Marilyn Portrait Tutorial pdf

If your pencil becomes too short, use a pencil extender because there's no need to make it uncomfortable to draw.. Blending Tools - To hide pencil lines in a drawing, you need a blending

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

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

- 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

(The arrows on each left eyebrow are the same length as the arrows on each right eyebrow)

Looking out for things that should meet up, should help with accuracy E.g The light and dark hairlines meet in the small circle, while the hairline, end

of eyebrow and eyelashes meet up in the bigger circle If things that are meant to meet up but don't, look carefully at your drawing and see what

needs to be changed so that they will meet up

It is important while sketching to step back, as this gives you a good

overview of where things are going right and wrong If you are having

difficulty with something, stop drawing and don't look at it at all for a while This will give you fresh eyes when you do look at it again I find that

photographing my works in progress next to their references on my phone gives a direct comparison and as it's a small screen, it makes things that need changing more obvious

At this stage, all drawing lines should be very light You shouldn't be able to tell you went through this stage at all in the finished drawing The outlined drawing may look odd and not accurate because dark shading is needed to make some areas look smaller and give a more defined shape Put in some light shading if you're worried about it not being accurate

Background

When shading and adding detail, it is important to move in these directions

Which direction you follow depends on which hand you use because you should move in a way in which you drawing hand doesn't smudge what you've already drawn Because of this, it means usually starting with

background or 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, you can get away with not shading tightly, but it is essential to do so when shading the skin

Now, to remove pencil lines, you need to blend with whatever blending tool you are using I blend in a slightly circular motion that gradually moves in the necessary direction of the subject If you are blending something detailed and intricate, there is no need for the circular motion

After you have done that, you should place the darker tones in with your black graphite pencil (a Mars Lumograph in my case) Shade tightly as they don't blend well, and shade lightly when shading the gradient between mid

to dark tone

Blend again to ensure that the regular graphite and the black graphite merge smoothly

Add more black if necessary as you want a solid black to as high a contrast

as possible

Using your kneadable eraser, tear a piece off and knead it into this kind of shape:

Then using the pointy part, pick out highlights in the background Most blending tools don't blend 100% smoothly, so this technique can be used to remove flecks of graphite that make the tone uneven Make the eraser thinner for more delicate highlights

Those are the steps I went through for drawing the background I then completed as much as the background that fell within the direction I was working in, so it looks like this:

The only way to effectively draw hair, is to give the impression of individual hairs - see the difference between Catherine Zeta Jones and Edward

Scissorhands? This rule applies to both blonde and dark hair

Put in the mid tones with your 4B pencil Note how I have shaded this time, giving the suggestion of individual strands

Blend, this time no circular motion should be used, instead move in the direction the hair goes

Add the darkest tones with your black pencil, still drawing the individual strands where needed

Using your kneadable eraser, pick out the highlights

You should be finished now, but I needed to make the light and dark stronger This is something you should be consciously aware of in any drawing you, as contrast is very important to the finished image

If you do the rest of the hair, this is what it should look like

Skin

The use of eyeshadow applicators is most noticeable and beneficial when shading skin, as it creates a translucent, glowing effect

As always, shade your mid tones Remember to erase excess dust before you start

Blend with the eyeshadow applicators in a circular motion

If there are any shades that are too dark, pick them out with the kneadable eraser

Blend again to even out the light and mid tones Don't forget to follow the reference's dark and light tones

If you do the rest of the skin until you reach the eyes, this is what it should look like

Eyes and Eyebrows

I think the eyes are most 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, draw individual eyebrow hairs

Use the kneadable eraser in a point to pick out light areas

Using the same instructions on skin, draw the eyelid skin between eyelash and eyebrows

Using the Mars Lumograph, add the eyelashes

Using the 4B Derwent, shade the iris and very lightly shade the white of the eye The white, is never completely white and looks flat if shading is not added As this shading has to be subtle, you may even want to use an

applicator that already has graphite on it, instead of a pencil

Use the kneadable eraser and Mars Lumograph to pick out areas that need lightening and shade areas that darkening Make sure the catch-light is white

Back to the 4B now Lightly shade under the eye Beware of the inner lid, and draw it if it is there in the reference

Use the Mars Lumograph to draw the lower lashes, and 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 applicators

With the kneadable eraser, remove uneven tones

Still using the 4B, add darker shading, and blend and erase when necessary (Sorry for the weird appearance - scanner mishap!)

Now add the Mars Lumograph shading

Now add highlights using the eraser

This is how it looks after adding the nose and other skin shading

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 difficult they are, so I hope I help!

Shade the mid-tones of the upper lip with your 4B pencil

Blend with applicators