This is the final tutorial in a series of portrait sketching tutorials for complete beginners. This tutorial is the continuation of the past tutorials. You can check out the rest of the tutorials below.

My Previous Posts - Pencil Portrait Sketching Tutorials for Beginners

In this tutorial, I will teach you to shade the rest of the face. I have included photos to guide you as best as I can. It is impossible to tell you the exact steps I used so my best advice is to always refer to your reference image. Remember to compare the skin tones and decide where you want to add darker tones or lighter tones based on the reference image. If your tone is too dark, use your art eraser to erase (press gently) the excess graphite.

I used 4B pencil throughout this tutoriaI except on her shirt whereby I used 5B pencil. I also labeled the parts that we need to shade for easy reference. I will use these labels (a, b, c etc) to refer to those parts so that it is easier to explain and for you to understand.

So let's begin!

Step 1:

Erase the grid lines on the forehead.

Step 2:

Draw hatching lines on the forehead.

Step 3:

Draw cross hatching lines on the forehead.

Step 4:

Darken (add more hatching/cross hatching lines) the area on the right side of her forehead.

Step 5:

Darken the area on the left side of her forehead.

Step 6:

Darken the area around the right eye.

Step 7:

Important: refer to your reference image. Rework the right eye by darkening the pupil, iris, eyelid, and eyelashes. I even added a faint curve line for her contact lens. Add more shadow on her eyeball. Rework her eyebrow by adding more hairs.

Step 8:

Important: refer to your reference image. Rework the left eye by darkening the pupil, iris, eyelid, and eyelashes. I even added a faint curve line for her contact lens. Add more shadow on her eyeball. Rework her eyebrow by adding more hairs. Make sure to darken the area around the eye.

Step 9:

This is how the upper part of her face should look by now.

Step 10:

Next we will shade the left ear. Erase the grid lines.

Step 11:

Draw hatching lines on the left ear.

Step 12:

Use your art eraser to erase the outline of the ear.

Step 13:

Darken the upper part of the ear.

Step 14:

Darken the ear hole.

Step 15:

Draw some loose strands of hair.

Step 16:

Repeat the same process on the right ear. Draw hatching lines on the right ear.

Step 17:

Use your art eraser to erase the outline of the ear.

Step 18:

Darken the outer part of the ear.

Step 19:

Erase the rest of the grid lines on her cheeks.

Step 20:

Draw hatching lines on both sides of her cheeks.

Step 21:

Draw cross hatching lines on both sides of her cheeks.

Step 22:

Darken the area beneath the right eye and on the side of the nose.

Step 23:

Use your art eraser to create highlights.

Step 24:

Important: always refer to your reference image. Darken the areas on part a, b, c and d. Darken the area around the chin (part e). Rework the nose by darkening part f.

Step 25:

Important: always refer to your reference image. Darken the areas on part a, b, c, d, e, f and g. Use your art eraser to create highlight on part h.

Step 26:

Rework the mouth by darkening the lips. Shade the neck and the shirt. (Refer to your reference image).

Step 27:

So this is it. The final portrait should look something like this. If you are satisfied with the outcome, you can use a fixative spray to fix the graphite. It reduces smudging significantly. Only do this if you are truly satisfied with the outcome because you can't rework it once it is fixed. I used Daler Rowneys's Perfix Colorless Fixative (affiliate link) but I read somewhere that you can also use your hair spray. I do not recommend this even though some artists claimed to achieve good results using it.

So that's it for tutorial part 8. Is it too hard or does it help you to draw better? Please leave your comments below! Thank you.

NOTE: I have thought long and hard about this. To encourage people to learn, I would like to offer some reward in the form of SBD to 3 people who could sketch the best portraits by the end of this tutorial series. I haven't decided on how much the reward will be though. I am thinking of giving SBD3 to the best portrait, SBD2 to the second one and SBD1 to the third. I know it's not much but I am just a lowly minnow who doesn't earn much yet, unless we have some sponsors or the response is encouraging.

So here are the rules:

Upvote and resteem this post
Draw a portrait exactly the way I taught it in this tutorial series (there will be several posts covering different facial features)
Make a post for your entry (add pencilportraitnoob in the tags). Make sure you spell it correctly.
At the end of this tutorial series, please link to your post in the comments so that I could find your entry

The deadline is on 18 September 2017, 11PM (GMT+8).

Is this too complicated? If you are not clear, maybe you can leave me a comment.

Some of my pencil portrait posts on Steemit:

Jerry and Barbie - A Tribute to Meteor Garden On 16th Anniversary

Pencil Portrait of My Mother - Madam Veronica G. Bedindang

Pencil Portrait of My Husband and Son

Pencil Portrait: Luciana Zogbi - A Brazilian Lebanese Beauty

Pencil Portrait: Sabina Altynbekova - The Living Anime-Girl

And my previous post:

11th ARTstyleART Challenge: Pop Art Portrait of Scarlett Johansson

shop logo.png

Upvote, Resteem & Follow Me @coloringiship

Tutorial #8: Shading the Face - Pencil Portrait Sketching for Complete Beginners - SBD Reward for Best Sketches