web but for the android app you can sign up for updates (of which they haven't sent any for years now).
@@mindofwatercolor Well, you can pay for and take their classes on Android. "All classes are available on iOS, Android and web." But the free reference photo and drawing share app part, looks like they don't mention it's iOS only upfront. Only when you go to download it.
I believe portraits are hard because we are attempting to represent the humanity and personality of the individual. It's something humans recognize in another person and it's hard to transfer those qualities to paper. I know a tree isn't always just a tree. Trees have qualities that are also important but it's easy to 'fake' those equalities or fudge a bit on the details.
I've recently gotten back into portraiture. Funnily enough when i started drawing in my teens, i started with portraits. But sometimes people don't want to see an accurate representation of themselves. so i decided to avoid them and hurting feelings
Great video. I am in this same situation I thought I was talented enough to do portraits. I just need to do more back back tracking and learn the basic construction a little more. And now I can finally see some improvements. I like the brush pen do you have coloured water in the pen or use clean water and separate colour ? Never used one before. I have one on the way.
The problem with drawing or painting a human face - and making it look like a particular person - is the amount of information that's crammed into a roughly 6 by 8 inch space. There's as much there as there is in the entire rest of the body. Every feature has to not only be the right size, shape, and angle... it also has to be in the right place, relative to everything else. Oh, and then there's the size and shape of the face itself... get that wrong, and it won't much matter how well you've done the rest. So, an artist has to learn to see all those details, proportions, and relationships, then copy them onto some other surface. And that takes time and practice. A lot of it, since you're having to teach your own brain to see in a way it usually doesn't. Oh, and one last thing... if you want a good app for android, try AutoDesk's Sketchbook. It's what I use to draw and paint on a chromebook, and will also work on an android phone. ( You will need a stylus that works with your particular device, obviously. ) You can find the app for free on the Google play store. And no, I'm not affiliated with Autodesk in any way, nor making anything for suggesting Sketchbook. I've just been using AutoDesk programs for avery long time. ( Since 1986. ) Here... a portrait I painted with the program: th-cam.com/video/Dxk_paqG9ic/w-d-xo.html
At 63, I'm not giving up...portrait work is the hardest skill for me...quite a challenge. Landscapes no problem...but prtraits I need to practice a fes years first!
This is a great video offering a very detailed process of sketching a portrait. Actually, I've never watched any done in water colour, so I'm tempted to try it myself. However, I have another question regarding portraits that bothers me for some time. I am a true beginner who sometimes manage to make the pencil drawing with a fair amount of likeness. Yet, for some faces I find it extremely difficult, despite my attempts to draw shapes, lines, shades etc. and not real person, eyes of ears. Still, some faces are much more difficult to draw than some others. Is there any truth in this? Thanks and best regards.
Yes, it can be true. Sometimes we just don't see the basic structure in a face as we should. Expressions can also be harder to draw than a standard resting face.
Very encouraging tips. I have to substitute the words even of what I am drawing to elementary shapes because of those preconceived ideas we all have of faces. It’s almost like compartamentalizing the 2 as I did as a trauma nurse. I know that it is a weird analogy but saying it in Latin does help. Any substitution for what we would call it helps that right sided brain kick in. So I appreciate your tips as always and the smaller little cranium on your desk is female. So Reese is in love? Just asking
Reese used to flirt with another skeleton model I have but he just broods in his corner now most times since M.G. got here. M.G. is actually a male skull according to Stan Prokopenko who sells them. Hmmm. Most anatomical skull models are male. The boney protrusions are much sharper and pronounced making it a bit easier to draw. It's pretty easy to then soften them for a female face. But as I mentioned I treat the skull as a diagram so the more distinct points are a help in drawing regardless of gender.
@@mindofwatercolor Maybe it is really a Reese monkey skull. That is one short forehead or I need to find my cheaters! I was just saying today in fact that I should do more anatomical sketches. Very timely video and so true. Take care Steve
Even if I try to draw every detail from a picture almost pixel by pixel my portraits looks like someone familiar but not the person itself and sometimes they look like its evil twin 😅
These are great... I am going to try your technique! For me @sktchy art school has been a godsend... especially @wagonized classes. She just breaks it down for me and makes me want to draw faces with her. It has made all the difference! Check her out. She's also a cross-hatching genius.
All of my paintings are portraits. For a long time I painted only in oil, but now I’m into painting portraits in watercolors. My main challenge with watercolors is blending . Blending with oil is a walk in the park compared to blending with watercolors. Would you make a video teaching us how to blend the portrait using watercolor ?
Whether portrait or any subject all blending is the same. In this playlist you'll find various videos on basic techniques and blending. All of which can be used in portraits. th-cam.com/play/PLiMPR1KaCr-kMYoHVNbotPV1ZP66jT_fY.html If you watch any of my portrait videos you can also pick up ideas by just watching how I'm doing it. th-cam.com/play/PLiMPR1KaCr-na4RRGWXcaa3rGWokEgZyZ.html
Don’t do portraits. So difficult and super boring for everyone not invested into You can do so much better. Please focus on the fantasy roots etc that are starting to show up in your realm
***NOTE*** I mistakenly said that the Sktchy app was available for Android. That apparently is incorrect. IOS only, sorry!
It's ok i wont hold it against you. lol
That one key sentence”it takes practice and time” that is it, you have to PRACTICE!! Don’t be lazy, you have to do the WORK! When people see us out urban sketching and they say “ oh you are so talented....” yes and I have been doing this for years and years. I did a class with Frances stone, from sktchy . It was great practice.. thanks for the video..
Well said!
I’ve been doing portraits for a while and can say this. Forget doing them in pencils. You have to use ink. You hear me? Ink. Forget graphite when doing faces. You’ll never get them right if you do. Why’s that? Because when you try doing faces in graphite…the graphite drags on the paper forcing you down in the trenches. You have to constantly make sure the lines show up when you do them in pencils. And this makes you forget the creative juices and makes you worry about your lines, etc. This wears you down. So stop drawing faces in pencils and ditch the graphite. Stick to ink and you’ll quickly get better. Why? Because the ink flows on paper more quickly allowing you the time to concentrate on the areas that interest you. The ink does the hard work…not your wrist digging down into the paper.
Humans have evolved to recognize faces, to recognize the slightest variations of form and movement. We do those errors with landscapes, with everything we draw, but we have evolved specifically to watch faces. That's why we struggle with portraits, we see the smallest untruthfulness. Thank you for this video.
Over my last 2 years of learning to draw i routinely would attempt, then give up on human portraits. Im now a month into my solid study of faces and am super happy with the results
Yay! Keep it up.
Encouraging to hear. Thanks, Sam.
The lower lip of the girl needs to be extended a smidge to the left which will move the line of the opening of the mouth to the left too. Interestingly enough, I'm seeing some of your younger daughter in your female portrait. I did that with one of mine quite by accident but my daughter saw it right off and covered the eyes and she was right! I had inadvertently been painting her mouth and nose without focusing on the actual picture I was painting from. I'd had my daughter on my mind a lot in those days..... Thank you so much Steven. Your use of the water brush for these is phenomenal! Thanks so much for sharing!!!
OMG! "Draw what you see." My 7th grade art teacher said that over and over again. We spent months examining eggshells in various mediums because he said if you can do them realistically, you can do anything. .....every broken fragment of shell. OI! Hated it BUT very valuable lesson. Thank you for sharing your endless wisdom and talent. I appreciate your videos beyond words.
I have just 2/ 3 months ago started studying portraits ( I dabbled in it before when I was younger and remembered how much I liked it) and it's hard and enjoyable at the same time. But I agree with you, you have to really want to do it and practice every day. Now and then I manage a drawing of someone I know looking very much like them, even, and that is a feast and a lot of encouragement!!!
Thank you for posting this, Steve... I did some drawing back in the late 50’s and 60’s, but life and other pursuits got in the way. Now, I think I’m ready to start over again. I think that I had the makings of becoming an artist, but as time passed by, I found other things to do... maybe now that I’m retired I can once again try my hand at it... and at my current age I may have developed the patience that I lacked way back when...
Has been true for me. I'm not quite to retirement but the age/patience quotient is much different than my younger years thats for sure.
Right with you, Bill. I, too, had a significant gap in life that excluded art. At my wife's urging, I am returning to drawing and painting in preparation for retirement next year.
At the onset, I decided to switch to my left hand. I am a natural lefty. Steve has been very instrumental in my progress. This posting re-inforced many things I learned and forgotten about drawing portraits.
You go guy! I'm 63 and started painting 2 years ago. It's become my obsession. I can see gradual improvement. Now I look forward to having the time to do something I enjoy. Of course, Steve Mitchell is the man! One of the best w/c artists for instruction on TH-cam!
Good for you Ann Angel! I will be improving soon as well. Practice practice for me. In returning, I am haunted by Degas who said "Everybody has talent at 25. The difficult thing is to have it at 50." I guess we have guts!
@@annangel4828 I started when I was 61, too😊.
I appreciate this post. Art is a serious hobby for me - my day job is as a financial advisor, but I have been getting commission inquiries from posting my drawings and paintings on Facebook over the last few years. Most of my commissions have been pet portraits - and I think they've been pretty good - and in some cases, very good. Human portraits - so much more difficult. Eye placement, noses too long, lips too low - I continue to make those mistakes when I practice, but as Steve mentions, practice is the key. As to my success on animal drawings versus people drawings, I guess it's some sort of mental block. I get nervous about what an eye, nose, or mouth should look like, but if I'm drawing or painting a dog, or bird, or cat -- it's easier for my brain to let me just focus on shapes.
I've been doing watercolors for 2 years now but portrait is just so hard to do. This is perfect
What's helped me a lot is sketching with more permanent tools (like ballpoint pens) and I'll definitely try watercolour! I think it made me think about proportions before I put down lines, since they're permanent. I still have to correct a lot, but afterwards I can still see my mistakes and learn from them (it's something I've been taught in school, particularly maths, cross out your mistakes in a way you can still see them so you can learn from them later on). In my opinion, what makes drawing portraits hard is that we see faces literally every day and THINK we know them, so we tend to draw what we think is right. On the other hand, humans have evolved to see faces since we're a very social animal and we can tell if faces are off. It's this kind of paradox we have to navigate around when drawing and painting them. However, we can learn the basic structures to help us. It's probably what's behind my love for drawing faces, I have theory to fall back on, to use as a crutch. And if you do manage to capture likeness, it's one of the best feelings in the world tbh haha
Yes, great points!
Wow... I missed this one! This is so encouraging!! After about a month of working on my drawing skills, I was considering diving into portraits and just purchased Andrew Loomis's book " Drawing the Head & Hands" last week and then heard you say about the Loomis method. I was not familiar with this until just a couple weeks ago. I haven't jumped off the diving board yet... but I've climbed the ladder ;) Thanks again for the encouragement and inspiration!
I had never thought of drawing with watercolour like this. What a brilliant method. Thanks for sharing your skills and wisdom. I can’t wait to have a go.
The most interesting post you ever accidentally did was of a tree with fantastic fantasy roots. Ever since you posted that I’ve been hoping you would produce more. Fantasy art is so fun, especially using watercolor
Thank you for all these tips. So true, I had to struggle with each of them but I'm able now to draw an honest face... quite every time. Some expressions or angles can still make it difficult but learning to draw portraits enables you to draw anything. I'll try sketching with watercolor it looks great, I love it.
Having a skull model does help a lot, if you can find one. Years ago, I bought a real skull from a biological supply company (I named him Skinny, as i mentioned before) I asked where it came from, they just said "don't ask" (doh!). So there is that. Plastic ones are available though.
Early on, when trying to draw a likeness, I told myself I didn't draw who I intended to, but I did draw someone that looks a lot like them, like maybe their parent or sibling, a family resemblance. Hah.
I have found when working from photos, it helps to use a straight edge, or brush handle, held vertically and move it across the photo, and find out which landmarks line up along a line. Then hold it horizontally and do the same thing. That can reveal when proportions are out of whack.
Line ups, yes. I use them all the time. Good tip.
Portraits are my specialty but all you mentioned about how much study and observation that it takes is so true. I feel folks give up to soon and just seem surprised that they automatically can't do it.
It's fun to just draw noses, eyes, mouths , eventually adding them all together. Practice, practice, practice. 😀
Thank you Steve. Good advice. I’d love to eventually paint portraits in water colour and since I’m only a beginner watercolourist, I suppose I’d better get practising on drawing faces so I’m ready to go when my watercolour skills match my aspirations! 😊
When this video came out, I didn't watch it because Portraits Are SCARY. Well, for some unforeseen reason, I'm learning them now. First just getting some down to see my mistakes. Next is some practice with skulls. Taking it slowly. This is HARD!
Thanks for this video!
Thanks for sharing this. I really appreciate the breakdown of how go about getting the basic head structure and proportions in the right place. I started out with drawing just facial parts: eyes, noses, mouths instead of the studying the structure of the skull first. I have attempted to draw to portraits of myself from photos and found that because I was too focused on the details of facial parts instead of the skull or the direction of angles of the face everything was off. I am still working on getting a portrait looking better. This is definitely a great help for me.
Your talent and instruction never cease to amaze me! Thank you so much
Perfect timing, thank you! I'm currently working through Sktchy 30/30 pencil drawing portriates. (Of course I've got to break out the WC on some of them after. ) I highly recommend their courses. I'm taking my time with the instruction and have no desire to rush and do them all in 30 days. No need. I own the right to use the course for ever. It's a ton of fun and feels like a huge accomplishment. Especially for someone who never thought they could draw.
And yes, I've watched TH-cams on the Loomis Method, such a great foundation.
I've used the app but not tried their courses. I want to. Thanks for the reminder.
Thanks for the encouragement to keep at portraits and an even bigger thanks for the thumbs up for the Lord at the end. I really enjoyed that
I've been working on Sktchy classes for about 2 years now and I've learned a lot. But, I've never thought about doing the portrait with a watercolor brush. I love how these turned out and I'm anxious to try a few!
I carved NWC masks for years, and am new to watercolor. I’m jumping right into portraits (after a few fun antler animals). This is a great video. Thank you. I rely on a lot of my centerline (lines) I learned while carving, but it applies to sketching/drawing a face.The lines are important, and the negative positive space. Really cool. Thank you for sharing this.
Excellent! Thanks for sharing this video. You certainly became very good at portraits.
Thank you. Yes, very helpful. Portraits are difficult. I make a lot of the mistakes you talked about. I keep trying. I love seeing a portrait come to life.
As always, intentional practice makes better!! Thanks for listing the Proko resources. They look like an awesome place to start.
Really good instruction. Thank you Steve.
I'd devoted today to face studies, so this video was perfectly timed!
I think among challenges, most photo reference I find online does not have great lighting for beginning portrait drawing/painting. The value shifts can be really subtle and challenging to communicate. Also depending on the type of result you want, it can be really challenging to convey character or energy of the person. I saw this exhibit of David Hockney drawings where he had relatively simple contour drawings of close contacts but I felt like they were elegant psychological representations with quite nice emotional insights into character.
Quite right on the lighting. I often have to look through dozens to find something dynamic. Most are too flat.
Thanks Steve, I’ve always loved doing portraits and want to improve my watercolour portraits. You were right to point out our difficulties. The eyes ( in my case the size and distance) and the nose. Very encouraging. Going to have another go at my son tomorrow.
Today was a day I needed someone to tell me to keep trying. Thanks!
Thank you for the encouragement. This video changed my perspective quite a lot.
Wow! Perfect timing on this one. I'm 2 months in on a couple of sktchy classes I purchased this year. I've been quite happy with my progress(not perfection). While I'm no portrait artist, I do feel these classes have improved the way I see faces. Sometimes in watercolor all you need is to suggest it and it conveys the idea. Thanks for another great video!
Thank you, Steve, for telling the truth about how difficult it is to draw and paint portraits.
My favorite artist from Mad magazine in the 70s was Mort Drucker. I need to get back into doing some portraits. I can draw like him, except hands are hard to draw.
We need more of this please
Thank you Steve, that was beautiful done. Thank you also for the Bible text.
Thank You MoWC and Reese 😉👍
I've been sketching and drawing animal faces. That's no picnic either! LOL! But I persevere.
Very cool to watch. I have tried drawing my sister from a photo and it's always not quite right, so this was really informative!
The eyes are why I want to sketch portraits, to capture that mood or depth of personality that shines through the eyes. Of course, the complete face captures the mood but if I cannot portray that depth of feeling through the eyes then why try to draw? That's why sketching faces is important to me and I have little ability to sketch them now. I hope one day my brain will connect with my hands so I can sketch what I'm after. I used to sketch faces and yes, there was a likeness (won two awards in school for drawing Abe Lincoln and my pastor but I was so young) but even back then I knew I was missing something, the personality of the person and their mood. Then life happened, I got too busy for art. Maybe one day, I'll find my way back to faces again.
I have never been able to draw a portrait, though I have tried. I think you made this video just for me. I am saving it and will watch it several times. I would like to be able to do this, and I will try again with this inspiration and teaching. Thank you, Steve.
Wonderful!
Thank you so much for this video. I have a project going. I am doing graphite portraits of my family and this video is the best video on portraits that I have seen. Thanks 😊 again Sharon
I think it's true for many artists that after doing same subjects you are naturally inclined to change the subject...sometimes even mediums...I used to be extremely interested in pastels before now watercolour is my interest besides oils which never moved. Would be interesting to know why artists like change in media
Thank you... 😊
My art practice has been a mix of figure drawing, some portrait and w/c plein air. All these were difficult at first but will a good instructor along with recommended printed resource I have progressed with my craft. Drawing is key. If I may recommend these books: Drawing People by Barbara Bradley, The Natural Way to Paint by Charles Reid and various art books from Dover Publishers. Presently I participate most weeks with a small group of artists at a private studio for life drawing. Wish you all confidence in your work.
Thanks for the recommendations. Here are links for the first two:
amzn.to/32U26Iw
amzn.to/3sVitiE
Hi Steve, thank you very much for this and it is a joy to watch your process, as usual. I found it super inspiring and motivating on many levels and appreciate your sharing your own experiences, it is so nice to know that us learners are not alone in our struggles. I also found it helpful your outline of the hierarchy starting with the skull, ... basic face structure ... likeness ... expression/personality. What you said about learning from the skull at different angles is particularly encouraging. Just to mention, in case anyone else may find it helpful, I found 3D digital models on sketchfab which you can rotate around - was a huge help for me. They have many examples (some not great, but some excellent) free to view. I recommend models by Terrie Simmons-Ehrhardt who is an anthropologist.
Thanks for the recommendation. Also check out Proko's Skelly app. www.proko.com/skellyapp/#.YIgxry1h30o
Agree with all your tips. But I would add to not attempt your loved ones. The results are bound to be heartbreaking! These are the people who you know best, see the most, and understand the most. So little misses will be glaringly obvious to you, even if not to others. It's bound to be disappointing. I've vowed not to try it again for awhile. And not until I have a ton of time and patience.
Agree!
ahh I think I've finally found a good, productive way to phase out my lower tinting strength colors from my palette thanks to this!! I think exercises like this would be perfect for my less intense colors :)
Good point!
I drew 250 faces in a challenge. 10 minutes each. It sure helped.
I feel both encouraged and discouraged after watching this, knowing how long of a journey will take to be even halfway competent with portraits 😅 Thanks for vid and insights into your process, the first portrait sketch is amazingly lifelike
You have to enjoy the process as much as the destination.
Superb advice!
Thank you!
So good~ I feel so proud of myself that I discovered your channel! Pls keep updating so that more videos like this can be seen, love it so much and really appreciate your effort on making this beautiful artwork!
Ny eyes got stuck on your video, and for no reason i finished watching this beautiful artwork and realise that i've a smile on my mouth 😌😌😌
Thank you for this video~ Love from Malaysia 🇲🇾
Thank you! Will do!
Thanks so much for this video, Steve. The first portrait I drew was a few weeks ago of my new baby grandson and I got the proportions wrong with the first one so he looked like an alien! The second one was much better. I used pen so no erasing at all! It was really fun too so I hope to continue. I want to try to use your technique of sketching with watercolor but my mind hasn't decided if that will be more difficult or less! I have hear some people suggest turning the reference photo upside down so that you are more likely to draw what you see and not what you think you see.
Yes, drawing with watercolor is a bit more challenging.
And the upside down trick is valid. It works. You can do it side ways also. Another trick is to cut a window out of a sheet of paper (revealing maybe 1/4 of the image) and draw one adjacent section at a time.
@@mindofwatercolor Thanks for your reply, Steve. I'll have to give that a shot.
Thanks Steve
I swear...there's always one a hole that down votes good art videos just to be a jerk. 🙄
LOVE your videos! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experiences.
So true!
Been dabbling a bit in portraits some time ago, learning through the Loomis' method (his excellent books are free domain). -Edit, I wrote this while watching the vid, you actually recommend him at the end🤗-
But I have just used more forgiving mediums (mainly charcoal, a bit graphite).
Now I have started experimenting with watercolor, I think I should try portraits in watercolor.
It's a bit intimidating, but your encouragement works 😉9
Very helpful! Would love to see more visual cues for the tips being shared. For example, in this one, it would be great if the tips were listed on the screen but in other scenarios you could display pics of other samples outside of what you’re working on. I get a lot of good info out of this regardless so just a thought!
Thank you for this. As you suggested, the Loomis head is helpful especially if anyone is like me and doesn’t thrive with the skull method.
Thanks Catherine. Yes it is very helpful.The Loomis method actually is what I would call a skull method. It's a a simplified diagram of it. The actual skull fills in details.
Great humor! Love your channel.
Great tips thanks
Very interesting study
Appreciate the video. Guess for me I need to do the work. Won’t give up. Just need Reese to go on tour and stop in.🤗 I haven’t tried the watercolor brush so I need to find my Derwent. Thanks Steve.
Have fun!
Lesson i just learnt, don't draw wife as your first portrait ! And certainly don't show her! Thanks for sharing your personal progress, more practice for me (once the bruises have healed)👍🤪
I like the idea of using this type of brush for sketching. I wonder if you could tint the water in the brush slightly to get started?
Hi Steve, thanks for the videos, you teach the way I learn and make sense of the world. I really appreciate that. I’m wondering if you would be willing to consider a tutorial on storing your paintings. I am practicing and practicing and just piling up slightly warped paper in a file folder. It’s starting to get out of hand. What tips tricks and suggestions do you have to store your art?
Thank you for a good and very informative video.
Love your technique of using a waterbrush as pencil. DO YOU KNOW IF the Koi small waterbrush is as fine as the Derwent? I know it's finer than the smallest Pentel. Thank you.
Years ago I picked up a mini skull on a lanyard. Got them for night walks in my subdivision. It's been a fun thing to draw.
I'm not sure
@@mindofwatercolor Thank you for answering my question.
I’ve not heard and I really appreciate the exercise suggestion of drawing the skull diagram of faces. No details. Yeah! I can occupy myself with that challenge for quite some time. Get familiar with the honey landmarks and planes.
Unfortunately the sktchy app is still iOS only. The classes are via the web but for the android app you can sign up for updates (of which they haven't sent any for years now).
Oh, bummer. They list it on their website as for Android too. Thats a shame.
@@mindofwatercolor Well, you can pay for and take their classes on Android. "All classes are available on iOS, Android and web." But the free reference photo and drawing share app part, looks like they don't mention it's iOS only upfront. Only when you go to download it.
thanks sir
I believe portraits are hard because we are attempting to represent the humanity and personality of the individual. It's something humans recognize in another person and it's hard to transfer those qualities to paper. I know a tree isn't always just a tree. Trees have qualities that are also important but it's easy to 'fake' those equalities or fudge a bit on the details.
Portraits are my favorite thing to draw.
I've recently gotten back into portraiture. Funnily enough when i started drawing in my teens, i started with portraits. But sometimes people don't want to see an accurate representation of themselves. so i decided to avoid them and hurting feelings
Great video. I am in this same situation I thought I was talented enough to do portraits. I just need to do more back back tracking and learn the basic construction a little more. And now I can finally see some improvements. I like the brush pen do you have coloured water in the pen or use clean water and separate colour ? Never used one before. I have one on the way.
Separate color from a palette. Check out my video on this sketching process. th-cam.com/video/_7DAoOc7La0/w-d-xo.html
The problem with drawing or painting a human face - and making it look like a particular person - is the amount of information that's crammed into a roughly 6 by 8 inch space.
There's as much there as there is in the entire rest of the body.
Every feature has to not only be the right size, shape, and angle... it also has to be in the right place, relative to everything else. Oh, and then there's the size and shape of the face itself... get that wrong, and it won't much matter how well you've done the rest.
So, an artist has to learn to see all those details, proportions, and relationships, then copy them onto some other surface.
And that takes time and practice. A lot of it, since you're having to teach your own brain to see in a way it usually doesn't.
Oh, and one last thing... if you want a good app for android, try AutoDesk's Sketchbook.
It's what I use to draw and paint on a chromebook, and will also work on an android phone.
( You will need a stylus that works with your particular device, obviously. )
You can find the app for free on the Google play store.
And no, I'm not affiliated with Autodesk in any way, nor making anything for suggesting Sketchbook. I've just been using AutoDesk programs for avery long time. ( Since 1986. )
Here... a portrait I painted with the program:
th-cam.com/video/Dxk_paqG9ic/w-d-xo.html
At 63, I'm not giving up...portrait work is the hardest skill for me...quite a challenge. Landscapes no problem...but prtraits I need to practice a fes years first!
One step at a time.
This is a great video offering a very detailed process of sketching a portrait. Actually, I've never watched any done in water colour, so I'm tempted to try it myself. However, I have another question regarding portraits that bothers me for some time. I am a true beginner who sometimes manage to make the pencil drawing with a fair amount of likeness. Yet, for some faces I find it extremely difficult, despite my attempts to draw shapes, lines, shades etc. and not real person, eyes of ears. Still, some faces are much more difficult to draw than some others. Is there any truth in this? Thanks and best regards.
Yes, it can be true. Sometimes we just don't see the basic structure in a face as we should. Expressions can also be harder to draw than a standard resting face.
Very encouraging tips. I have to substitute the words even of what I am drawing to elementary shapes because of those preconceived ideas we all have of faces. It’s almost like compartamentalizing the 2 as I did as a trauma nurse. I know that it is a weird analogy but saying it in Latin does help. Any substitution for what we would call it helps that right sided brain kick in. So I appreciate your tips as always and the smaller little cranium on your desk is female. So Reese is in love? Just asking
Reese used to flirt with another skeleton model I have but he just broods in his corner now most times since M.G. got here. M.G. is actually a male skull according to Stan Prokopenko who sells them. Hmmm. Most anatomical skull models are male. The boney protrusions are much sharper and pronounced making it a bit easier to draw. It's pretty easy to then soften them for a female face. But as I mentioned I treat the skull as a diagram so the more distinct points are a help in drawing regardless of gender.
@@mindofwatercolor Maybe it is really a Reese monkey skull. That is one short forehead or I need to find my cheaters! I was just saying today in fact that I should do more anatomical sketches. Very timely video and so true. Take care Steve
Can you tell us what a nose triangle show?
Even if I try to draw every detail from a picture almost pixel by pixel my portraits looks like someone familiar but not the person itself and sometimes they look like its evil twin 😅
These are great... I am going to try your technique! For me @sktchy art school has been a godsend... especially @wagonized classes. She just breaks it down for me and makes me want to draw faces with her. It has made all the difference! Check her out. She's also a cross-hatching genius.
Sounds great!
Was this all wet on dry or wet on wet also?
on dry
All of my paintings are portraits. For a long time I painted only in oil, but now I’m into painting portraits in watercolors. My main challenge with watercolors is blending . Blending with oil is a walk in the park compared to blending with watercolors. Would you make a video teaching us how to blend the portrait using watercolor ?
Whether portrait or any subject all blending is the same. In this playlist you'll find various videos on basic techniques and blending. All of which can be used in portraits. th-cam.com/play/PLiMPR1KaCr-kMYoHVNbotPV1ZP66jT_fY.html
If you watch any of my portrait videos you can also pick up ideas by just watching how I'm doing it.
th-cam.com/play/PLiMPR1KaCr-na4RRGWXcaa3rGWokEgZyZ.html
First --- whats up Steve!!!!
i like drawing hooman faces
They both have handsome bone structure. 💀☠️
Steve. 🙄 I don't mean to be critical, but you don't do a skull bump with your fist. You use you noggin.
Right. I was afraid to try it with Reese. He might have knocked me out.
@@mindofwatercolor 😅😂🤣
P
Don’t do portraits. So difficult and super boring for everyone not invested into You can do so much better. Please focus on the fantasy roots etc that are starting to show up in your realm
Did I remember to say please?
My vote remember to say thank you!