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3. Next, the artist blended across rough forms with a blender pencil for an out-of-focus background.
This slightly abstract quality compliments rather than detracts from the portrait's subject.
4. For the main figure, the artist layered colours rather than trying to apply each colour singly. Accurate colours help create luminescence and texture, whereas poor colouring would result in a flat-looking, lifeless portrait.
The blender pencil was used gently and kept clean - it can cause unwanted smudging and make further detailing difficult, but is excellent for finalising a mix.
Portraits Using Blended Blacks
Various Completed Portraits + Notes
Portrait Step-by-Step
1. Coloured pencil portraits work best on slightly textured paper to aid colour blending and depth. Kym's 16 x 12" portrait used a finegrain watercolour paper and artists' pencils from the Derwent Coloursoft range.
Other Portrait Tutorials
Pencil Portrait
Pet Portraits, Various Media
Cow Portraits, Various Media
Kym's Completed Coloured Pencil Portrait
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Other Portrait Examples
2. The sample below compares mixed black with the flatter-looking black straight from the pencil, and the portrait demonstrates the richness of a blended black against a background of warm colour.
2. Background is sometimes integral to a portrait's mood or theme.
With the pencil drawing below, the artist improvised a background based around the photo (the sign had a specific meaning for the client.)
Photograph
8 x 10" Portrait
5. Blues create a cool, calm atmosphere to compliment this nude portrait's mood. This drawing also shows the range of colours apparent in a simple white cloth:
Pencil Portrait - Reclined Nude
Hair, Early Stage
to commission a pencil portrait or ask questions about pencil portraiture.
The artist will always respond to questions about pencil drawing, although regular correspondance cannot be entered into.
This Artist Uses
2. The artist first superimposed a 1cm. digital grid onto the photo (left) to help retain correct proportions while enlarging the image.
The portrait was tranferred bit by bit onto the paper using a neutral coloured pencil, and grid-lines removed.
(See 2cm. grid on pet portrait)
Using a grid does not guarantee accuracy - a "good eye" is needed to avoid errors. Because our brains are programmed to recognise facial details, even small mistakes would stand out.
5. The main focus in a portrait is the eyes. The artist treated the eye as a sphere, shading accordingly. The "whites" of eyes rarely appear white, and sometimes, as in this portrait, the pupil does not appear altogether dark.
Note also the blues and greens added to the skin.
Eye in progress - pencil strokes before blending.
Completed eye - blended with blender pencil and white.
6. The artist continued building colours in the portrait, paying attention to the fine details of the face so as to gain the true expression.
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A photo may be atypical of a person, due to angle or lighting.
At the wish of the parents, shading was adjusted to refine the nose and make the portrait more characteristic of Kym's everyday appearance.
1. In the portrait below, the artist mixed browns, indigo, dull green and loganberry for the dark hair, exposing the paper with a putty rubber to create highlights.
After fixing, further highlights were added in white pencil.
Orit's Portrait
3. To combine photos, the artist creates a collage in Microsoft Publisher before superimposing the grid.
6. The colours in shadows depend in part on what casts them as well as what they are cast upon - also the type of light. They are not always predominately blue, as demonstrated by the portrait below:
Completed A5 Portrait
Photos
Repeating v-shapes in the following nude pencil portrait help "lead the eye" along the clear diagonal, while the curve of the hip mirrors the cloth's folds. These features help balance the portrait.
Below, the artist has improved on the composition of the photo by increasing the area of water and decresing that of the sky. This greater symmentry benefits the finished portrait by giving it a more cohesive feel.
Diana Portrait
Although a good photo is not always to hand, modern technology makes taking selections of photos easy.
So an artist can often find a good basic composition to enhance the end result of any portrait.
