Drawing Lesson 14, Part 2 – Drawing a Man

Drawing a Man – William Shakespeare Portrait

Video Lesson Description

In this video lesson you will discover main traditional drawing techniques that can be used for Drawing a Man exercise.

Drawing a Man by Rendering

When Drawing a Man, you can start shading from dark places and borders between the light and shade, gradually building their values up.

Various hatching techniques may be employed when Drawing a Man; – parallel hatching and cross-hatching. The cross-hatching method is well suited for building up tonal values.

When Drawing a Man, the direction of strokes has to compliment the shape and form of the depicted object. You must first observe and analyze the lights and shades on the model when Drawing a Man. Establish where the darkest and lightest areas are. This will greatly depend on the light sources. The model can be lit from different directions simultaneously or just from one source of light. The intensity of light will influence the contrast between light and shades on the model.

Soft diffused light might provide little contrast; while strong spotlight can give bright light areas and deep shades with little mid-tones. Another good tip for Drawing a Man topic is to first test the maximum value that can be achieved with a particular drawing tool.

While Drawing a Man, divide mentally all tonal values in three categories:
– Light;
– Mid-tones;
– Dark values.

The area most lit with a light source will have the light values. The area opposite to the source of light will have dark values. Areas in between light and dark will usually have mid-tones.

Three main values of light and shade can be further subdivided into more values.

The Light values are:
– Highlight;
– Light;
– Local Light.

The Highlight is the lightest spot on an object and is usually located in the closest proximity to the light source. The Light is a halo around the Highlight. It is brightly lit and surrounds the Highlight. Local Light is also well-lit but is darker than the Light.

The Middle Tone values are:
– Light Halftone;
– Middle Halftone;
– Dark Halftone.

The Middle Halftone is darker than Light Halftone and in turn, is lighter than Dark Halftone.

The Dark values are:
– Form Shadow;
– Core Shadow;
– Accent.

The Core Shadow is a place on the object where no direct light reaches and very little reflected light influences its value. The Form Shadow is lighter than the Core Shadow because reflected light brightens it up. It is still a very dark place on the object. The Cast Shadow usually starts from the Dark Accent, the darkest spot on the drawing.

When you analyze the model, while Drawing a Man, and decide where the Light, Mid-tones and Dark places are, you can visually subdivide those areas into smaller parts of tonal values. You need to keep in mind the contrast between light and shades as well. For example, the light area can have some smaller details within it that have darker values.

The model’s head is three-dimensional; The only way to portray it realistically on a flat surface of paper is by rendering the chiaroscuro of lights and shades that will appear to the human eye as a realistic representation of the real object.

To make the chiaroscuro rendering work for that purpose, you need to think in terms of masses. Keep in mind that the head is one big mass, including all smaller details and features. This means that hair also belongs to the same mass. The big figure of the model’s head can be mentally subdivided into shapes and planes that form this mass. Observe on the model how light behaves on those planes. Some will be better lit than others and therefore, lighter in tonal values.