Portrait Drawing Fundamentals
Before we start, I recommend you watch my previous video where I cover the anatomy of the nose. Have you watched it? Good! Let’s get right to it!
The Lay-In
I’ll start my layin with the perspective of the major planes. I want to define the perimeters of these planes first and make sure the width to height relationship is correct. Then, I’ll define the bottom plane, starting with a rhythm between the nostrils, and the bottom plane of the ball. Get a rhythm in there to separate the top plane from the side planes and connect the nose to the forehead and eye socket by indicating the glabella and brow ridge.
The anatomical nuances are subtle and the plane changes, especially around the bridge, are really soft. But, I still want to lightly map in the connections between the bones and cartilage pieces because it will help me place the subtle halftones later. Staying light here is very important.
Her nose points down and so the septum will extend further down than the wings.
The septum and wings curl in and so the nostril shape is not just a simple oval, more of a comma. On the other side you don’t see the inside of the septum, so the shape of the nostril will be defined by the wing and by the front plane.
When the light is coming from the top (in this case its top left) most of the bottom will be in shadow. Mapping in the shape of the shadow along the wings and ball is a key element. Notice the little square shape. That’s the minor plane which defines the side of the front of the nose, giving it some thickness.
Two-Values
I’ll add the cast shadow from the nose and group the entire mass into one shadow value. Even though I see variations of value within the shadow, like the reflection under the nostril, those light values are still part of the shadow family. If you isolate these values you’ll see that the reflection in the shadow is much darker than the halftones in the light.
To complete the two value drawing I’ll add the shadow on the inside of the eye socket to define the edge of the nose and glabella.
There is a dark halftone above the nostril that is awfully close to being a shadow. In this case It’s up to the artist to decide. You can push it to be part of the shadows or keep it part of the halftones. Personally, I don’t want to accentuate this hook shape and so I’ll define that plane change later with the halftones.
Full Value / Dark Accents
In this drawing there aren’t too many dark accent, so this step will be quick. The deep holes of the nostrils receive no direct light and very little reflected light, so they will be very dark. Then as the septum and wings curl under, there will be some dark in those creases.
After adding the dark accents, the rest of the shadows appear too light, so I’ll go through one more time and darken a little further. I want to do this before the halftone phase, to open up a larger value range for my halftones.
Halftones and Highlights
When drawing the halftones of the minor planes I want to make sure that I don’t lose the big picture – the values of the major planes. The light is coming from the top. So, the bottom plane will be in shadow, the top plane will be the lightest and the side planes in halftone. The halftone on the left will be a little bit lighter than the halftone on the right, since the light source is more on the left side of the picture.
The ball of the nose will usually have darker halftones because of the redness of the blood under the skin. This makes the highlight more prominent on the ball, but it’s important not to overdo it. You don’t want the highlight to look like a snowflake on the nose. So, pay attention to the edges of the highlight and give the edges some variety. Maybe a sharp at the bottom and soft at the top. There’s many ways of designing it, the important thing is that you give it some thought.
The top of the ball goes into halftone and the highlight disappears. At the connection of the ball to the bridge another highlight begins and continues up to the glabella where it fades out really soft. And get some more halftones on the side.
Clean Up Edges and Shapes
I’ll go through the drawing one more time and do some cleanup work and define things a little better. This stage is about details. I look very closely at every part of the drawing.
Excited to move on? Great! Learn how to draw lips in the next lesson.
