Art of Portrait

    In today's fast-paced world we don't have time to cultivate our passion. Hence our art is suppressed from within. Today I am going to show some of my artwork through this blog. When I was in elementary school, I used to participate in a lot of drawing competitions. But then while studying in high school, I had to choose between study or art and I chose to study. I never sketched or painted after that. But when I got admission in Engineering, I met friends in Walchand College who juggle well between their studies and passion.

In 2019 I started drawing portrait pencil sketches. And slowly made progress in it. 

Style: White pencil on black paper using Glass marking white pencil.

This is the sketch I did in February 2020 on the auspicious occasion of the birth anniversary of the Great Maratha Emperor, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. As grid can not be used in this sketch. This sketch is done using the reference of edges of the paper. Once the pencil is used on black paper it can not be erased so if necessary we can use a charcoal pencil to reduce the effect of white color.

Style: Graphite pencil sketch

In these sketches, I have used different types of pencils. The Artline pencil pack comes in six shades HB, 2B, 4B, 6B, 8B, and 10B. HB is very light and 10B is very dark. The picture is made more realistic by using different shades. For beginners’ the grid method can be used to get more accuracy. I personally think the most important part of any portrait is the eyes. They tend to be what we look at first, whenever we see any sketch.

To give different effects in the same color we can use stokes hatching, cross-hatching, contour, cross contour, random lines. Contour, cross contour are generally used while sketching hairs.

For blending use tissue paper. Tissues work great for light or mid-tones. But it can not be applied well for darks because most graphite will transfer to the tissue, making those darker shades almost impossible to achieve.

Style: Color Pencil sketch

These pictures are drawn using a variety of colored pencils, Dom's color pencils. Colour pencil sketches are non-erasable (in this case) so take extra care while drawing. It usually takes about 5 to 7 hours to draw a similar portrait.

In the end, all I can say is express yourself through a passion that drives you. Because passion is key to success. Hope you loved the sketches. Do put your suggestions and responses in the comments. 

See you till our next interaction with another blog.

From:
Hansraj Patharwat
Chief Designer, ELESA.