Portrait Drawing The Smart Way: The Skull - Profile View

JOIN THE VIRTUAL INSTRUCTOR
Get ALL of our courses, ebooks, live lessons, critiques, lesson plans and more today.
This course features:
5 Hours of Instruction
19 Videos
18 eBooks
30 Day Money Back Guarantee

Lesson Discussion

  1. good morning matt,
    1.i was wondering if the quality of materials will make a strong difference in the outcome of the finished piece..??
    ie. using prang drawing pencils verses general
    ie.conte paris white verses charcoal white
    ie.stumps from michael’s (taiwan)
    2.iam using the strathmore tone paper
    my first 2 drawings of the skull were good technically but the pencil quality suffered…not rich….
    please comment…(i will purchase your suggested material later as i did with the pencil colors.
    raquel

  2. I haven’t tried drawing it yet (not until I get all the right materials) but I have a strong hope that I will be able to do it. I understood everything in both videos and feel as though I’ve already drawn this by just watching it come to life so easily. I’ve found portraits really hard to draw and I’m already finding solutions to my questions and sudden burst of anger when “trying” to draw one, lol. 😉
    Thanks Matt!!

  3. Another great module it looks so effortless when you do it ! I am getting there however I have not got a white charcoal pencil so I am using a which pastel for now until I can get one .

  4. One ongoing problem I’m encountering is that the charcoal white you are using – General brand, I read above – simply isn’t going on over the graphite in my drawings with as sharp and clear levels of white as what I’m seeing in your work. My applications are gray, or even not very visible at all. Is this because the underlying gray/graphite is too light an application? Too much pressure on the lighter/harder gray pencils resulting in too much gray/graphite going on that the charcoal white can’t overcome? In addition to General, I’ve tried a couple of Caran D’Ache as well as a white chalk by Cretacolor. Same results. This all results in far lower contrast levels (and level of realism).

    • Hi J. Scott,

      White charcoal will not cover over graphite that has been applied moderately. It may cover to some extent, but you have to be mindful of where you want to develop light values and avoid applying graphite too heavily in these areas.

Add to the discussion...