Sketchbook Exercise: 3 techniques for drawing a portrait

[@nurseaylla]

I love that you drew Michael Fassbender, I’ve always loved making drawings of him back in college, he has beautiful features, like those old sculptures we see at museums 💯

[@davemills3298]

This presentation of different methods, or the view of this as experimentation, leads to discovery. Discovery in art is one of its greatest pleasures. That`s why these lessons are so valuable.

[@vitoriaaacl]

I want to start drawing more seriously. I know I can, but I lack discipline for practice. Your voice is so shooting, the way you talk feels like a mother making you a soup on a raining day. Absolutely loved the video e your explanations. Learned a lot just from watching you do it.

[@gadamis]

This is by far one of the most helpful drawing videos I've watched in a long time. And so succinct. I really appreciate your playful attitude. Learning does indeed require flexibility and "mistakes."

[@mchlup]

Thank you for showing the different methods to approach portraits. It's something that I really struggle with.

[@arnabroy2193]

The 3 approaches are just amazing and I learnt so much from the video!

[@RandomnessIsKey]

I tried drawing 2 portraits after this in the same way, maybe mixing a few methods and I was so happy to find after years of wondering how all these drawing methods work- was able to in 20 minutes (per) make each one look exactly like or close to the reference, THANKYOU!

[@katiemaeveart]

Amazing! Glad the methods worked for you 🙌

[@davemills3298]

These examples are extremely helpful.

[@incinerativemario]

I've always struggled with getting likeness right in portraits, not that i have practiced them much in general. But its that distancing i wasn't sure how to approach. I shouldn't have been surprised that the answer came to be simplification. Thanks, I'll keep these in mind for when I next tackle a portrait!

[@katiemaeveart]

yeah it’s a tricky one - a combo of simplification and slight exaggeration in places! tbh like 1mm out and it's gone which is super fraustrating lol

[@HeatherShreve]

You are seriously GOOD! 😊

[@rigel423]

hey funny coincidence, i rewatched xmen recently and have been drawing michael quite a bit - it was interesting seeing someone else's approach to his, quite honestly, wonderfully geometric and distinct face.

[@katiemaeveart]

agreed! some people just have great faces for drawing 😄

[@AngelFrancoart]

Me gustan estos dibujos son tan excelentes!

[@Idahadleyart]

So enjoyed watching this video, thank you ❤

[@andresfelipemunozortegon9423]

This video is Amazing and invaluable!!!

[@katiemaeveart]

glad you found it helpful😄

[@renzo6490]

Personally, I would change my reference photo to grayscale while using graphite or charcoal. It would help me see values better.

[@freddersenfffotografie6987]

Hammer Portraits 👌

[@kosar_drawing]

I like it, 😍 i wanna try this technique

[@IykizDesign]

This is awesome

[@MayaDrawingArt]

Very good tutorial 👍🏽👍🏽👏🏽👏🏽👍🏽👍🏽

[@EvanDonSerpiente]

i loved your voice so much

[@PrakashBahadur-o8p]

❤nice

[@subterraneanhomesickalien]

superb.

[@notgaryoldman1178]

Making notes on my phone, including pictures of a few key stages throughout the drawing. See Katie put her pencil down, so I think "ah she must be finished, I will take a picture showing the final result :)". She picks up the pencil and adds more detail. "No problem, I will delete and retake :)". Katie picks up her pencil again...hol up.

[@katiemaeveart]

@@notgaryoldman1178 😂😂😂 it’s never finished! (I just stop filming eventually 😂)

[@derekcutsinger3511]

Your videos are the best! Thank you

[@katiemaeveart]

Glad you like them!

[@plainoldjason]

I love your videos Katie. They are beautiful and inspiring and also your background music and voice over is very relaxing. I’m returning to drawing after nearly 30 years and your videos are very helpful. Could you please provide the name of the iPhone overlay app that you use?

[@katiemaeveart]

glad you enjoyed! t’s the Overlay Photo Cut out editor 👍

[@plainoldjason]

@@katiemaeveart Thank you!

[@clefdesoldiese]

Thank you for the ideas< very useful! Would you know an overlay app for non IOS phones?

[@katiemaeveart]

I just did a video in this 😄 Overlay: my go-to tool to help get a good likeness kzbin.info/www/bejne/laOyiY1vfaeUesU - the short answer is yes Pixlr

[@clefdesoldiese]

@@katiemaeveart thank you! I'm going to watch the video :)

[@محمدالعراقي-ط9ت4ج]

روعة ❤

[@abravalheri]

Thank you very much for the amazing video. I have a question: the video mentions an alternative to Overlay Cut for Android... What would that be?

[@katiemaeveart]

sure! I should do a video just on this because it’s a popular question. pixlr will let you do this! you load up your reference photo in the app - then go to tools then double exposure and select the photo of your artwork. the. you can bump the transparency up position to overlay your artwork until it’s lined up. then bump up and down the transparency just as I do in the video. hope that helps!

[@Andrew_Navarrete]

Excellent video ! what kind of sketchbook do you use ? Keep up the great work !

[@katiemaeveart]

it’s a moleskine art book 13X21 👍

[@Andrew_Navarrete]

@@katiemaeveart Thank you very much for sharing that information !

[@srucel]

Great tutorial. What’s the name of the app you use on iphone to compare mesurments of your sketch?

[@katiemaeveart]

Glad you liked it! it’s the overlay cut out photo editor: apps.apple.com/gb/app/overlay-cut-out-photo-editor/id827506435

[@JCarrera_ll]

👏✨

[@zurton]

What kind of sharpener do you use for your pencils?

[@katiemaeveart]

I use the blackwing sharpener - it’s not super cheap but does make a great point!

[@zurton]

@@katiemaeveart oh cool I have that one too. In my experience it’s not a great sharpener if you wanna draw with the side of the point and you were getting great tone doing that so I was just wondering.

[@glenda7921]

Hi Katie…the link for the asaro head you mention seems to be missing?

[@katiemaeveart]

ooh good spot - I knew I was missing somethin!! will add now thanks ☺️

[@piotrh5193]

I greet, super the broadcast I greet heartily.

[@Gigusx]

The first model has a crazy long neck 👀

[@Eternal-ReTuning]

The last one with software layering is kind of cheating ngl.

[@katiemaeveart]

@@Eternal-ReTuningfair enough! I mean it’s a good debate - is gridding or using site-size to help get an accurate drawing cheating? What about working from a photo instead of from life? What about if you’re in a class and you have a teacher come up and tell you the ear is a little high? Honestly my 2c is that learning to draw is already hard - if we try to stay completely pure and use no tools to help us with accuracy because of a vague idea that it’s somehow cheating then it can make it almost impossible - especially if we’re learning by ourselves. I use the overlay method sometimes to help but I’ve got to the point that I don’t need it - I can draw accurately without it if I take my time. I don’t think I would have developed my current level of accuracy so quickly without having used overlay as my error checker in the past. You do you though - if you take your time and measure a lot you don’t need it - it’s just a tool to help 👍🏻

[@Eternal-ReTuning]

​@@katiemaeveart The various tools like grids, 1 to 1 scaling , tracing and apps can speed up tremendously the rendering but imo each come with massive drawbacks one of them being to 'create dependency' on the said tools. If used too often they prevent observation skills to build up and reach the desired potential to achieve likeness. (If that's the artist goal .. like being able to draw straight lines without using a ruler) I know masters have used the grid method to transfer their drawings into canvas before paintings that way they didn't had to go through the intense + accurate drawing process AGAIN. The grid is particularly useful in large scale projects with complex scenes. Using Photo instead of real life has also its issues if the goal of the artist is to refine its observations but on the other hand photo refs offer unlimited choices of very interesting references. Also I noticed anatomy drawings from photo and from life are completely different, the ones being done with photo refs being much easier. In real life the perspective of form and composition has to be chosen since they are not yet translated into 2D, lightning values is harder to understand and define into a scale of tones. Using both life and photo references seem to be a good way to build up skills and understand what 'we miss out' when sticking in one type of reference. I can't forget that life refs come with a lot of logistical constrains or costs. For portraits I personally stopped using grids a long time ago (unless I need to transfer my own design into a enlarged support). The use of the grid specially made my observation skill regress because everything could be draw with it without understanding the form/perspective. Line smoothness can be an issue when using grids. I also tried the "side by side" view and the "grid on reference" tricks using photoshop to check+correct draws but I noticed the dependency to the program and a freeze in progress if I solely depend on that to fix my portraits. Still apps can indeed reveal recurrent issues and help to do 'observation corrections' for future drawings if there is wrong habits and struggles in measuring. Thankfully breakthroughs happen after some time with mental construction practice and a bit more patience in observation.. It all depends if we're willing to learn and trust the artistic growth instead of taking the lazy route of letting the tools understand the reference for us..

[@Eric-nu2or]

Thank you!