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I never entered 'Waterstones', that day, with
the intention of buying a book on drawing s...
I was simply going to browse through the watercolour
section, as I often did. After a few minutes, I
picked up a book by Lee Hammond entitled, 'How
To Draw Lifelike s From Photographs'. The method shown was so simple and the results so
impressive that I bought the book, there and then. At home, that evening, after reading a couple of chapters, I attempted my
first portrait with what materials I
had available.
The selection of drawings, above,
are from the 4-5 year period that I dabbled with the
pencil before moving on to other hobbies and interests...
toy-making, woodturning etc. If you think you'd like to have a go at Lee's method
of portraiture, then give it a try... I promise
you, every drawing above is a direct result of her
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BASIC
MATERIALS
For
successful shading
and blending, I've used an ordinary 0.5mm or 0.7mm
mechanical pencil loaded with 2B since I started drawing...
this gives me a fine line at all times without the
need to constantly sharpen. These pencils are usually
sold with HB leads, so be sure to purchase a pack
of 2B to replace them. Unlike the wooden pencil, you
can't use the side of the lead to shade large areas,
instead, the shading is kept very tight and the varying tones are achieved
by gradation and layering, with the pencil strokes
always following the shape of your object (unlike
cross hatching)....
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more... |
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SHADING
& BLENDING 
Graphite
will act very much like fingerprint powder and adhere
to areas of paper where natural oils from the fingers
have been deposited. To achieve smooth, silky blends,
try to keep skin contact with the paper to an absolute
minimum. Try resting the heel of the hand on a piece
of tissue or paper to prevent unnecessary contact. NEVER try to blend graphite
with the fingertips!!!...
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more... |
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THE
GRIDDING METHOD 
The
prospect of drawing an accurate copy probably seems
rather daunting... but the grid, placed over it, has
divided everything into a collection of fairly simple
shapes. If you progress square by square and simply
draw the contents of each one, you'll find that you
should be able to draw very accurately. Your first
couple of attempts may not be perfect, of course,
but with just a little practise, this method will
be an invaluable tool to aid you in producing lifelike
s...
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more... |
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DRAWING
THE HAIR 
Erase
lightly so that the previous layers show through,
this gives the impression of depth to the hair. Notice
how the lighter areas of these drawings change shape
slightly, this is due to erasing to re-establish the
highlights. The drawing on the left has just the two
layers, I would probably do a third or even a fourth
layer to give a more luxuriant look. Always finish
by softening the outside edges with the blender...
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more... |
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DRAWING
THE EYES 
When
drawing the lashes below the eye, don't have them
sprouting out of the eyeball... note the lash line.
And for a more natural effect, try to avoid the spider's
legs type lash but draw them in clumps. Finally, because
of the many tiny blood vessels and shadows cast by
the lashes themselves, the white of the eye isn't
actually white... in fact, making it too white will
make it appear flat and give the impression of being
pasted onto the face...
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more... |
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MAKING
YOUR OWN TORTILLON 
A
tortillon is a tightly rolled sheet of paper, the
inside of which is pushed out into a pencil shape
and used by pencil, pastel and charcoal artists to
blend and push colour around on the drawing paper,
softening edges and graduating tones.
You may want to experiment with various types
of paper, the commercial tortillons that I've come
across are made from a rather loose fibre paper, similar
to thin blotting paper but I've found that just about
any paper will do. I make mine from ordinary copy
paper straight out of my printer. Very little practice
is required to produce your own homemade tortillon...
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more... |
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STEP
THROUGH DEMONSTRATION 
For
this particular demonstration I've selected a black
and white photograph of Matt Le Blanc taken from one
of my daughter's magazines. A quick study of the face
shows that the light is quite high and slightly to
the right of the subject casting shadows beneath the
brows, nose, top lip, bottom lip, chin and jawline.
These shadows are actually defining the features and
shape of the face. You will notice that there are
no outlines around the lips, eyes or nose. This is
probably the most common fault with peoples drawings,
resulting in a cartoon or caricature rather than a
realistic . What I hope to demonstrate is,
the use of shapes and tones to produce the finished
drawing...
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MY
FIRST DRAWINGS 
I bought Lee Hammond's book in September 1996, took it home, read the first chapters on materials,
gridding, shading and blending and then, using what
materials I had, drew my first of John, a
family friend. Okay, so it's a bit messy, and you can still see the
initial gridding in places... but the drawing
above astounded me on completion... I could actually
recognise John.
At the time, I assumed that was as good as it got...
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more... |
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