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The drawing of kids demands freshness and directness of purpose. Unfortunately, there are not too many quick and ready rules. Let us just say that children's portraits demand a keen and patient eye.
For those who intend to do commercial portraiture the good news is that children's portraits can be rewarding. There are very few artists who can capably draw kids.
Soft lighting works best for portraits of kids. The child could be looking towards a intense light source. This sort of light source will light up the child's face and create an introspective facial appearance. The tone stretch goes from light to medium with the eyes very dark.
Addressing the facial proportions of kids in a general sense is somewhat of a waste of time. Their facial proportions change dramatically within a time span of six month.
Suffice it to say that the younger the child is the smaller the face in relation to the skull. The eyes also appear larger although this can be deceiving. A child’s nose can be a nightmare to draw – there is nothing really to hold onto. And the mouth is extremely subtle the same width of an eye. Once more, we must emphasize that these proportions are only a general rule and individual face proportions can vary. The above general rules can be utilized for comparison purposes when you do your own careful observations of a particular face.
As always, start your rendering by striking the arabesque and then correcting the height/width proportions as necessary.
After establishing the primary facial proportions (i.e., the brow, nose, mouth, etc.) block-in the major light/dark patterns. Then, stump down the graphite using your fingers or a stump. To render and re-shape the lights utilize a clean kneaded eraser.
Now the features are carefully placed, measured and partially sketched. There are two points to remember here:
1. Your pencils must be real sharp, and
2. At this stage, you should never fully complete a feature. Sketch each feature no more than 50%.
Once the features are sized and situated as best you can, you can now further develop them. Do not neglect the hair and sides of the face. Everything should be brought up together. As you continue to draw you should always be on the lookout for mistakes in proportions and tone.
In closing, the basic procedures utilized to draw a child's portrait are of course always the same. Above, we listed most of the differences in size and form between an adult skull and that of a child. Your mood when drawing a child should be one that reflects the innocence and the softness of a child.
Download my brand new Free Pencil Portrait Sketching Course here: www.remipencilportraits.com/PPDT/pencil-portrait-tutorial.html target="_blank">Pencil Portrait Sketching Course. Remi Engels is a practicing pencil portrait draftsman and oil painter and expert drawing instructor. See his work at Pencil Portraits by Remi: www.remipencilportraits.com Visit Instructions on Pencil Portrait Sketching - Rendering Children.
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