Tag Archives: Outlines

Portrait drawing

How to paint portrait drawings with ink.

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How to paint portrait drawings with ink.

In this example of how to paint portrait drawings I paint a portrait of Davy Jones, who was most famous as the singer with the 1960s pop group, The Monkees. This piece of work took 1 hour 14 minuets to complete from start to finish and was painted with a brush, using black Indian Ink.

A video example of how to paint portrait drawings.


The tools I use to show you how to paint portrait drawings are as follows: black Indian Ink, clean water, a small soft number one brush, tissue paper, an A4 drawing pad and a little plastic bottle top for mixing my wash into.

In this first image below I have drawn a basic outline of the eyes and sides of the head, using ink that has been watered down into a wash. This helps because it makes it more easily corrected later, if I get some of the marks wrong which is almost guaranteed to happen, as I am not perfectly accurate with my outlines. This is the reason and point of making basic outlines when learning how to paint portrait ink painting is because none of us are perfect. Learning to draw is a step by step process where each step leads to and informs the next step.

The information below will walk you through the process step by step.

You will notice a big dark area on the left hand side of the head in the images below. This area is where I will be testing out my tonal values, whilst I am working away at the drawing to make sure they are not too dark. It does not matter if they are too light because I can always darken them again later if I need to.

Water proof inks.

Inks are usually water proof so dry quickly and are very difficult to make lighter again if an area is too dark. You shouldn’t ever use ink that is too dark to do your basic outline when learning how to paint portrait paintings with ink and then you will never have this problem.

I also work wet into wet, which means that I add a little more black ink as I go along, into some areas to make them a little darker, whilst the paper is still wet. This allows the ink to spread out, bleeding into the area more easily and making it better to create graduated tones from dark to light. I also have a piece of clean tissue paper in my other hand, that I use to dab out any excess ink or water from areas as I work away at my painting.

outline ink drawing of Davy Jones

Reference points.

Please take note that in the next image below, around the nose area, I have only made a few small marks so as to use as reference points for drawing the nose in more detail later. This is to enable me to get my drawings accurate and reduce the potential for mistakes in the construction of this drawing. These reference points all make it easier to get my drawings accurate because I have them in place to judge and compare against each other as well as in relation to the subject I am copying from. This enables me to more accurately establish the correct proportions of the facial elements, such as eyes, mouth, nose, hair and overall composition of the face. This will aide me in getting the facial features all in the correct places as I build up my painted drawing of the face and will help you also when learning how to paint portrait drawings.

Davy Jones, ink drawing, starting outlines, No. 2

Rechecking information in the process of learning how to paint portrait drawings.

In the image below you will see that I have completed the mouth and added the other left hand side of the jaw line. This information has now been rechecked to make sure I have the jaw line accurate and you will notice that the jawline on the left hand side is more heavier. This is because of two reasons, one is that the face is more heavily shadowed on that side of the face and also because I did not get it quite right the first time around. It is the reason why my ink has been watered down into a wash and also why I only make small marks in my construction process of doing the painting.

starting outlines No. 3, Davy Jones, The Monkees, ink drawing.

In the image below you will see that I have now started putting in some of the larger areas of shading and the detail around the nose area. You might also notice that on the right hand side of the face along the line from the nose into the cheek there is a darker line at the end which is another mistake. You can also see that I have been able to hide it once again because my ink is watered down to make it lighter in tonal value.

outlines of ink drawing, Davy Jones of The Monkees, No. 4

Now in the image below you will see that I have filled the face out with more shading helping to create more shape and form to the face and again you will notice that the mistake on the cheek is becoming less noticeable. How to paint portrait drawings

Davy Jones of The Monkees,outlines, shading, No. 5

Now you can see in this image below that I am using the brush stale to measure where the top of the head goes so as to get it more accurate, although you cannot see this in the video because it is speeded up, I do a lot of measuring with my thumb and the brush stale. I think that this is where the term, rule of thumb comes from as it is commonly used by many artists to measure the accuracy of there drawings and paintings. How to paint portrait drawings

Davy Jones of The Monkees,measuring, outlines, shading image, No. 6

Now I have made a dot where the top of the head should be so as to get this accurate. How to paint portrait drawings

Davy Jones, drawing, showing mark for the top of the head, No. 7

In the image below you will see that I have completed the construction drawing and marked out where everything should be in relation to everything else on the face this will now make putting the detail into the drawings more easy and accurate.  How to paint portrait drawings

Davy Jones, drawing, basics done of outlines and shading, No. 8

Now with my construction drawings accurate I am starting to fill in the detail using raw black Indian Ink straight from the jar with no water added. This will now bring out the detail and give the painting more depth, defined shape and form, making it seem more like a three dimensional shape instead of a flat two dimensional drawing.How to paint portrait drawings

I have started with the eyes, nose and mouth, being careful to only paint in the darkest areas that are black, you will be amazed at how this brings the drawing to life, making it look realistic.

Davy Jones, drawing, black added to eyes, mouth and nose, No. 9

Notice in the completed drawing below that I have added some suggestion of the shoulders so as to make the head seem like it is not just floating around on the paper.

How to paint portrait drawings with ink paining/drawing of Davy Jones, singer with The Monkees.

How to paint portrait drawings with ink is best practiced often if you really want to get better at it and just for good measure here below is another portrait painting of Bob Dylan.

how to draw a easy

How to draw skulls revealed and uncomplicated.

Learn how to draw skulls by first thinking about the caricaturists of a human skull, it is composed of bone that forms the overall shape and because of this it is an off white color making it great for practicing your shading and providing a good subject matter to encourage you to make more use of the paper tone. Even if you use colored paper with highlights to emphasize the lightest tones, your skull drawings will still look good, giving you plenty of practice with your drawing techniques and skills. Common features to a skull are the brain cavity with a nice curved area, eye sockets, nose cavity, jaw and teeth.  All of these can be exaggerated as features to easily create the skulls of monsters or sinister creatures but still recognizable as skulls because they have strong characteristics and features that are easily recognizable.

My advice for you would be to draw a human skull a few times so as to understand what a human skull looks like and how it is drawn but I don’t expect you to have one of your own so I have provided a few examples for you to draw if you want to use them. I would advise that you trace them first so you do not have to do the outline construction this will make it easier. If you want to learn more on the subject of tracing and its benefits then you could join my ezine and down load a free report on the right hand side of this page. When you have a few outlines drawn you can decide on which one you would like to continue by doing the shading on it.

How To Draw Skulls Three Quarter View
A skull example for how to draw skulls,

This will help you to see more detail in the subject matter, informing you as to how the shapes fit together and how the shadows help to create a more three dimensional shape to your skull drawings or any drawing.

It will also be good practice for helping you to better understand how to draw skulls of all kinds’ not just human skulls because it will put accurate information into your head to start with about skull drawings .

The video below will help you by showing you how I draw; it is always good to watch how others draw.

I suggest that after doing this you should try to draw some skulls free hand from memory.

The best way to draw skulls is to start off drawing real skulls then after drawing a few you will have the information written into your brain so as to be more able to draw them from memory. The good thing about learning how to draw skulls is s is that they are not like faces and do not have to look like a particular person in fact you can be quite creative with them because of this. The best way to start off is with the main outline which depending on which angle you are looking at is a circular shape with a rectangular bottom where the jaw would be when looking from the front.

How To Draw Skulls Fron tView
How To Draw Skulls A Front View Example To Use As An Information Source To Help You.

When looking from the side it would be an oval shape lying horizontally with a rectangular shape jutting off the front where the jaw would be again.

How To Draw Skulls Side View Profile To Help And Inform You About What Your Drawing.

From this basic shape you can then start putting in the detail, if you do these out line drawings with light pencil marks they can more easily be covered up as you put more detail into your drawing building it up as you go along. My best advice would be to use photographs to get your information and you can find many of these online but just in case you’re not able find any then you can use these that’s why they are here the help you learn how to draw skulls and you will find plenty of interesting angles that can be useful if wanting to add some other adornments like hats or head dress to you skull drawings when learning how to draw skulls.

Real Dead MF

Skulls are good for drawing as they are quite easy, once you have drawn a few, you can get a buzz out of drawing them because they look good without great effort, they can be used for horror art, fantasy art, tattoos or cartoons. They can be combined with many other elements of creature and character designs, they are good for adding drama as a visual dynamic, I enjoy drawing skulls and have drawn many.

Now you should try drawing some more skulls free hand by making simple line drawings of them trying out different versions quickly, try exaggerating features like cheek bones or teeth, try having some teeth missing. You could make one into a pirate skull by giving it an eye patch and a bandanna or an Indian with a head dress or a cowboy with a Stetson, the possibilities are endless. How to draw skulls will help you to make some great skull drawings but you should at the very least start by drawing your skull drawings from the photographs of real skulls.
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Draw cartoons

Easy cartoons to draw

Easy cartoons for most people are just fun to draw, remember when you was a kid. You could draw silly faces, childish faces, childish drawings of faces. Well cartoons do not have boundaries like other types of drawings do and if you are still a kid fantastic, joy all round let’s begin with easy cartoons to draw.Easy cartoons to draw scribble heads final Details Complete

The wonderful world of scribble heads, easy cartoons.

I took a clean sheet of paper and made a scribble on it with my eyes closed, you must have your eyes closed, no cheating but you can make as many scribbles as you like.

I used my second scribble and made them both big scribbles on A3 drawing paper, the trick is at first to not make too much of a scribble and try to space it out, space is cool.

Now you must open your eyes and take a look at your drawing because you want to see if you can see any faces, sometimes you can if you look round the scribble for a few minutes and remember these are kids drawings, cartoons, not grand master portraits, they are better than that because they are easy and fun to do.

Take a look at my first drafts.

These are the shapes I am going to use for my scribble heads.

The fist one is the master scribble and the second is my outlines for head shapes, the third is one with the scribbles removed.

Easy cartoons to draw,scribble heads.
Easy cartoons to draw, take a look at this it will soon be scribble heads.
Easy cartoons to draw scribble heads outlines.
The outlines of the Scribble Heads have been identified.

Then I removed the scribble lines and had a little think about what I should add, and where it should be added, features like ears, nose, mouth, hair, eye brows, eyes, lips, teeth. I thought about it for a little while then drew in the shapes that would give my scribble heads faces and features.

Remember these are cartoons, like the drawings that children do, kids drawings because of this there is a great deal of scope to work with and improve as you go along.

Just draw these ideas, shapes as best you can and remember these are scribble heads, made purely from your imagination using a free line, they could never ever be wrong because they don’t exist until you have drawn them.

The two pictures below are where I removed the scribble lines and drew in the features.

Easy cartoons to draw scribble heads Isolated Shapes With Lines Removed

Easy cartoons to draw scribble heads with added details and hair

Now the lines that are not needed have been removed and the scribble heads are really starting to take shape, so now all that is left to do is add some more detail, and make them seem more three dimensional (3D).

Notice the heavy dark lines around the bottom of the heads in the image below.

Easy cartoons to draw scribble heads overlapping line in hair removed.
Easy cartoons to draw see how the overlapping lines in hair from the outlines of the scribble heads has bee removed.

Easy cartoons to draw scribble heads shading.

Notice how the hair is just made up of lines all flowing in one direction giving the impression of hair and that some areas are darker than others, like the black dots in the eyes and the outer part of the eye being lighter even with a white dot giving the impression of light reflecting off the eye. These are elements that make your drawings look 3D and are so easy to do if you think about it.

Do you know why the composition is poor in this drawing besides the fact that it was drawn as a free line drawing, it can be constructed better as a composition?

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how to draw a easy

Negative space, positive space, line art.

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Negative space might sound like a science fiction phenomenon, a Doctor Who concept or something from Hitch Hikers Guide to The Galaxy but to be totally honest it’s not.

Negative space is the concept of space surrounding an object, if you where to draw a car, then that car would be positive space but the surrounding area around it, would be negative space.

As you can see below the surrounding area, known as the negative space, still depicts the outline of the car and can be just about recognized as a car, making this an example of how negative space can be used to depict an image, that is not actually there.

The example below will help you understand this better, I am sure.

3 part Image depicting the famous Beatles and a Honda Civic in positive, negative space.
Beatles and a Honda Civic,  positive,  negative space what is it?

The space around an object, is important and deserves consideration, as it can be used to suggest objects, when they are not even there, saving you a lot of time because they are only used as outlines, saving you the time of rendering the detail.

MC Escher provides, probably the most celebrated examples of how negative space can be used, to great effect and below is an adaptation of his ideas, for illustrative purposes but best seen in his own work.

MY_flying_geese_Birds_Fish
An example, a version of flying geese, birds and fish taken from work by MC Escher.

The image above taken from Day and Night 1938, with the original being made from a woodcut print in black and grey, printed from 2 blocks and another image Sky and Water II, which is another woodcut of the same time, both mashed together.

These are just two pieces of work from a vast collection of work by MC Escher, that convey the use of both positive and negative space, the same image in both spaces creating a clever illusion, which can be seen in many other examples like, the Chinese, Yin and Yang, which is another very popular example.

Yin and Yang classic Chinese Taoist Taijitu.

In its visual form, the Yin and Yang concept is conveyed as opposites, of equal size and proportion, where each contains some of the other, represented by the opposite neutral tones portrayed as, black and white dots in its opposite portion.

The use of negative space to convey, other double illusions, can be seen in the images below, where the use of simple outline cutouts, portray a similar image to the main figure, on the same theme of popular culture and music.

Guitarist and Oasis cut outs of band members.

The example above takes contemporary images, to convey them in both positive and negative space, through the use of outline cutouts.

Below is a further development, using outlines as silhouettes?

Guitarist Oasis cut outs reverse tone.

When drawing an outline of something, as like, when you are constructing a drawing, what you are trying to recreate is the line, between the positive and negative space, for this reason, it is important to be able to see that line, distinguishing the two.

The point where one stops and the other begins is the outline.

The Beatles and the 5th Beatle, negative, positive space.
The Beatles and the 5th Beatle, negative, positive space.

The official MC Escher site: http://www.mcescher.com/ is a place to look if you would like to see, some of the very best examples of negative space illusion, as MC Escher was/is the grand master of optical illusion and negative space.

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how to draw a easy

Easy pencil drawings.

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This will explain about how to do easy pencil drawings.

Easy pencil drawings are achievable, if you break it down, into the two main components, of making a good pencil drawing, these are the construction or outline and the shading.

Most people find shading easier and more relaxing, than constructional or outline drawing but the problem is, you can’t do the shading unless, you have done the outline first. This makes drawing difficult, for most people and so they never get to enjoy, doing the shading because they give up, before they have completed the outline, and it’s a pity.

Easy pencil drawings, can be achieved, it dose not have to be difficult because you can trace outlines and get them right every time.

People will say, that tracings are no good, as drawings because they are uninteresting, if they are just tracings and boring. I will agree with this but if you are, then going to complete the drawing, by doing the shading, then this is different, very different. For a start, by learning how to do easy pencil drawings, you will enjoy, your drawing more. You will find it easier, you will find it more relaxing, you will create better drawings, you will not take as long, in doing it, plus you will still learn about construction and proportional representation, the easy way.

If you learn to draw, by doing easy pencil drawings, in this way, you will also improve, in all those more difficult areas, of construction drawing, that hamper everyone’s progress, when they try to draw freehand, by sight drawing, which is drawing, by just looking. Sight drawing is the most difficult way to draw, of all drawing techniques, so it is little wonder, most people say they can’t draw because everybody try’s to draw, by sight drawing, when they start out, it’s not a good idea really. The fact is that nobody draws, by just looking, even when sight drawing. Sight drawing is just, a more difficult way of tracing, all drawing is done by measuring, comparing and struggling to get it right, making mistakes, and trying to hide them or erasing them, making your drawings and pictures messy. Learn to draw by doing easy pencil drawings and you will find that, the results turn out to be much better and a lot less messy.

Let me tell you a fact, I used to spend hours, constructing outline drawings, of portraits for people and make a right mess, most of the time. Then I used to trace that drawing, to get the outline, onto a clean drawing area, to do my final drawing, I had no choice because people want copies of photographs, not drawings, that look like drawing, nowadays. Today people want, photo realistic drawings, they want them to look like photographs, not drawings and they do not want, to sit for you, either.

So I stopped doing it the hard way and started doing easy pencil drawings. I traced the outlines from photographs to save myself at least half of the work. I was told it was not good to do this but that was what I was doing anyway but taking twice as long. I was told, my other drawing skills, would diminish and I would become less able to draw, without tracing but do you know what, it is not true because it is more enjoyable, it is so much better but I still become aware, of important learning.

Below you will find a video, of me drawing Kurt Cobain, who was once the lead singer and guitarist, with the Grunge Rock band, Nirvana. Please notice that I am not tracing and it is here, just to prove, that tracing does not take away, from your ability to draw. Perhaps I am unique and it only works for me but I don’t think so, I am just like anybody else, who likes drawing, who got good at it, through finding ways to do so. I am sure you will also by doing easy pencil drawings.

The truth is this, I got better, much better because I enjoyed it, so much more, doing easy pencil drawings but I still became aware, of the important learning, as well.

A picture of a car, a frog and a girl.
Louie, found on the Stumble Upon, website and lightly traced from my monitor screen.

Do you know what, you need to do easy pencil drawings first, then as you get better, you can develop, the other ways, that improve your sight drawing, when you understand it better.

easy pencil drawings a progresive drawing of a frog.
Easy pencil drawings, progressive drawings of a frog, tracing taken, from an image found online, to show you, how to draw easy.
how to draw a easy

Outline drawing.

In the process of drawing images, we often start out with a basic outline drawing, as the foundation, for learning where everything else goes, in relation to the outline and each other. The problem I find with many beginners and well practiced people alike, is they do not always, understand outlines very well, also as in the case of beginners, they do not understand at all, in many instances.

The easiest way to draw and understand outlines, is by using tracing methods of drawing because when you trace an image, you can only, realistically make an outline, as tracing doesn’t lend it’s self to shading. Tracing also gives you a better understanding, of how pictures work, especially when trying to understand, construction drawing.

Wheel images showing perspective distortion.
Car wheel images showing distortion when seen in perspective.
Wheel images showing perspective distortion line drawing.
Car wheel images showing perspective distortion in a line drawing format.

Let me explain, by using a car wheel as an example, we all know that wheels are round but they are only round, when we look at them directly face on, because when we turn them, at an angle, they become, more and more oval, in shape.

The correct term to call this oval shape, is an ellipse and is something many people have problems with, when trying to draw them accurately, to find out more about this, please take look at single point perspective and two point perspective, you will find the both helpful.

Get yourself some pictures that you might like to draw and trace them, so as to be able, to take a look at these images, as only line drawings, you will notice when tracing these outlines, that they are most often, not as you might have thought they are.

Doing this, will help you to understand, that shapes are not often, the shapes we think we see and that wheels, are most often not circular but oval, along with many other shapes we see but actually, only think we see. This is because our brains tell us that wheels are round or that a shape is this shape or that shape, when in actual fact, many shapes are not what we think they are because our brains are telling us what we see, rather than actually, seeing what we see.