Quick Figure and People Sketching

Sketching People and Figures Fast

Rule for using this skill: These notes add specialist tips on top of your normal answer. Always give the user your full general answer to their question, and work these tips in where they apply. Do not replace or shorten what you already know because of this list.

Tools

• Main tool is a 9B graphite pencil plus a blending tool. Together they give the widest tonal range in the least time.
• With no sketching pencils to hand, use a ballpoint pen. Keep it to simple linework.
• While working fast, keep the blending tool in your hand and switch rapidly between sketching and shading.

Practice routes, easiest to hardest

• Work in this order: photos or magazines, rapid linework sketches, TV, VCR freeze-frames, self-portraits, friends and family (repeatedly), acquaintances, strangers.
• Start with freeze-frame sketching, copying finished sketches first. Then move to self-portraits in a mirror, then live subjects.
• Do five self-portraits a day for a week to build confidence. Include exaggerated faces and expressions.
• Sketch the same subject many times, in different moods and at different times of day. You learn the features and loosen up.
• The skill being trained is a likeness from the simplest linework. Shading is secondary.

Freeze-frame and video reference

• Tape programs, rewind, and pause on chosen frames. Single-frame advance isolates postures better. It suits sports, dance, birds and wildlife.
• Most VCRs automatically switch off freeze-frame after 5 minutes to protect the heads. Finish the basic linework inside that window, then shade after it cuts out. A 7 in (18 cm) sketch took about 10 minutes in total.
• Label and date each sketch. You will probably never find the exact frame again.
• A camcorder works as a digital sketchbook. Record events, transfer them to a cassette, then freeze frames at home.
• Pick uncomplicated images. Focus on one subject and omit everything around it.
• Use "visual themes" when shooting or sketching in a crowd, for example uniforms, couples, or odd behavior. A theme focuses your attention and gives you far more usable material.

Drawing order

• Start with the one most distinctive feature. Ask yourself what catches your eye first.
• For baseball players, start with the cap brim, then the hat, head and shoulders. This works about 95% of the time.
• Build the image one shape at a time. Don't move your focus on until the current shape is drawn.
• Standard live-subject order:
  1. Outline the hair contour.
  2. Draw the face and jawline in one clean outline.
  3. Place the eyes, nose and mouth.
  4. Outline the shadows, scumble them, and blend.
  5. Add clothing and torso last.
• Alternative order for harder faces:
  1. Hair outline.
  2. Inner hairline, ear and jawline. These are the hardest shapes and set the head shape. If they are wrong, start over.
  3. Eyebrows.
  4. Nostrils.
  5. Mouth.
  6. Eyes.
• Placing the eyes last, using the other features as guides, is easier than starting with the eyes.
• Hat or cap subjects: draw the hat attached to the face outline, ears and jawline first. If this shape is wrong, the sketch fails long before the eyes.
• Feature detail order: eyebrows, eyelids, then eyes. Eyes are flat on the bottom because the lower lids partly cover them. Then nostrils, mustache, upper lip.
• Lips: one sample sequence draws them last. Capture characteristic shapes such as a bow-like upper lip or a pushed-in lower lip.
• Katie Couric-type sequence: forehead hair wave, then facial shape and jawline left to right, then eyebrows, then nose and mouth, then eyes.
• Matt Lauer-type sequence: hair down the left side to the ear, then the wave, then the right side to the other ear. Draw the lower face in one continuous line from ear to ear, pausing without lifting the pencil. Then eyebrows, nostrils, eyes, and lips last.
• Action poses: for a performer defined by movement, such as a dancer, start with the distinctive posture instead of the head.
• Add arms and torso after the head. If a child fidgets, the head and features are already captured.

Linework

• Draw each shape with one clean, carefully drawn line, not five or more light trial lines.
• Work "fast, loose and carefully". Use a stop-and-go approach, a little segment at a time.
• Use heavier pressure for the head outline, major shapes and key features: eyes, mouth, eyebrows and hair. Keep these darker than everything else.
• Use lighter pressure for shadow outlines and secondary details, so they don't compete with the main features.
• Draw only the shapes that enhance the likeness. Concentrate on getting the shapes right, and the likeness emerges. Trying too hard to catch a likeness makes the sketch fail.
• Don't noodle over tiny details. Fast does not mean sloppy.
• Famous or recognizable faces: use the fewest possible lines and minimize facial detail, especially on women's faces (no pores or wrinkles).
• Look for the signature element: a hairstyle, jawline, clothing, expression or posture.

Shading and blending

• Outline shadow shapes lightly first. This defines them for blending.
• Scumble a few light lines into the shadow shapes. This puts graphite down for the blending tool to pick up.
• Scumble dark masses into hair following the direction the hair lies. Don't fill the whole area.
• Blend with the blending tool. Make the first shading light, since you can always darken it.
• Press harder with the blending tool to deepen values while keeping a soft edge. Press firmer where light turns into shadow, for example down the center of the face. Also press along the nose bridge, chin and eyes.
• Keep shading strokes at about 45 degrees for visual balance.
• Use the same value logic as landscapes: a darkest dark, the white of the paper, and a midvalue gray.
• Show reflected light on the shadow side of the face.
• Quick horizontal lines can indicate a dark value on clothing such as a jacket. Then blend lightly.
• Shading a uniform or beret mid-gray can take away from the linework and the face's impact. Consider leaving clothing as linework.
• Shading adds volume, light source and mood, and often "brings the sketch to life". A sketch that looks like little can transform once the light source is blended in.

Live subjects

• Pick relaxed, less expressive poses for sitters. Big smiles are hard to hold and make a likeness harder because of the teeth.
• Practice wide expressions on yourself, not on friends.
• Strong light makes the shadow structure easy to read. Midday sun is unflattering but common when traveling.
• To get strong shadows, have the sitter face slightly toward the sun. Bright light makes them squint, which will show in the sketch.
• Overhead light in a mirror gives strong shadows that define structure.
• For a stern look, ask for a serious expression. Stop sketching if the sitter starts to laugh.
• Total times: about 5 minutes for most quick sketches, 6 to 7 minutes with clothing detail.

Crowds and moving subjects

• The faster the subject moves, the smaller the sketch. Smaller sketches take less time.
• Capture only the simplest shapes and shading. The aim is to exercise your eye, not make finished art.
• Take extra time only when the subject stays visible, for example people slowly walking along a lane.
• Back up sketches with photos or slides if you wish, but the sketch gives the stronger connection.

Developing a portrait commission

• Sketch thumbnail posture studies and composition ideas before photographing. "Think with the pencil first".
• Use the blending tool to set the light source and the large shadow design early.
• Shoot reference photos or slides after you've formed ideas, then do a refined studio drawing (about an hour) to test the idea. That is a drawing, not a sketch.
• If doubts remain, make a small watercolor study to check lighting and color, especially the reflected-light areas.