PORTRAIT: Learn Drawing Eyes, Nose and Lips

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The Art: This pencil drawing of the eyes is like the symbol of eye power, depicting the beauty of the drawing. The visual description in such a way helps to sum up the personality of the person so portrayed. The positioning of the eyes and the nose and the size of the lips drawn makes the whole portrait look lively and balanced. It makes the whole portrait look genuinely similar to the natural face of a person.

Look at this pencil drawing. If we observe the sliding curves and the soft and bold and precise strokes of the pencil, we can surely see a definite rhythm in this spectacular pencil drawing. Here the artist had excellently moved the tip of his pencil all around the portrait. And the tip had done excellent work.

Though a pencil drawing was generally done for transforming it into a watercolour painting or oil colour art piece. But this pencil drawing does not look like a preparatory drawing; it is a full-fledged portrait itself. 

The most attractive part of this pencil portrait is the drawing of the eyes. The eyes can make or break a portrait, as it must resemble the original. If you are drawing a portrait like this one, while drawing lips, make sure that it does not go much darker. It can be so dark only case the colour of the lips of the person being portrayed is like that. You are to put just the darker shading on the outline of lips only. Ensure that the lower lip is slightly lighter than the upper lip.

You will take care to highlight the lips accurately, as the lips are the first place where the viewers' eyes would be moved. Eyes and lips are the focal points in a portrait. The puffy part of the lower lips would give you ample opportunity to highlight it nicely. You can add here some vertical strokes of B2 pencil or of the shade that the overall scheme of the portrait permits. (Image Courtesy Photobucket

The Art of Drawing:    The most important aspect of drawing a face is to arrive at the true alignment of the eyes, nose, and mouth. While drawing the teeth, the internal part of the mouth, please notice the effect of light carefully. The teeth lines might be pearly white but they would be shadowed by lips. In drawing teeth, some lighter shading on the shadow part and keeping the whiteness of the paper as it is would be a good idea. Do carefully some shading work at the corner of the mouth where both lips meet. In addition to this, the colour of the lips would always remain darker than the other part of the face. Thus following the natural aspect, an artist would be able to complete the drawing of the mouth.

How to Draw Mouth:    With some prior practising, it becomes easier to paint the mouth. However, you would find drawing a closed mouth of a person a little bit easier. While drawing the open mouth will be a test of abilities, meaning it could be difficult, as it requires constant practice. Here it would be necessary to draw the inner side of the mouth, too, including the teeth, the gums, and even the tongue in addition to the pair of lips. Drawing the mouth requires extra care because it expresses the moods of the person portrayed. Drawing of the mouth and nose could make or break the making of the entire portrait. 

Draw in this sequence: 

·         First the Eyes, then the Nose, 

·         Thereafter the Ears. 

·         After locating eyes, ears and mouth, the drawing of Hair and Lips. 

·         And finally comes the shoulder and the clothes part.

Here is one of the most wonderful drawings of eyes I have seen. Here in this pencil drawing, the artist has made a very fine-tuned exploration of the lips and eyes of the person whose portrait is made. The artist has tried capturing everything that we can observe by looking at the eyes. The position of the eyes is apparently looking very pleased. It is obvious that when the eyes look happily widened, the person looks in a joyful mood.

Salvador

This portrait is of the renowned painter Salvador Dali. The paintings done in a revolutionary style are like a trademark of Dali's artwork. Here the artists have done their best and depicted their artistic prowess beautifully. Look at how the eyes and the eyelashes were drawn. When doing a pencil portrait, an artist first draws the eyes, as it marks out the important expression. This helps in putting precise measurements of the nose, mouth and forehead of a person to be portrayed.

While doing portrait drawing, we have to perform several tasks: the drawings of eyes, nose, cheeks, and lips, in addition to the outline of the face. For beginners or for an artist of experience, it would be advisable to start by drawing the eyes. This sets a basic foundation about how the person looks, as we recognize a person mainly from his or her eyes. So drawing the eyes is so crucial.

Pencil portrait of Duke François de Guise
charcoal and sanguine on paper
National Library of France, Paris
Bibliothèque nationale de France

Drawing Outlines of Pupil and Eyeball of Eyes  In the initial phase, you just draw the outline of the eyes keeping in mind the shape of the eyes. Some markings of eyebrows and the darker places on the eyelids would be the essential features to draw here, as they might not be left out afterwards. Once the areas of the eyes are drawn, you can use a 3B or 4B pencil for shading the eyelids and the surrounding parts. It would give you a clear idea about the shape of drawing the entire face, too. While putting the iris and pupil, you should rely on reference material, as it would be crucial for the final look. You can refer to photos of the person if he or she is not sitting before you.

While drawing the eyes, it should be kept in mind that the areas of the eyes that are wet would take a different shine than the other areas. This can be done by lighter using shading. it can be done by giving lesser weight to the tip of your pencil. When the inner parts of the eyes are done with, you can concentrate on the eyebrows, adding bristle-like hair or straight-lining as the case may be. Finally, the lower eyelids and parts of the skin surrounding the eyes would be important. 

The constant practice would guide you on where to do lighter or darker shading. It is simply like following the pattern of the light falling on the different parts of the eyes. About the material to be used, ensure that the best art materials are with you. The pencils of different shades from the stores selling artist-grade materials; the drawing papers of different sizes; three good erasers; half a dozen paper stumps: these would be sufficient weaponry. 

You can also try it by drawing your self-portrait or portraits of your friends. If you are trying a self-portrait, it is very easy. Only you have to spare an hour and a room with its doors shut! Try it today. In the beginning, a pencil drawing is a visual thought in the mind of an artist. When this thought takes the help of the tip of a pencil or a charcoal stick and gets drawn on the face of a fine paper, it becomes an artwork. 

There are times, especially during holidays when I feel like experimenting with pencils. I take a printout of any photo of one of my friends. Help would be taken from the regular weaponry: the 3B and 4B pencil, eraser, and a fresh bunch of A4 papers. 

(Image courtesy Flicker: Uploaded by joseboa(Images courtesy Wikimedia commons(Image courtesy By Michael2266 (Template: Michael Trujillo)[see page for license], from Wikimedia Commons)

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