Hi guys:) Today I want to talk a few about making portraits. 

When I was only a beginner, just "graduated" from my half year drawing classes (I have no "drawing" education, I'm an art historian in fact) I made only graphic portraits with charcoal. Showed them here earlier, in that times I was super obsessed with "Supernatiral" series, so drew main characters from it. 

Charcoal, unlike pencil, gives you more speed. Of course, mild pencils (2B+) also shade well (don't know how to say it clearly in english. You know, when you don't make small strokes, but when you do the base and then with paper, or finger or something else you smear it), but charcoal looks much better when used like this. So, it releases your time, and if you don't plan to make pencil academical drawings for all your life there's no big heed to be perfect in hatching.

But one important thing hatching with small strokes gives - understanding of the direction of the stroke. Ans this is what I nearly missed during my study and what caused m difficulties in future.

After I was presented with my first graphic tablet (which was Wacom Intuos) - I began trying to make digtal portraits. And still they look much better then the ones I make with traditional mediums. Know why?

Endless Ctrl+Z:)

The possibility that graphic mediums give in only limited amount of times, and watercolor doesn't give at all.

Here was my attempt to draw Sirius, from Harry Potter movie. No need to say that the eyes are too big, and shading is pretty stylized. No sketch, no building proportions - no game. Of course, now I see all y mistakes. But when you're in process - seems like nothing more exists for you.

Shading. Shading is the one thing that makes everything. Here I will show one of my first digital portraits, no slippers to throw at me, please:)

It was  an attempt to draw Tauriel. You see, she looks much  more fat them the character from the movie. And why? Shading. This is the most important part, that makes model look similar. Sometimes when you create a line sketch, and do everything perfectly, the model still doesn't look similar. But when you add shading - everything changed:)

Shades spread on the face thanks to bones and muscles. So when I looked again a my "Tauriel" I understood that I will not go anywhere further without study of the scull. 

And I bought one;) Gypsum model, real ones are too expensive.  

Once I already shown here my study art of scull, so see no need to do it again. But my point is - when you understand and feel, for example, where the cheekbone is - everything becomes more simple. Even if the study was hell:)

The other thing is a stylied portrait. Let's take he one I made yesterday for @craig-grant as an example.

As you see, here I works not with shading, but with warm and cold colors. It's another was to trick you brain. It accepts that if the light is warm - the shadows are cold. 

So, here it goes with the principle that "Whatever looks good - looks good":)

By the way, this Arven I made a few weeks after I made Tauriel. AFTER the scull study. Looks mucj more thin, right?:)

Thank you for voting and commenting:)

Love, Inber