Marilyn Portrait Tutorial pdf

Marilyn Portrait Tutorial Introduction This tutorial is very detailed, and involves a lot of patience. My drawings take a long time, and my greatest skill is not my drawing ability but my patience, as I have told a lot of deviants. By instructing you on how I do everything, I am giving you the opportunity to focus mainly on developing your patience. I've tried to use my own drawings as examples, when I can, and give useful links. Links to shopping websites are only given as an example of what to look for and average price, but not necessarily the best place to buy. If you have questions about anything, please read through it all to save repetition. If you think there's something else I should cover in a tutorial, please let me know via comment or note. Contents:  Equipment  Getting Started  Outlining  Background  Hair  Skin  Eyes and Eyebrows  Nose  Mouth  Diamonds  Finishing Touches Equipment Paper - I generally use £1 pads from Hyper Value, but I have heard a number of times that Bristol Board is the best. I've just recently started using it, and it is really good. I've found that I've had to shade a lot heavier, but drawing is much quicker using it. If you do not have access to a good art shop, try to find paper that is at least 135gsm, and relatively smooth. Pencils - I cannot stress the importance of having high quality pencils. I find Derwent are definitely the best I've used, in particular their Sketching range. I also use Staedler Mars Lumographs.These are really black pencils (though not coloured pencils) which are essential for depth, as well as creating effective and dramatic drawings. If you do not create a high enough contrast, your drawings can appear flat and dull, like Captain Barbossa. I use a 4B in the Derwent range, as this is soft enough to blend and can cover light and medium shades well. The Mars Lumograph (which I use in 8B) covers dark to black black shades, and can be used over the Derwent sketching to help with gradual tones (e.g. the background of Holiday Golightly. If your pencil becomes too short, use a pencil extender because there's no need to make it uncomfortable to draw. If the wood around the lead of your pencil is rough, it is a sign you need a new pencil sharpener. Blending Tools - To hide pencil lines in a drawing, you need a blending tool of some sort. I use eyeshadow applicators because they give a really smooth, and almost translucent finish (see Marilyn's skin), but they can also give a rougher finish (see Captain Jack's skin. These can found in any shop that sells make up, but can be found in bulk on some online stores. A very popular option for blending is tortillion, which can be found usually in any shop with basic art supplies. I bought a set of six different sizes by Crimson + Blake from The Works for 99p, though you can make your own. In my personal experience, tortillion is very quick to use, and due to its point can do detailed areas well, though I tend to get a much rougher finish than with eyeshadow applicators. I have heard of people using cotton buds, cotton wool and tissues. You might want to practice blending with a few different items to see which suits you best. With this tutorial, I shall be using eyeshadow applicators Kneadable Erasers - I find that a normal eraser is really useless for drawing. Most pencil artists use a kneadable eraser already, but in case you don't, my favourite is WH Smith's own brand. (N.B. Don't buy anything else from WH Smiths for art - especially pencils - they're absolutely dreadful.) Getting Started Make sure your hands are clean and dry before drawing. You can rest a tissue under your hand as you draw to stop it ruining your paper with oil from your skin, but I find this uncomfortable. In my experience, it's best not to draw with paper flat on a desk. It distorts proportions and unless you hunch over you never get an accurate view. Try to recreate the angle an artist painting at an easel has. A table easel is good, as well as leaning a drawing board against a desk, though I tend to use one of those lap trays for your dinner and sit lengthways on a sofa. Remember, if you move your paper, move your reference with it. You cannot be expected to draw at an angle, and mentally adjust the reference at the same time. To distract from the amount of time you are spending on a drawing, I recommend watching TV while you draw. If you are drawing a celebrity, watch something that they are in, as it will give a better understanding of their features. When choosing a reference, choose carefully. Think about what you want to achieve with your drawing. If you are drawing an image of a celebrity, do you want it to be refreshing or iconic? For example, everyone has seen this picture of Marilyn Monroe, and has been used a lot to draw. However, if you find a less used image, your drawing will be striking for your ability and the 'new' quality it holds. For an idea of what is overused, do a search on DeviantART and see what comes up. Also, an image may not be overused, but a very talented artist has already drawn it. I mean, I adore imaginee's Marilyn Monroe, and I love the photograph she used as a reference, but I would not dream of drawing it myself after she has done it so beautifully, and feel there is nothing I could add to it. Look for things in your reference, that although your eye accepts in a photograph, will scrutinise in a drawing. For example, Audrey Hepburn's mouth. I started drawing this before I had looked at the reference properly, and realised how difficult her mouth would be to draw at that angle. Don't make my mistake! Choose a high quality image. If the reference is not of a high quality, your drawing won't be either. Glossy magazines are a good source, and you may want to consider a subscription in whatever subject matter you're most interested in. General photography magazines are useful if you like a very varied subject matter. Newspaper photographs are generally poor for reference use, but if you contact the newspaper, they usually have them for sale at a better quality. For animals and celebrities, calendars are also a good source. If like me, you're interested in the Golden era of Hollywood, I recommend finding a book with photographs from the Kobal collection, as they contain very beautiful photography. Whatever your interest, it can usually be found on Corbis and Getty Images. This is the references I have chosen: I know it isn't of high quality, but that's because it was too big to scan and had to be photographed. I found this image in a book called 'Marilyn' by Jay Harrison, in case you'd like to find it to follow this tutorial exactly. Outlining It's important to outline an image before you draw in detail. I didn't use to do this, and my drawings suffered because of it. Cinematographer Jack Cardiff says "a third-rate artist will draw somebody's face with the eyes the same size and in the right position, but no two eyes are alike on a human face - one will be a bit smaller or a slightly different shape - and a real artist will capture that essence in getting a likeness of the person". A lot of people draw what they think they see, not what they actually do see. People who are trained in art observe things better - with precision, and they can draw detail because they actually observe the detail of what they see, and then draw it. For example, I know all the flaws in my drawings, because of how I observe. For an attempt of drawing after reading this, I advise drawing Marilyn Monroe, as Cardiff goes on to explain: "If you could measure Marilyn's eyes and facial features, they were almost perfect". Therefore, she'll be good for the experience of drawing, while someone whose features aren't symmetrical would be better to do after practice. Please remember to draw what you see, not what you think you see!! E.g. nobody has eyelashes like spider legs, but people still draw them like that! This is my outlined drawing: I did this by freehand, but by all means use a grid if you want to. I find them hard to use, but I know they work wonders, as seen in this tutorial. Before I was confident about drawing freehand, I used circles and sausages, and then built up the correct shapes after the basic shapes: This is was a basic shape drawing would look like. You can easily see what needs to be altered to get the right shape. N.B. Look how well Marilyn's face fits the proportion lines, proving Cardiff's observation. You can make sure things are accurate by looking at relative measurements [...]... everyone's mouths For example, in this reference, Marilyn' s lips are very glossy, but Rita's appear cracked, while Audrey's are at an awkward angle, and Johnny's are au natural and without lipstick (thank God!!!) However, as long as you go by the principle of drawing what you see and shade well, you should be fine I felt it necessary to have teeth in my tutorial, as so many people have commented on how... people's favourite features when drawing, so it's important to give them justice I used to be terrible at drawing them, so I practised just drawing eyes, and now I'm alright As they're usually central in a portrait, they're what people look at first, so if something's off, it tends to be very noticeable Firstly, give an all over shade and blend for the eyebrow, using the 4B While using the Mars Lumograph,... kneadable eraser to highlight areas not covered by shadows of the eyelashes Further shade the skin under the eye This is what it should look like now Nose The nose is very difficult to draw, and indeed do a tutorial for because it is only composed of shading Proportion wise, usually if the nose is incorrect, the chin and other features look out of proportion Using the 4B shade the midtones Blend with eyeshadow... sometimes the hair If you use a tissue under your drawing hand to protect the paper, you can get away with not following this order If you are comfortable with this, do the eyes first, as they make or break a portrait! As I'm right-handed, I'll be starting with the top left corner First of all, shade the mid tones of the background fabric with your 4b pencil With something that's out of focus, like this background, . Marilyn Portrait Tutorial Introduction This tutorial is very detailed, and involves a lot of patience. My drawings. photographed. I found this image in a book called &apos ;Marilyn& apos; by Jay Harrison, in case you'd like to find it to follow this tutorial exactly. Outlining It's important. an attempt of drawing after reading this, I advise drawing Marilyn Monroe, as Cardiff goes on to explain: "If you could measure Marilyn& apos;s eyes and facial features, they were almost