How to IMPROVE THE LIKENESS OF YOUR PORTRAITS – Charcoal Drawing Tutorial

If you ever struggle with portraits, if you sometimes spend hours wondering what's wrong with your drawing, be sure of one thing: you're not alone. Likeness is always a challenge, even for experienced artists. Believe it or not, beginners and experienced artists alike face the same difficulties, the same proportion problems, the same problems of eyes being too close together or too far apart, too high or too low, incorrect nose angle, etc. The only difference is that talented artists know how to identify mistakes and fix them easily, almost instantly, so that it seems like they never had difficulty in the first place. Well that's not the case, a portrait is always a challenge, even for the greatest masters. Ingres is said to have once cried over an alleged botched portrait, but his drawings are among the most beautiful and beloved in art history. Portraiture is always a challenge! For everyone…

In this video we'll look at the main problems you might encounter in your portrait drawings and discuss how to identify and fix them.

A quick word about the demonstration you are going to watch: it is a charcoal and white chalk drawing on 100% cotton watercolor paper that I previously tinted with acrylic, a mixture of blue, brown and black, washed with water. As you can see, I chose to use myself as a practice subject but we'll come back to the specifics of self-portraiture later in the video… I'm working from a photo for the video, because a mirror would not have allowed me to create this chiaroscuro effect and film the drawing at the same time. By the way, if you would like to see the full, uncut version of this drawing with commentary, you can become a member on Patreon and access the live version of this drawing as well as many other drawing and painting videos .

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The equipment I use most often (not necessarily in this video):

Drawing
Equipment
Kneaded gum
Plumb-line
Small mirror
An old synthetic brush
Masking tape
Cutter
Sandpaper or sanding block
Mahlstick or hand rest (DIY)
Level rule
Graphite
2H, HB and 2B pencils
coal
If available: Nitram coals (H, HB and B)
Square charcoals
Natural charcoal box
Black and white chalk
Conté white sketch pencil
Black Conté square: HB and 2B
Chalk or pencil holder
Conté black stone pencil sketch: H and HB
Sanguine
Conté drawing pencil: Blood and Medici blood
Faber-Castel Polychromos pencil: sanguine
White Conté drawing pencil
Oil painting
Palette
(Extra-fine paint, recommended brands depending on availability: Lefranc Bourgeois, Winsor et Newton, Royal Talens Rembrandt)
Titanium white PW6
Yellow ocher PY42
Burnt sienna PR101 or PBr7
Venetian red or English red PR101
Alizarin purple permanent (Caution: do not use the traditional pigment, not very lightfast) PV19 or PR177 or Quinacridone Rose PV19
Cobalt Teal Blue PG50
French Ultramarine Blue PB29
Raw umber PBr7
Burnt Umber PBr7
Ivory Black PBk9
Paint brushes
A dozen filbert pig hair brushes sizes n 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12
Some flat brushes
Round Sable or Kolinsky Sable Brush No. 4, 8, 10, 12 (from nail size (approximately one inch) or synthetic imitation)
AVERAGE
Stand flaxseed oil
Odorless mineral spirits
Safflower oil
Surface
Linen canvas, universal fine grain coating
For studies: Canson Figueras oil-acrylic paper
Others
Palette
Foam and spalter brushes
Teardrop-shaped palette knife, without shoulder
A few small pots, containers, jars…
Paper napkins

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#portrait #charcoal #drawing
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