Timelapse. Portrait of a man, front view

Hi everyone!

Today I’m showing the process on one of the sketches — from a reference of a man’s portrait seen from the front (attached as a file).

A front-view portrait should start with the center line and blocking in the main proportions of the facial module — how wide the eye sockets will be, where the brows sit relative to the eyes, the height of the nose, and where the lips sit relative to the bottom of the lower jaw.

Then, once we have a light guide to hang onto, we move on to laying in value. Take a flat brush with no texture (on the iPad: Brushes – Flat brush) and cover the darkest shapes with it, thinking about light and form as you go: the cheekbones are lit more on top and darker underneath, since the light comes from the front and slightly above.

After that, wipe out the main light with the eraser until volume appears. Once all the main masses are in with the wide brush, you can switch to the Pencil 6B brush, refining the form and moving from detail to detail. Drew the nose a little, moved to the cheekbone. Drew the cheekbone, moved to the lips, then to the chin, then to the eyes, and then back to the nose. Every node needs its share of time.

Then the loop can repeat, depending on how much time you have for the drawing and the result you want. Keep an eye on proportions as you go, because in the process one part of the face or another can slide off without you noticing. I recommend drawing horizontals on a separate layer so you can keep the symmetry of the bone structure in check.

Don’t be afraid to make the form a bit planar — it helps bring out volume and keeps the drawing from getting too licked-over. The hat has to separate in value from the overall shape of the head, so the two masses don’t merge. And as a final chord you can add a shape in the background.

For the final version I chose the sketch with the big black background shape on the left. You get this lovely contrast between the two background shapes, left and right, and the hat: on the left it’s light against dark, on the right it’s dark against light, and that makes the piece a bit more complex and interesting.