Photo realism

[Himself]

My first try on realism! It was fun but could def spend more hours on texture shadows etc, but for now i feel like im done with it.

 

[Jerry7297]

Was this on paper with pencil ???

 

[Himself]

Yes ordinary A4 with pencils

 

[JP]

How long did it take you?
I ask because it looks a bit rushed considering you were going for realism. Don't get me wrong, it's a decent drawing but for realism you need to really build up your tones, you can't just block them in like you've done here because tht gives it a more graphic look.

 

[Himself]

I really cant tell how many hours i have racked up on this piece,
Couple of months an hour here and there, but maybe rough estimate -10h but feels like ive been drawing on it for ages. But i can def agree with what you are saying JP, i shall give more effort on my next try on realism( if i ever find the time ) My patience got the best of me and i just felt when i posted it that it was done atm. But i can always go back at it and better it.

 

[troub1edsou1z]

It's a great attempt but like said focus more on creating depth. With photo realism you have to draw exactly what you see, not what you think you see. I'd suggest drawing still life. It will help you to understand how light wraps around objects and better understand how to create depth by doing so....

 

[Himself]

Thanks for the feedback all! I knew it was gonna be hard but didnt think it was going to be that diffucult to draw excatly what i saw in the picture hehe how wrong i was. just have to go at it again, practice makes perfect. Tom what do you mean with drawing still life? Like drawing nature(trees etc?)

 

[Himself]

Realised google can always help me now i know what drawing still life means

 

[JP]

I am by no means an expert with realism but what i do know is that it helps to break the piece up into sections, see the image as shapes and shadows and copy exact, when we look at a face we know what a face it meant to look like so we take artistic liberty when drawing and create our own shapes and shadows

 

[Himself]

I saw that on YT, he made squares all over the photo then the exact same squares on a blank paper and just "copied" square for square excatly how it looked. I tried the same with this drawing but didnt succeed quite as well as he did hehe. As you said JP it got a bit rushed i feel, i should def give it more time to build up the depth, textures etc. Guess more hours will need to put down on this piece

 

[JP]

Another trick i once saw was to use a setup where you have the photo above or to the side of your drawing paper then have another piece of paper with 2 holes in approx 5 x 5cm spaced appart half the size of the original picture, you then lay the holed paper over the top and copy what you see in one hole onto the area that is blank under the other hole....hope that makes sense

 

[MalligaMallan]

Maybe the shading is a bit rough as mentioned but I really like the light in the drawing!! And it's important to remember there are as many ways to draw as there are ppl. Maybe soft shading is not for you. Then you can develop a rough style that works for you.

And James's suggestion with sections I know a lot of ppl use and are happy with. I would suggest trying to go the other way and see the whole motif and sort of study it and start - meh! Hopeless to explain in English! Jag skulle inte göra rutor, jag skulle studera hela motivet istället och skissa dom stora dragen först. Huvudform, ögon, näsa, mun, öron. Men bara som mycket mycket enkla cirklar som markerar var dom ska sitta. Det är så mycket enklare o ändra när man börjar mycket enkelt.

Om man börjar i ena hörnet o gör allting jätte färdigt vartefter så är det så lätt att nånting blir lite fel o då inte går o ändra på. Plus att d blir ofta väldigt stelt slut resultat.

Jag vet verkligen inte om jag gör mig begriplig, men vad jag vill säga är väl iallafall att det finns flera sätt o gå tillväga på!!

Och jag tycker ditt Frankenstein huvud definitivt är en bra start!!! Det är liv i hans uttryck o det är mycket viktigare än om skuggningen är perfekt. Den kan du alltid öva upp.

 

[Himself]

hehe ja det blir svårt med engelska ibland, tacksam för att du bytte till svenska, det gjorde att ja förstod precis va du menade, tack även för de fina orden om bilden men får väl köra min respons på engelska så de övriga inte könner sig utanför

I will try both of your suggestions next time i will start a new try on realism. Feels like i need to train more on my shading skills(inc in tattooing) guess i just need to put in the hours.. Malin, soft shading, should i just try to do as it sounds? really really light soft shading with like a 2H and just build up the layers with the pencil, if that question makes sense? I know you got some real nice shading skills Malin, looking forward for your tips&tricks

 

[MalligaMallan]

Yeah we better give the English speaking ppl on here a chance to understand

About the soft shading - I usually use a 2B. 2H is very hard. It's hard to get a soft shading with that and also hard to get a dark tone with it. And softer pencils, ie 6B gives a very grainy shading. Some prefer that, I don't. But you can get a very dark tone with 6B.

Personally I prefer technical pencils

But it takes tiiiiime. If I would draw your Frankenstein portrait size A4 it would probably take about 2 weeks almost full time.

And I start very very light. Then I usually think it looks a bit too light and go over it again. Then again. And again.....

But that's my technique. You may find another way suits you better.

Maybe I can find some photos to show of one and same drawing in different stages

And thanks!

 

[Himself]

Oh shit, two weeks..and i spent like aprox -10h i think you are right Malin, i realise that i should of spent more time on it..gah i really need to work on my patience!! I got faber castell lead pencil set wich have 2h up to 8b, so i kinda used all of em on this drawing, darker shaded area i went for 6b etc. I will try next time to mostly use the 2b atleast for the light to...mid dark areas?

This forum is great not only do i learn better wsys to tattoo but even expanding my drawing skills

 

[JP]

2B and 4B are my go to pencils when i do draw on paper (mostly just use procreate these days)..another tip for soft shading is to scribble on a scrap piece of paper first to dull the tip of your pencil, a sharp point will give you hard lines and scratchy looking shading

 

[Himself]

Thanks for the tips JP, very appreciated!!

 

[MalligaMallan]

2B and 4B are my go to pencils when i do draw on paper (mostly just use procreate these days)..another tip for soft shading is to scribble on a scrap piece of paper first to dull the tip of your pencil, a sharp point will give you hard lines and scratchy looking shading

Yes!!! Definitely a must!