Drawing Hair and Skin tones

[animal]

I`m beginning to draw people but I`m having trouble drawing dark hair and getting the right skin tones?

[kayemme]

hey animal

you know what worked for me with skin tones in pencil..?

i used a chamoise (a piece of very thin (lamb or deer) skin) and charcoal.

what i did was rub the charcoal on the chamoise then rub the chamoise on the paper.

DO NOT USE VINE CHARCOAL FOR THIS. it will blow away.

it helps you load up charcoal without making any really heavy marks that may scratch the tooth of the paper.

think of hair like in volume/value terms. do not try to draw every single hair.. it looks ridiculous like that. when you look at someone, you see their hair as a mass, not as a billion tiny hairs.

i like to use gestural marks for hair, then fill in with broad charcoal strokes (this is not using the same method as i mentioned before).

if working in colour, remember that the skin is made up of lots of different colours, so use a full palette when working in skin.

hair, too.

http://www.wetcanvas.com/ubb/smile.gif

km

[bruin70]

drawing or painting?

[animal]

Thanks Everybody,

Bruin70, I am looking for tips for drawing in pencil, the hair and skin tones.

Sandi, I am not using coloured pencil yet but have seen Anne Kullbergs book but my bookstore hardly has any art books so I haven`t seen Lee Hammonds book but have some of her other books.

[bruin70]

i don't think you have to worry about skin tones in a drawing. the quality of your line is more important. what i think you'll end up doing is getting a smudgy face because you tried to shade in a tone. you'll get too dark in some areas and too light in others. and it'll overpower your line........{M}

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"it's alright to be judgmental,,,,,,,,if you have taste"...MILT

[This message has been edited by bruin70 (edited December 04, 2000).]

[roxanne_mc]

When I do hair on people I really think of the hair as mass, and I blend colors other than neutrals to create the hair. Even blue helps close to the scaple where the hair is darker. Rox

[roxanne_mc]

I should have read all of the post before i left that last message.. then I would have seen black & white..
So on that note I will add for black and white I use thicker, heaver lines close to the scape..and have a lighter line as the hair goes away from the scaple.. using a blending tool will help near the head and pulling out with an eraser ..sort of a back and forth method to help you to visualize where the light and shadow will fall.
:cool
Rox

[LDianeJohnson]

A few of the best books on pencil for creating skin tones as well as hair:

"The Pencil" - Paul Calle

"How to Draw the Human Head, Techniques & Anatomy" - Louise Gordon

"Pencil Drawing Techniques" - Edited by David Lewis

"Keys to Drawing" - Bert Dodson

"How to Draw Lifelike Portraits from Photographs" - Lee Hammond

"Drawing the Head & Figure" - Jack Hamm


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Paintings by L. Diane Johnson (http://www.LDianeJohnson.com)
Workshops for 2001 (http://www.LDianeJohnson.com/workshops)