- Joined
- Aug 10, 2004
- Messages
- 199
So, in a try to benefit other artists that have much more talent than me, I have made a little tutorial with what I’ve learned from artschool, and discovered myself.
First, I suggest that you get more pens than the ordinary schoolpen with the marking HB. It is way too soft for making sketches, which is essential for making successfull drawings.
Instead I suggest a H-pen if you are beginners, and a 2H if you have done many drawings in your life and manage to not destroy the paper by pressing the 2H-pen too hard. I use the pens from 2H to 4H when I sketch.
But remember, the H-pens are much harder than the usual pens, so be careful and do not press the pen to the paper. You should treat your pen as a balletdancer, or a woman.
What paper you want to use is mainly a personal flavor. I myself prefer to use ordinary copy-paper or sketch-paper as I think ordinary drawingpaper has too much bumbs and it doesn’t bring the smoothness I want. But as I said, you can use what you want.
Remember to always have atleast two erasers., one bigger and one small. The bigger should be around 4x2 cm, as a usual eraser. The smaller should be 2-3 mm x 1 cm. Just cut one from your ordinary eraser and you got one in the size you want.
You will see me use a darker pen today, since my scanner refuses to take the lighter grades of pens.
So, let’s begin.
Basic Lips
Now, why did I start with lips? It’s easy: they are the most common mistake done on a picture. Usually people draw lips like the picture underneath. Make hard and dark contours, darkening the middle.. and making it look horrible.
To draw good lips you have to understand following: Nothing in nature has lines around it. Nothing. It is something the human mind adds.
I want you to test something now. Look at some lips, either on someone that models for you, or a photo. Look at the lips, and just draw the shading.
I have used a pic on myself and here, i just did the shadows that falls on the lips. The light came from the right on the pic. And no, this isn’t beautiful, but it’s great training, and it will reward you later on.
When you have done that a couple of times, used different models and photos, now try to make complete lips. I will lead you through it.
As a start, I always bring out the middleline. Why? It’s the darkest line, the lips center around it, and it’s makes the shading around the lips easier.
Then do the basic shading around the line. The thing to remember her, is that on the upper lip in the middle, the lips go in a bit. There you should make the darkest shading, just in the middle, but don’t start shading to dark, just shade it light and easy. Shade the whole upperlip, since it’s darker than the lower lip.
Also shade the line that is under the lips. In reality, it is more than a line, it’s a area that shadows hit. And by shading that, you will have it easier to make the rest of the lips.
Sofar you have got the basic shape of a lip. Here you may also wonder why I make so fat lips where the upper lip is so much thinner. It’s because I’m stupid, so don’t do that.
Next, you shade the lower lip. Leave the middle of the lower lip free from shading. That is where the light hits the lips.
Hopefully, you now got what looks like pretty good lips. But I’m going to be evil, and make you do even more on the lips.
I have just shaded with the pencil, and not used my finger. As I’m sure that must of you know, the tops of the fingers are great for making the picture look smoother and more alive.
Another thing to make them look more alive, is to add the lines that are in the lips. With to much use of them, the lips will look horrible, but with light use of them, it will look alive.
Remember to put the ones in the middle, and on both the upper and lower lip. Make them light, with smooth and short movement of the pen.
There, you have a set of lips. Here is my finished version, were I added a bit of shading of a chin and the other areas surronding the lips. I hope you will have use of this tutorial and make much lovelier lips than I ever managed.
First, I suggest that you get more pens than the ordinary schoolpen with the marking HB. It is way too soft for making sketches, which is essential for making successfull drawings.
Instead I suggest a H-pen if you are beginners, and a 2H if you have done many drawings in your life and manage to not destroy the paper by pressing the 2H-pen too hard. I use the pens from 2H to 4H when I sketch.
But remember, the H-pens are much harder than the usual pens, so be careful and do not press the pen to the paper. You should treat your pen as a balletdancer, or a woman.
What paper you want to use is mainly a personal flavor. I myself prefer to use ordinary copy-paper or sketch-paper as I think ordinary drawingpaper has too much bumbs and it doesn’t bring the smoothness I want. But as I said, you can use what you want.
Remember to always have atleast two erasers., one bigger and one small. The bigger should be around 4x2 cm, as a usual eraser. The smaller should be 2-3 mm x 1 cm. Just cut one from your ordinary eraser and you got one in the size you want.
You will see me use a darker pen today, since my scanner refuses to take the lighter grades of pens.
So, let’s begin.
Basic Lips
Now, why did I start with lips? It’s easy: they are the most common mistake done on a picture. Usually people draw lips like the picture underneath. Make hard and dark contours, darkening the middle.. and making it look horrible.
To draw good lips you have to understand following: Nothing in nature has lines around it. Nothing. It is something the human mind adds.
I want you to test something now. Look at some lips, either on someone that models for you, or a photo. Look at the lips, and just draw the shading.
I have used a pic on myself and here, i just did the shadows that falls on the lips. The light came from the right on the pic. And no, this isn’t beautiful, but it’s great training, and it will reward you later on.
When you have done that a couple of times, used different models and photos, now try to make complete lips. I will lead you through it.
As a start, I always bring out the middleline. Why? It’s the darkest line, the lips center around it, and it’s makes the shading around the lips easier.
Then do the basic shading around the line. The thing to remember her, is that on the upper lip in the middle, the lips go in a bit. There you should make the darkest shading, just in the middle, but don’t start shading to dark, just shade it light and easy. Shade the whole upperlip, since it’s darker than the lower lip.
Also shade the line that is under the lips. In reality, it is more than a line, it’s a area that shadows hit. And by shading that, you will have it easier to make the rest of the lips.
Sofar you have got the basic shape of a lip. Here you may also wonder why I make so fat lips where the upper lip is so much thinner. It’s because I’m stupid, so don’t do that.
Next, you shade the lower lip. Leave the middle of the lower lip free from shading. That is where the light hits the lips.
Hopefully, you now got what looks like pretty good lips. But I’m going to be evil, and make you do even more on the lips.
I have just shaded with the pencil, and not used my finger. As I’m sure that must of you know, the tops of the fingers are great for making the picture look smoother and more alive.
Another thing to make them look more alive, is to add the lines that are in the lips. With to much use of them, the lips will look horrible, but with light use of them, it will look alive.
Remember to put the ones in the middle, and on both the upper and lower lip. Make them light, with smooth and short movement of the pen.
There, you have a set of lips. Here is my finished version, were I added a bit of shading of a chin and the other areas surronding the lips. I hope you will have use of this tutorial and make much lovelier lips than I ever managed.
