Practice for Drawing a Portrait

Video Transcript

"All right, before you go to do your actual drawing on this paper, it?s a good idea to get familiar. And this is really with any new supplies, or new techniques or mediums you want to try. I usually get enough to where I can practice on the side. For example, if I were practicing drawing my eye, I would come in here and do the eye lid, and see what the paper and pencil actually do to this. And for detail drawing on this paper, you want to keep the lead really sharp. When you get into shading big areas and so forth, you can work it down to a broader tip. But for the eye, I'll just kind of come in and just see what I can do with this paper. I'll draw the tear duct and maybe come in here, do the bottom outline of the eye. There might be a glare there. And then I want to see how I want to draw out the pupil maybe. And maybe this eye actually she has a star burst coming out for the pupil. And then I'll come in here and do this. And maybe I want to practice doing the nostrils and just kind of get a feel for what I want to do for this face. And with this you can actually draw really small lines to give the nose some depth. But it?s just a good idea to practice with your new mediums, and papers and supplies before you actually go to the final piece. Because it?s better to make your mistakes over here on a practice area, than when you get on there to the final piece. You might not be able to fix it, and this is just a good way. You can actually practice, you can move to your practice area during the drawing. If you're not sure how you want to render something, move over here, figure it out on this part of the paper and then go back to your finish piece. And then work on it over there once you've figured it out. So that?s practicing on cogeal board."