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Tip #10 "Shading" (how to draw a perfect charcoal portrait with a reference)

Kate Stavniichuk

Aug 18, 2018
2 min

Tip #10 "Shading" (how to draw a perfect charcoal portrait with a reference)

When you are drawing a portrait one of the most important thing is shading. There are two ways of drawing a charcoal portrait that basically determine your further shading process. You can cover the whole paper with charcoal powder, and then go from a darker shade to a lighter one using a kneaded eraser, or you can do it backwards, start with light shades and add more darker ones in the progress. If your goal is to draw a portrait as realistic as possible, then I recommend th

Kate Stavniichuk

Aug 9, 2018
2 min

Tip #9 "Perfect smile" (how to draw a perfect charcoal portrait with a reference)

Beautiful realistic smile can set the mood of the portrait, while a fake looking smile can destroy the impression of it. Drawing a mouth shut is easy, but when you have a big wide open smile with teeth drawing can be a challenge. The problem is that the smile is a very delicate feature on the face, it doesn't have sharp dark lines or vivid colors. That is why drawing the smile can be very difficult, at times. You can't learn how to draw a realistic smile over night, but you d

Tip #8 "The hair" (how to draw a perfect charcoal portrait with a reference)

Kate Stavniichuk

Aug 8, 2018
2 min

Tip #8 "The hair" (how to draw a perfect charcoal portrait with a reference)

If you think that when you finish drawing the face, which is perfect, the most difficult part is over and nothing can ruin your portrait, then you are mistaken. The truth is the hair is pretty tricky part of the drawing, it can be difficult to draw realistically. Sometimes you can spend more time drawing the hair than it takes to draw the facial features. When you are doing the hair the fist layers of the charcoal usually look really good, nicely faded and smudged, still ligh

Tip #7 "The Right angle" (how to draw a perfect charcoal portrait with a reference)

Kate Stavniichuk

Aug 8, 2018
1 min

Tip #7 "The Right angle" (how to draw a perfect charcoal portrait with a reference)

Sometimes your drawings are not perfect because of a banal mistake. Neither your drawing skills nor unprofessional tools are the mistakes. The problem can be simply your working position. When you are doing a portrait, it's especially important to set your workplace properly and position yourself the way you could easily get a clear vision of a portrait. If you want to know what exactly you need to do here is My Tip #7 "The Right angle". The secret of the perfect position is

Tip #6 "Old tools are the best" (how to draw a perfect charcoal portrait with a reference)

Kate Stavniichuk

Aug 5, 2018
1 min

Tip #6 "Old tools are the best" (how to draw a perfect charcoal portrait with a reference)

There are a lot of tools that you can use for shading or blending charcoal on paper. A blending stump (paper stump) and a tortillion are the most popular and the easiest ones. They are almost the same, except a blending stump is a stick of tightly rolled up felt paper with two pointed ends, while a tortillion is made of stiff paper and only have one pointed end. The main difference between them in the process of drawing is that a stump does the shading softer, due to its soft

Tip #5 "Clean drawing" (how to draw a perfect charcoal portrait with a reference)

Kate Stavniichuk

Aug 4, 2018
1 min

Tip #5 "Clean drawing" (how to draw a perfect charcoal portrait with a reference)

Charcoal is an absolutely magic medium for your drawings. Especially when you are doing a portrait, charcoal makes it both soft and realistic at the same time. Its dark rich color and gentle fragile texture add deepness and intense look to your portrait. Nowadays there are a few popular types of charcoal for drawing: vine charcoal, compressed charcoal sticks and compressed charcoal pencils. They are all great and almost the same in the process of drawing. Charcoal, due to it

Tip #4 "The Secret of Realistic Eyes" (how to draw a perfect charcoal portrait with a refe

Kate Stavniichuk

Aug 3, 2018
1 min

Tip #4 "The Secret of Realistic Eyes" (how to draw a perfect charcoal portrait with a refe

Eyes are one of the most important features on a face. They catch your attention and they make you forget about any imperfections of a portrait. If the sketch of the eyes is perfect, then you can reveal all the secrets of the person that you are drawing. All the feelings and emotions can be shown just with the eyes. But if you fail drawing the eyes it can ruin the whole portrait. You can find out how to avoid it by reading My Tip #4. The Secret is that the eyeballs are almost

Tip #3 "Measuring" (how to draw a perfect charcoal portrait with a reference)

Kate Stavniichuk

Aug 2, 2018
2 min

Tip #3 "Measuring" (how to draw a perfect charcoal portrait with a reference)

There are so many different ways how to measure the proportions of the object that you are drawing: traditional sighting/measuring, grid technique, triangular grid technique, identifying basic shapes and space, linear perspective and using basic facial & figure proportions. An artist can use any technique for life drawings, except the grid. But which way to choose when you are drawing from a reference picture when your goal is to get the most realistic and the most detailed p

10 secret artist's tips on how to draw a perfect charcoal portrait with a reference. Tip #1.

Kate Stavniichuk

Jul 31, 2018
2 min

10 secret artist's tips on how to draw a perfect charcoal portrait with a reference. Tip #1.

I want to share some secret tips with you that I have learned from my experience. These secrets are better than anything that you could learn at any art school. I will post one tip for you every day. My first 10 tips are dedicated to drawing a perfect charcoal portrait with a reference. I have already worked on thousands of charcoal portraits in my life and I hope my simple hints help you to improve your drawing skills and make your drawing process easier and faster. My tips