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Step by Step Drawing Tutorials
Welcome to the step-by-step drawing tutorials at The Drawing
Source. Below you'll find lessons demonstrating the process of drawing
portraits, figures, and still lives.
Table of Contents:
>> A Common Misconception About Drawing>> Portrait Drawing Step by Step
>> Figure Drawing Step by Step
>> Still Life Drawing Step by Step
>> Following Tutorials vs. Knowing How to Draw
First, let's address a common misconception:
To learn realistic drawing, you don't learn to draw separate things.
Instead of trying to memorize how to draw an eye… then a nose… then a hand, you develop a set of foundational skills that allow you to draw anything.
Then, you apply those skills to increasingly complex subjects, like the portrait and figure.
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It's often assumed that to draw portraits, figures, or any advanced subject, we need new or different skills. But this isn't how drawing works.
The same foundational skills are required for every subject.
By learning them, you become someone who can draw anything, rather than just follow tutorials. And, once you have them, you can successfully layer subject-specific knowledge on top - like figure construction or portrait anatomy.
Learn the 6 foundational skills that unlock
every subject, and how they form the drawing process for anything you
want to draw, on the Foundational Skills Learning Path.
Step by Step Portrait Drawing Tutorials
How to Begin a Portrait Drawing
In this tutorial, learn about techniques for placing the features of the face accurately, drawing concepts such as negative shapes, rhythms to help you draw a
precise yet organic-looking portrait, and much more!
How to Shade a Portrait Drawing
On this second page of the tutorial, I
pick up where I left off with my completed block-in and begin applying
tone to my drawing. Learn how to begin shading the portrait, how to analyze and simplify
values, how to render in an order that is most efficient, and more!
In this drawing tutorial, I demonstrate the
process of drawing a realistic eye, and illuminate the knowledge
and skills that one must
acquire to draw this compelling subject matter convincingly.
Eyebrows come in all shapes and sizes. Fortunately, there are a few simple guidelines we can follow to learn how to draw eyebrows convincingly and realistically!
How to Draw an Ear on Toned Paper
Learn how to draw an ear on toned paper in this step by step drawing tutorial!
How to Create a Blended Black and White Charcoal Drawing
Let me introduce you to one of my favorite techniques: combining black and white charcoal! White charcoal has a slightly blue color temperature, and when layered overtop of regular charcoal, it creates a beautiful, silvery surface quality.
A hairstyle can be the finishing touch of a portrait drawing, or its focal point. Learn how to draw a realistic braid in this step by step tutorial!
How you draw hair can vary quite a bit from hairstyle to hairstyle, requiring you to be flexible in your approach. Here you will learn how to simplify such a complicated subject as hair,
how to draw hair that actually looks like your model's without obsessing
over every detail, and the key to drawing realistic and dimensional
locks.
Though eyes are usually considered to be the most expressive facial feature, I would argue that the lips are a close second! Learn how to draw realistic lips step by step in this tutorial.
Step by Step Figure Drawing Tutorials
How to Block in a Cast Drawing
Cast drawing teaches you much of what you need to know to successfully draw the figure. It wonderfully bridges still life and figure drawing, and it can be a less intimidating way to study the figure by removing a few of the challenges of working with a model.
Learn to block in the figure with this first page of the figure drawing tutorial.
This page discusses: how to start your figure drawing, using the head as
a unit of measurement, drawing the gesture of the pose, relating
interior forms to the contour, and various other tips and techniques for
drawing the figure.
Step by Step Still Life Drawing Tutorials
Still life is one of the best subjects for developing the 6 foundational skills that unlock every drawing subject. Learn about these skills and how to weave them together into a smooth drawing process on the Foundational Skills Learning Path.
Learn how to draw a flower using graphite pencils in this step by step tutorial!
You come across spherical shapes everywhere, whether you are drawing a
still life, figure, portrait or landscape. Learning how to draw this
basic shape teaches you much of what you need to know to draw just
about everything else!
How to Draw Glass Using
White Charcoal on Black Paper
Challenge yourself with new techniques in this step by step drawing tutorial! From drawing using a paintbrush to creating light shapes rather than shadow shapes, you're bound to strengthen your skills and discover something new.
Following Tutorials vs. Knowing How to Draw
Learning from step by step drawing tutorials is a great first step to
explore realistic drawing. But there's a difference between following a
tutorial and knowing how to draw.
In the Atelier, you'll develop the 6 foundational skills that unlock every drawing subject, learn how to weave them into a smooth drawing process, and discover how to problem-solve your own drawings.
No more wondering what to do next, or why a drawing isn't working. Just a clear, repeatable process you can trust, and apply to everything you want to draw.
By Marina Fridman — a professional visual artist, former tenure-track professor of art, and founder of The Drawing Source, where over 1,000 students have taken drawing courses.
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