Fallen Tutorials

[fallenangel]

I've written various how-tos on other forums, one or two possibly copied to here, but with so many questions popping up in threads and as comments, I thought I'd just start a thread and put them all here. As I think of things, I'll add instructions in this thread. I'm not saying they'll be brilliant things, just...things.

(and a huge thank you and much love to everyone who's left me comments recently. My inbox has been flooded for the first time in months. *warm fuzzies* )

Things I've already written and just need to find and move here:

~Hair (just about every kind of hair I've ever drawn)
~Eyes
~Braids (ok, could go with the hair, but I did them two different places)
~Likeness (dunno if there'd be any interest in this one. It was to someone who wanted to know how to draw a picture so that you could actually tell who it is...mostly only useful for drawing real people)
~Charcoal shading...could also work with pencils. Did this as a video, so I'd have to redo the examples and type it up.
~Gridding? It's a basic concept but also in the video.

Those are the ones I can think of. I'll start adding as I find them (and add a list in this first post of what's been posted). If anyone else can think of or wants a tutorial on something, reply and let me know. I'll do it as soon as possible (a few of these will be delayed since I no longer have the examples or steps scanned). Colored pencils, soft pastels, other realism stuff, just about anything. Also reply if I stuff up any instructions to the point you have no idea what I'm saying. :P


[b]TUTORIALS[/b]
-- Hair (pictures to come)
-- Braids
_________________
"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall

[fallenangel]

First up, HAIR. (pictures of individual steps for pencil and colored pencil hair tut will be added shortly)

Tools:
Pencil (various hardness values if you won't be using charcoal)
Willow charcoal (sticks of very soft, very light, very blendable charcoal. Cheap)
Compressed charcoal sticks or pencils (hard, dark charcoal)
Kneaded eraser (or just an eraser you can have a good point with)
Blending stump (or whatever you want to call it. Can also be made by rolling up a piece of drawing paper, though they cost something like a dime in art stores)


[b]Hair[/b]

Straight Hair

~ First I loosely sketch in the hair placement and where I want strands to fall.
~ Next, I add willow charcoal to darker areas and blend it out to cover most of the hair.
~ Using the kneaded eraser, I lift out highlights by quickly dragging a sharp edge through the charcoal (or pencil).
~ I add dark shadows by putting down some compressed charcoal and blending it, relifting highlights where needed.
~ Last, I use a pencil to lightly sketch strands into the highlights and avoid any solid blocks. The highlights along the left side are just done by randomly dragging my eraser through the thick layer of willow charcoal.

Curly Hair

There are two ways to draw curly hair, and I usually only use one. A lot of sites/people say you have to draw every curl carefully, and that looks wonderful when done well, but I just don't have the patience for it.

When I sat down to do this piece right after the Rhode Island club fire, however, I tried desperately to figure out a different technique that still looked decent. Here's what I came up with.

~ Sketch in the hair with willow charcoal in wavy motions, especially near the sides of the hair where you'll really see them. Use a blending stump to smooth it all together into a relatively even dark shade.
~ Mold a kneaded eraser into a point about as big as you want the curls to be. Drag it through the charcoal using the same motions. I do this a few times before using a new area of the eraser so that the curls aren't all the same value, and it gives the look of depth.

And that's about it. Not as detailed as drawing each curl carefully, though.

A couple other random techniques-

Wild Hair I did that by wildly sketching with a pencil and then going over it the same way with a white charcoal pencil for highlights. (facial hair done with a white charcoal pencil)

Hair without highlights Sketched in the basic shape with willow charcoal, smoothed it, then added individual strands and more precise shapes with a charcoal pencil (and a big thank you to Hamster Alliance )

Stubble

I've gotten a lot of questions about how I did the stubble in the very first picture, so here it is.

~ Shade the face normally, including the chin. Then use a kneaded eraser in a point to create that blotchy shading where the stubble will be.
~ Use a pencil to sketch the short hairs. On that image, the strong light made it so the right side didn't show, but the left was very dark. Then use a charcoal pencil to sketch in some of the hair in the darker shadows and carefully smooth those lines in the direction the hair grows. Last, use both a kneaded eraser and sharp white charcoal pencil to create highlights, including along the edge of the chin.

STEP BY STEP PICTURES OF EACH TECHNIQUE TO COME. So if I messed up the instructions or they weren't clear, maybe pictures will help.
_________________
"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall

[fallenangel]

[b]BRAIDS[/b]

~REALISTIC BRAIDS~

(first row)
1. Basic outline of a braid.
2. Each strand is a different color to illustrate the pattern.
3. The outline filled in with a bit of shading

(second row)
This is to draw the crazy, sticking out from the head style of braids. Pretty much a cartoony look, though with some work it may look decent in a realistic piece, depending on the size.

1. Basic outline of the face with guidelines for the features, hairline, and dots where I want each braid to be.
2. guidelines where I want to braid to go. If you can eyeball it, do so, but I always end up with straight braids or ones that curve at weird angles. These lines would obviously be made lightly, but the scanner doesn't pick up light pencil lines. Also drew in the hair parts...sort of. Scanner didn't pick up the smaller lines, either, so the hair parts should be a bit smaller.
3. If the piece was big, using the technique above would look great, but if it's relatively small, you can cheat. The blue numbers show the line pattern I used to make the braids look like braids but take much less time. This pattern can also work for just about any kind of small braid.

(yes, I'm well aware the little dude has no ears. This isn't an ear tutorial. )
_________________
"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall

[Powtaz]

can u draw chewbacca with braids? if you can, then, id be impressed, and id buy his toy.

rrroaaargrrroaar.


*moon falls*

[fallenangel]

No, but [i]you're[/i] welcome to draw him with braids. I'm sure it would be a huge deviantART favorite.
_________________
"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall

[Powtaz]

lol, hmm, a challenge. i havent drawn in months and months. and ive never posted my drawings here.


lol, its like ultra ironic that im in a multimedia program where dessign is everything, and im sorrounded by computers and scanners, and such, and im a member at FAC, yet i dont upload pictures that i draw, even though i do consider it a lost talent, since im good at it, but i dont do it often.


wow. i probably wont draw chewbacca with braids, but maybe i will draw something else one day. like, a shoe on fire, lmao.

meanwhile, i already have 2 chewbacca toys. *big smile*

realizes.

*ashamed*

[fallenangel]

You know, we just learned in Humanities that it's a sin to waste talent.
_________________
"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall

[Powtaz]

ironic, that im in humanities. but, thanx

[Papercut_Dragon]

Id like to know what steps you took to make that Kurt Cobain picture.
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222.
[url=http://www.fanart-central.net/pic-607038.html]No Shaking Throne[/url]

[fallenangel]

Hm, I'm not so sure there were even distinguishable steps. I was pushing a deadline (by two hours in the end) and doing everything at once. Next time I begin something, I'll take progress scans with some captions, since that would probably show better than I could ever explain.
_________________
"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall