I drew the walrus.

[dadevvtsvre]

goo goo g'joob

Yeah, I did a portrait of John Lennon. (based on this picture) Done in pencil. And I'm not too happy with how it turned out. Basically, there are a heck of a lot of things wrong with it that were a result of me never having done a portrait. The right nostril is terrible, the placement of the eyes isn't level, the glasses could've been a lot cleaner, etc. Again, though, I've never tried a portrait before so it was a new experience for me.

I'm terrible with hair, and this was the first time I've really tried to draw it. I tried to give the illusion of individual stands-any tips?

Spoiler

Also, I drew a Great Dane yesterday. It was a rush job, and I ended up taking about an hour and a half to do it. I guess it's okay for the amount of time I had to do it but if I'd had more time I wish I could've made it cleaner and refined the lines more. Oh well.

Spoiler

I know I need to work on cleaner lines and cleaner blending. There's also some other things I'm aware of. Any other general tips? I like drawing portraits and want to do more so if anybody's got some good advice I'd really appreciate it :3

 

[Reives]

Sorry that I can't help with the technical critiques and tips and whatnot, but just dropping by to say wow, I didn't know you had it in ya! I love these, great job with them. I think one aspect that could be improved is add a greater contrast to make things pop more, but that was probably affected by the scanning process and/or pencil type.

 

[archerRin]

idk, you might wanna use a sharper pencil for hair like mechanical to get it looking like strands. the main crit i have is that you should work on more depth in your drawings. Press harder on stuff that are darker and more distant, further away etc. Otherwise great job !

 

[dadevvtsvre]

Yeah, I get what you're both saying about contrast and whatnot. I used a 6B pencil, the softest I had, for the darkest areas, and I couldn't manage to get it any darker than that. I'd like to get it closer to black but I must be doing something wrong.

 

[Perihelion]

Wow, Devvy, these are really good! I'm impressed! I recommend putting some highlights on John's eyes, though, as they look kind of zombielike at the moment. And, yeah, you need more contrast. Pick up some good charcoal pencils or something; charcoal is a lot darker than graphite and will really bring out the shadows. As for hair, bring out the small, individual clumps more. You've made a decent start with defining the big lumps, but you need more detail. What I usually do is sketch out the big clumps, then start defining the smaller clumps within them, making them varying lightness to add depth.

This is actually a really good look at how to draw hair.

 

[Zackwell]

Nice. I love it, Dev.
I agree with the criticisms above, and I really hope to see more from you.

I rushed into the thread though, opened spoilers before reading the text...
At first I thought you'd tried to draw Harry Potter in his 50s or something. :lol:

 

[Gulch666]

i dont think your problem is that the darks arent dark enough, i think your problem is on the light end of things, contrast is fine on lennon, but on the dog it lacks in lighter values, the darks are fine, its just that the rest is mostly mid-tones making the shading look a bit muddy.

also im thinking you adjusted some image settings after you scanned it, which in my experience tends to clean up the image but also lose a bit of the contrast, or the scan just wanst that great etc etc. my guess would be that they look better in person than digitized

i tend to have the same problem when it comes to pencil shading as far as not having enough contrast, but i think it may be due to the fact i only use HB or H, i dont much care for soft pencils. at that point you may as well just use charcoal, it looks better imo if you wanna get darker, you should buy some charcoal and play around, personally i like the kiln charcoal sticks over the pencils, but your taste may differ

 

[Venetia]

wow the great dane in particular is very nice. i agree with gulch's crits---though i never really have a hard time getting darks with pencil. people get scared about really pressing down with pencils, and making things as black as possible.

 

[Velocir_X]

I don't know how, though. lol I have the opposite problem, I always press down way too hard.

Anyway, great work Devvy, you're getting good at this. My only critique would be that the right nostril on Lennon looks off because its too much smaller than the left.

 

[dadevvtsvre]

Thanks for the compliments guys :3

I try making the darks as dark as possible but I don't think I'm using the right paper. I've never thought about using charcoal, though. I'll play around with it and see what I can do.

I rushed into the thread though, opened spoilers before reading the text...
At first I thought you'd tried to draw Harry Potter in his 50s or something. :lol:

Believe it or not, you are the fourth person to think that I drew Harry Potter. :haha:

As for hair, bring out the small, individual clumps more. You've made a decent start with defining the big lumps, but you need more detail. What I usually do is sketch out the big clumps, then start defining the smaller clumps within them, making them varying lightness to add depth.

This is actually a really good look at how to draw hair.

Hey, thanks for the tutorial! Hair is definitely something I need to practice, so I know where you're coming from. I tried to use a kneaded eraser to bring out some of the highlights, but I ended up getting lazy. :{

 

[Zackwell]

Hey, My second guess was gonna be Lezard Valeth from Valkyrie profile.

 

[Twirly]

Hey, My second guess was gonna be Lezard Valeth from Valkyrie profile.

 

[NexS]

Dadevster, very nice indeed. It's been a while since i've seen a portrait.

Considering that this is your first attempt at a portrait, you've done a great job. But as for critique, i'll have to delve into a special part of my brain called asshole-opia because it's really not bad at all.

1:
i'm not sure how your began drawing this piece, but to keep the eyes level etc. i'd begin with a circle(oval, oblong, whatever..) representing the shape of the head and draw a cross inside it. a vertical line cutting the face in half (from the chin to the top of the head, directly through the centre) and the horizontal line which will eventually cut the eyes perfectly in half (unless, of course, if the eyes are supposed to be wonky). Now that you have your guide lines you shouldn't have any issues with proportion/placement.

2.
I quite like the slightly blurred effect you have here, though i'm not sure it was intended (well, you say that you would have liked it to be more defined in certain places).
There are a few ways you can achieve this, one way i would use is to get a softer lead (maybe a 4B or a 6B) and throw a few well placed lines to insinuate darker shadows etc. but i would suggest starting off lightly and press harder as you get more comfortable with the lines etc.
The second way is to get a sharper pencil and pick some select lines to make more defined. Be aware that if you just go ahead and make every outline hard you may ruin the great effect you've gotten with the soft pencil usage. I suggest drawing the harder lines more on the left hand side of the picture, where the light source is coming from. more specifically, along the cheek bone from where the glasses are down to where the chine passes the neck, and also the dreaded nostril (but just along the left curl, coming up to the smile crease).
Another thing i can point out is there is a line where the hairline passes accross the glasses which i believe should not be there. What i mean is, you can tell where the glasses touch the hair, and because this is a black/white contrast portrait, you shouldn't be able to see that.
Now for the harder lines around the locks of hair: the less the better, which means you have to be very picky about the lines. I would draw one hard line per 'important' lock. Making 'both' sides of a lock wioth hard lines can make it look fake, and fake is definately what you are NOT looking for.

well, i hope i've helped and i'll try and catch the next one!

 

[dadevvtsvre]

Hey, thanks for the comments, NexS! (I don't think you were being an ass at all :p )

I get what you're saying about the eyes - I noticed that there weren't really level about halfway through drawing it. I'll use guidelines next time.

I used a 6B pencil for the darkest area of the portrait, but it still didn't get it as dark as I'd have liked, so I want to see about trying charcoal next time. I have trouble with lines, so I shall try some of your suggestions. (maybe I should read up on facial structure )

 

[Sir]

Five words for you Dadevster (mind my french) Holy shit, that looks brilliant.

 

[NexS]

Hey, thanks for the comments, NexS! (I don't think you were being an ass at all :p )

I get what you're saying about the eyes - I noticed that there weren't really level about halfway through drawing it. I'll use guidelines next time.

I used a 6B pencil for the darkest area of the portrait, but it still didn't get it as dark as I'd have liked, so I want to see about trying charcoal next time. I have trouble with lines, so I shall try some of your suggestions. (maybe I should read up on facial structure )

No worries at all! I enjoy helping people out like this... seeing that i don't have time to draw anymore, helping other's is also a great thing :D
I used charcoal once... and only once... it was WAY too messy for my liking and you've got to get this spray that set's the page so you don't get charcoal EVERYWHERE.

Generally, i'd use a HB or 2B pencil for the general part of the picture and only go darker where it's needed.

And you know, drawing accurate skulls and skinless faces (as unpleasant as that may sound) really helps with knowing placement of parts, so that might also be an idea you can try.

Good luck