I need to learn how to draw people
ltwp:
Like, right now.
I haven’t pulled one off everyday, but I share your need to draw people and have done a handful after getting inspired by your post. I’ve found it a lot more difficult to draw from a computer screen than from a real model though…
I can draw people. Here is how you do it: practice, practice, practice. Draw yourself, draw other people, draw from pictures, draw from memory. Experiment with features and face shapes and locations of faces. Look at art books that show proportions. Draw from Gray’s Anatomy (I do whenever I need some anatomy — it’s great), draw from paintings. Draw poses, expressions. Learn how facial features work. Learn what a face looks like from the side, then from the front, then from angles. Examine your face in the mirror and learn what the shapes of your nose and eyes and forehead are like. Learn how they interact with each other, how they change shape and look different.
Don’t trace. Don’t get discouraged. Learn from your successes but learn from your failures more. Correct your failures so you know what to change. Don’t pretend that you can pass off inaccuracies as “style” — if you can’t draw it like it actually looks, you can’t have a style. Style is a personal interpretation of real life, not an excuse. Don’t look at other people’s works and copy (too much). Don’t be afraid to mess up, because you’re going to. Don’t stop drawing. Don’t worry about being creepy. Draw people you think are cool looking. Draw young people and old people and middle-aged people and look at how features work.
Remember that the face isn’t just a static thing. It stretches and squeezes and is squishy and hard and everyone’s skin is different. Mine, for example, is really elastic. Remember that you’ve got bone and muscles and tendons and gristle and fat and cartilage underneath all your skin. But remember that your skin doesn’t just sit on top of all of this. It wrinkles and folds and hangs and cover. It’s just as much a part of anatomy as muscles and bone are.
Learn how the face is made up of basic shapes like spheres and cones, but don’t stick to these when drawing. Use them as templates and starting points, but not structures. Your face is pointy and lumpy and smooth and it’s not made out of basic shapes. Look at skulls and the way light falls on the face. Don’t forget that the face is a living thing. Don’t treat it like a marble sculpture. It’s not.
Don’t be afraid to mess up over and over and over again.
Don’t be afraid to get better.
I came to the unpleasant realization today that it’s going to take more than just me being smart to get through college. I’m going to have to put some work into this.
Colbert breaks character three times.
