BEFORE WE BEGIN... I received a pm yesterday saying "why do you always show off your drawings? It makes everyone feel bad." I'd like to just let you all know that I DON'T share my drawings because I "want love and praise", and I'm certainly not trying to make anyone feel bad. I share my drawings much in the same way people share their writing, photography, or videos of them dancing/singing: to entertain. I don't do it to try and "show off" (because there are SO many other artists on here, far better than me), to get attention, or anything like that. I do it because it shows you guys a part of me, and what I like to do.
Now that that's out of the way...
Here's basically how I go about drawing a person, with tips.
Ok so the last thing I drew with progress shots was my Spider-Man drawing from April. So we're taking it back to that.
I used prismacolor premiers and a prismacolor colorless blender on strathmore toned tan paper.
If you are sticking to black and white, I suggest white paper, graphite pencils (in multiple shades), and stumps/tortillions for blending. If you don't have either of those, try any regular pencil and a tissue for blending.
First, draw out your sketch. Use your reference, and follow it as closely as you can.
First tip: overlay your reference drawing onto your sketch to make sure everything lines up.
It's MOST important to make sure the face you're drawing is symmetrical. No one will notice if an arm or torso is slightly off, but if the eyes or mouth are on an odd angle it's SO obvious. Bc as humans, our eyes naturally look to other eyes first.
I use Picsart for overlaying, bc it's easy and free (whoop). Just take a picture of your sketch, and overlay the reference photo like this (select "add photo" along the bottom panel. Once you've added the photo, adjust the opacity, size, and angle, and line it up with your sketch):
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So as you can see, the face of my sketch was pretty much lined up, but nothing else really was. But you couldn't tell in the final photo, because the brain doesn't bother with analyzing symmetry of the body like it does with the face. So, focus on the face. If it's not close to lined up, keep adjusting and re-overlaying with a new picture of your sketch each time, until it's close/how you want it.
And yes, it's normal for your sketch to look kinda bug-eyed.
ONCE you're happy with your sketch, start with white highlights (or if you're doing a b&w picture, you'll reverse highlight and shade first. Don't be afraid to leave some white behind!). Wherever the light hits your reference photo and you see white, add it on your sketch (see picture 1, above). Or, if you're doing b&w, add darker shadows where you see them on the face.
I also always color/shade from left to right (that's why the hand/arm is already done lol), so I don't smear the colors on my right hand. If you're left handed, color/shade from right to left.
