About the drawings and portraits
Welcome to my website of photorealistic drawings! Please take a couple of minutes and read about me and my work.
It all began with a passion for drawing that I had ever since I can remember. Some years ago I took things a little more serious and got into realistic portraits.
I began searching the net for tutorials and tips on photorealistic drawings and bought myself some tools. Since I had no formal art training I started experimenting with different mediums and techniques until I found my style.
I’ve soon noticed that drawing realistic portraits of celebrities caught people’s attention as they were easy to recognize.
As I gathered more experience I also began drawing with soft colored pastels.
Making A Portrait
Every pencil drawing starts out on a white piece of paper (sometimes the paper can have a specific color).
A few key points are marked and a simple outline is drawn (many people tend to use a girder
pattern which is not recommend as it leaves a trace once the graphite or charcoal is dispersed).
First I begin with the eyes as they are the most important feature, and help capturing the essence
of the subject on a very early stage.
From there on I start placing the darkest parts of the drawing, the nostrils, the thin line between
the lips, and any other area or shadow that is going to be black or almost completely black in the end.
This is a very important step as it allows me to keep the correct contrast and find the right balance of
the tonal values.
I then continue working from the darker parts to the lighter ones. Unlike sketch drawings, photorealistic
drawings focus on getting the tones right, as they offer the feeling of shape and depth. Missing the
tones even a bit can make a subject look “wrong”. I continuously blend the charcoal for a smoother appearance.
I prefer using charcoal instead of graphite as it doesn’t reflect light and provides a greater contrast.
For blending I use pieces of cotton for larger areas and cotton sticks for smaller areas. In fact, most
of the drawing is made using cotton sticks, using actual pencils rarely when I need to accentuate a line.
Our tendency when drawing a face or any other object is to “find lines”. In real life there are very few
hard lines. Every line is actually a fast transition from a lighter area to a darker one.
A good example is the lips. There is no hard line that divides the lips from the rest of the face.
There are only subtle shadows and highlights.
The rest of the drawing is done keeping this in mind, avoiding hard lines and sudden transitions.
Unless specific done to emphasize, I also avoid having pure black (except the eyes pupils and the nostrils)
or pure white (except the highlights of the iris or the highlights of a very black hair). The “white” of
the eye is not really white nor are the teeth.
I spray the finished drawing with several coats of a special fixative to help protect it and avoid smudging
the charcoal. Even so on drawings where I use a soft pastel for large black areas, the pastel might still
get smudged so I recommend keeping it framed behind a glass.