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My latest face drawing book is on Amazons worldwide! If you're looking for female face drawing references or a great new drawing book for adults (young & old!) - this book is for YOU! In today's drawing book flip through, I'll show ya a sneak peek of what's behind the cover! Artists of all ages and stages will learn how to draw faces step by step + get ALL MY BEST face shading techniques!
Before we continue, super quick announcement! All product links noted below are Affiliate. I may earn a small commission if you choose to order through these links, but by law there is never any additional cost to the consumer for doing so. I only reccommend products I actually use and love. Thank you for your support! 
If you've been following me on my YouTube drawing channel for a while, you may remember we recently completed a 15 week face drawing series called Whimsical Women of the World!
This book features the projects from that face drawing series for people who prefer to learn how to draw using a drawing book instead of a video! 
Even though the faces in this series were quite challenging and fairly realistic, I call them whimsical - because I feel this one word helps take the pressure off having to be perfect!
Realism requires dilligent attention to detail and hyper focused observational skills! While sometimes I might enjoy a little of that challenge as an artist - most of the time, it takes the FUN out of things for me!! 
For me - having FUN is the whole reason I create art in the first place, and it's why most of my students are into art as well!
Over the years I've discovered that if something is fun - you'll want to do MORE of it, AND the more you do of something -the better you get at it! That's my goal for my students and for myself - FUN and growth for all of us as artists! 
As you'll see in the video, each step by step drawing portrait starts at the very beginning with no more than three simple steps on a page.
This approach helps the projects not feel overwhelming, and sets up artists of every stage and age for success!
The coloring process is also broken down step by step to help you learn how to shade a face. You'll learn my best face shading techniques for shading a face in color (no matter WHAT art supply you're using!).
I used alcohol markers and colored pencil for every project, but I specifically don't note the individual alcohol marker shades I used for each project because I know each artist is coming to these projects in her own context.
Maybe you only have 3 copic markers because they're SO expensive (trust me- I get it and built my collection over many years!!!). Maybe you have zero copics because you've never tried drawing in anything other than pencil, maybe you have the whole set, or maybe you're into ohuhus! To each their own!! I don't care what you use- I just hope YOU DRAW!! 
If you ARE interested in learning about which specific marker colors I'm using, you can sign up to join my Fun Fab Drawing Club or purchase the Whimsical Women of the World classroom where everything is in real time (no timelapsed video- even for the shading portions of each project). You'll also find the original face drawing reference for each project here as well.
If you'd just like a little more info on skin tone markers so you have an idea of where to start with these if you've never used them before- or find starting an alcohol marker collection overwhelming - I recently created a FREE cheatsheet ALL about this to help ya out!! I organized this by color family for skin tones that are light, medium, or dark and have marker swatches from 3 alcohol marker brands that will work well. This should REALLY save you some swatching and trial/error time! Click the button below and I'll send my Skin Tone Markers Guide straight to your inbox. 
There are 12 pages in my Skin Tone Markers Guide and will be your best friend if you're thinking about using alcohol markers to work on these fun projects!
In today's video, you'll also get a little preview of the beautiful student artwork I'm thrilled to be featuring in this book as well! There are four gorgeous student versions for each drawing!!
Here are four of my favorite student pieces for my Native American face drawing project (see below)! 
Artists will also learn how to create profile drawings, as well as side profile drawing in a 3/4 view in Whimsical Women of the World.
In addition, I made sure to focus on the most frequently requested lesson topics students always ask me for - like how to draw a smile with teeth and how to draw a head from different angles.
My Lovely, Laughing Italian (below right) covers these two for sure!!
I also get tons of requests to draw older, more mature women so I can teach how to draw wrinkles! My Burmese Beauty (below) is the perfect project to develop those skills and MORE!
Come check out the flip through video for Whimsical Women of the World. I can't wait to show you what's inside!!
Thanks for hanging out with me today!!
❤️Want FREE, immediate access to my Fun Fab Drawing Club and/or Mixed Media Society plus discounts on all my art books, sneak peek at YouTube videos and new book content, behind-the-scenes fun and MORE? Join me over on Patreon today and get HUGE PERKS in return for a small monthly donation. ❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my art books on AMAZON (available in both Kindle and Paperback) ❤️ SIGNED COPIES of my art books on ETSY ❤️ MY FAVORITE ART SUPPLIES on AMAZON ❤️ MY BELOVED FACEBOOK GROUP ❤️ FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM ❤️ FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK
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Only have 5 minutes? Today's face shape drawing lesson is for YOU! In today's quick, step by step tutorial, we're going to be studying reference photos for drawing 5 face shapes in real time. If you've always wanted to learn how to draw a face, have been struggling with how to work drawing practice into your daily life, if the faces you draw ALL LOOK THE SAME, or ... if you need to add MORE FUN into your art practice, THIS SERIES IS FOR YOU!!l  We're in week six of the 5 in 5 Drawing Facial Features series on my YouTube Drawing Channel, and this week is focused on how to draw a face shape step by step!! If you're just discovering this series, we are working on drawing facial features and only spending about 5 minutes with each face drawing reference I've provided. This whole series on my YouTube drawing channel is a FUN way to help us establish a daily art practice that doesn't take forever, and will help increase your drawing skills as an artist - EVEN if you're a beginner, who just wants to finally learn how to draw a face!!!  If you don't have my 20 -page, 5 in 5 Practice Packet - you'll want to download that now. This has all the face drawing references you need for the entire series, and you can work directly on each practice worksheet. Best of all, it's yours, FREE. Simply click the button below, and I'll send it straight to your inbox!  Even though I'm on week six of the series, don't feel like you're behind if you are just discovering this. This drawing practice is for YOU to do on your own time, at your own pace. There is no schedule, just FUN!! All you need to do the drawing exercises is my 5 in 5 Practice Packet is basically a good eraser and a pencil. You totally don't have to get fancy. Before we continue, super quick announcement! All product links noted below are Affiliate. I may earn a small commission if you choose to order through these links, but by law there is never any additional cost to the consumer for doing so. I only reccommend products I actually use and love. Thank you for your support!  If you are interested in some fancier drawing tools - I'm using two of my favorites today: a Blackwing pencil, and my vanish eraser. Since today we're just going to draw face shape, there isn't any shading, so, no need for a blending stump. In fact, if all you have is a regular #2 school pencil- that's perfect! You never need fancy supplies when you're hanging out with me. Let's get started!!  Face shape drawing may not seem like it's all that important, but I feel like it's something that's typically overlooked, because it's so subtle. It's SUPER easy for artists who love whimsical face drawing to discover a "way" they like to draw face shape (mine is by drawing a zillion ovals, on the left above!!). Then before you know it, suddenly we find ourselves with a portfolio of faces that all look the same - even if they're beautiful!! One of the ways you can avoid what we call "same face syndrome" in art - is to use a face drawing references when you're drawing, because these images will inspire you to try new angles, facial feature positions, etc. Hop over to the video so I can SHOW YOU exactly what I mean ;)  When I'm trying to vary face shape, I pay close attention to bends and angles in the jaw, because this varies so much from human to human. As you'll see in the video, I can't even start this face without drawing a million ovals, LOL! That's just my thing!! From there, I note my face drawing guidelines, and start to refine, based on what I see in my reference photo. If you're not sure what I mean when I say "face drawing guidelines," you DEFINITELY need my cheatsheet to help you understand where the facial features should rest on every face you draw. Guidelines are THE KEY to making your face drawings proportional! Simply click the button below, and I'll send you my one-page Whimsical Face Drawing Guidelines. I printed and laminated this cheatsheet for myself because these guidelines are SO important. They will make every face you draw look proportional, no matter what ethnicity you're drawing. In general - we're surprisingly ALL the same as humans in this regard, even though we're all so unique! If you check out my Whimsical Women of the World face drawing series on YouTube, you'll see exactly what I mean!!  Sketching in my face drawing guidelines helps me zero in on each little section of the face, one at a time. This helps me pay closer attention to the angles and curves I need to replicate in my drawing, and helps the WHOLE face not feel so overwhelming. Remember I'm doing all of this in real time over on YouTube, so be sure to join me so I can teach you HOW to draw a face shape step by step!!  I spend the bulk of my time for each of these face drawing references observing, and trying to replicate what I see. There's no shading or extra detail to layer in like we had in previous weeks, so you will likely breeze through these exercises! Just because you might get through them quickly doesn't mean they're not worthwhile!! You're definitely sharpening your observational and drawing skills as you draw face shapes.  Our second reference image has more curves happening in her face shape. Again, it helps me to first sketch out an oval, mark my face drawing guidelines, and focus on drawing one small section at a time.  As I get to reference image 3, I notice she has a very different chin from the others. Looking at this makes me go back and take a second look at the previous chins to see if I caught the nuances there, or if I need to make adjustments. Remember, you can ALWAYS go back and do the same when something new like this catches your eye.  I specifically chose each of these face shape drawing references on purpose because I felt they were all so unique, and wanted to give you some good practice at drawing different face shapes! The one below felt like really great practice for round face shape drawing.  Her angles and curves are SO interesting, right?!  As you focus on basic face shape drawing with me today (and I HOPE you're doing this with me!!!), you'll notice that you don't need to make huge variations from face to face for each drawing to take on a life of its own!  If you haven't been using drawing reference images for your art in the past, I think they will help you sharpen your observational skills and make your drawings look SO much more sophisticated. Even if you want to draw in more of a whimsical or cartoon style vs realistic - taking characteristics from real life people will add more depth to your work.  I hope you enjoyed today's face shape drawing tutorial, and the whole 5 in 5 Drawing Series!
❤️Want FREE, immediate access to my Fun Fab Drawing Club and/or Mixed Media Society plus discounts on all my art books, sneak peek at YouTube videos and new book content, behind-the-scenes fun and MORE? Join me over on Patreon today and get HUGE PERKS in return for a small monthly donation. ❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my art books on AMAZON (available in both Kindle and Paperback) ❤️ SIGNED COPIES of my art books on ETSY ❤️ MY FAVORITE ART SUPPLIES on AMAZON ❤️ MY BELOVED FACEBOOK GROUP ❤️ FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM ❤️ FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK HOW to DRAW EYES REALISTICALLY in Just 5 MINUTES! (#DrawingFacialFeatures with Karen Campbell)15/2/2021 Want me to teach you how to draw eyes realistically in just 5 minutes?! LET'S DO IT!! We're drawing facial features right now on my YouTube drawing channel and spending about 5 minutes drawing each reference image. If you've always wanted to learn how to draw a face, have been struggling to work drawing practice into your daily life, or need to add MORE FUN into your art practice, THIS SERIES IS FOR YOU!!  We're in week three of the 5 in 5 Drawing Facial Features series, and focusing on how to draw eyes - everyone's favorite! Make sure you download my 20-page drawing practice packet so you can draw right along with me. It's got all the drawing reference images in it and is yours FREE. Simply click the button below, and I'll send it straight to your inbox! Even though I'm on week three of the series, don't feel like you're behind if you are just discovering this. These drawing exercises are for YOU to do on your own time, at your own pace. There is no schedule, ok? I thought this packet might help us to "get out of our own heads" about how much time we need to set aside each week to actually DO an art project. That's one of the main reasons I'm trying to only spend about 5 minutes per eye drawing. I also know perfectionism is a big thing we all grapple with at times, especially when it comes to drawing. I'm hoping this will help! If you missed the first episode - I talked a lot about mindset shift, so make sure you check that out if it's something you struggle with.  Let's get to it!! We've got five gorgeous eyes to focus on today. As we work on each eye drawing picture provided, I mainly want you to think about three things:
Before we continue, super quick announcement! All product links noted below are Affiliate. I may earn a small commission if you choose to order through these links, but by law there is never any additional cost to the consumer for doing so. I only reccommend products I actually use and love. Thank you for your support!  We're doing all of drawing practice in pencil, so grab your favorite and make sure you have a good eraser. If you have a blending stump - get your dirtiest one ready! If you don't have one- no problem, use your finger or a q-tip to help you with blending. If you are interested in some fancier drawing tools - I'm using my favorite Blackwing pencil, vanish eraser, and Tombow Mono Eraser (that's the one that looks like a mechanical pencil, but is an eraser!). This thing is seriously magical for chiseling out teensy highlights!!! This week I also busted out my mechanical pencil because there really are some fine lines when you're drawing eyes and I feel like a thinner lead can really help with replicating that detail.  I spend the bulk of my time on each eye trying to get the SHAPE right so it looks like the photo. It really helps to have a black and white image when you're drawing in pencil. And I gotta say, I really love working directly in the packet because I'm drawing right next to each reference.  My goal was to spend roughly 5 minutes on drawing each reference image. This one took right around 6, so not bad - especially considering I threw an eyebrow into the drawing as well!  Look ot this gorgeous second prompt! I'm trying to challenge us by using a variety of references from different ethnicities, AND I've switched things up so some of the references are the right eye, and some are the left. Aren't her lashes just stunning?? If you are interested in learning how to draw Asian eyes, I have two different tutorials you can check out from my last series that spend a little more time on this specifically. I've got one in greyscale of an Asian woman, and one of an Asian male, in color.  Isn't this one pretty?! I JUST LOVE how each eye is so unique.  As we move on to the third reference, you'll see her eye has a much different shape than the other two.  When you're studying a reference photo, and things feel overwhelming, try to look for shapes you can copy in your drawing. For example, I always find it helps me to look at the tear duct of an eye as its own shape. In our third eye in today's worksheet, there is a very pronounced tear duct, as well as a pronounced wet line under her eye (this is where I felt the need for the mechanical pencil to jump in!).  If you haven't seen me do this before, I totally help myself out and use a circle template when it comes to the iris, and sometimes even will use it for the pupil! I have no shame in using a template here, and neither should YOU!! It's just a little cheat to save time and get over that perfectionism trap we can all fall into when trying to draw a "perfect" circle. Can you spend time drawing each iris from scratch? Of COURSE you can! But that's not what this exercise is about. We're doing quick and easy practice. My circle template is a tool that helps me achieve that goal, so I encourage you to use one if it helps you too!!  When it comes to the eyelashes - I LOVE adding eye makeup drama here. I know eyelashes can really be tough to draw for all of us at times, so I've got a cheatsheet with all my tips on eyelashes drawing. You can grab that here if you haven't already!  Don't forget to kinda zoom out and hold your drawing out from a distance to compare it to the reference every so often. This will help you find little tweaks you can make to get your drawing to look more like the reference. When I did that with the above image, I noticed I needed a bit more shadow under the lower lid, so popped that in with my blending stump.  lf you've never done drawing like this before, please don't be intimidated, and come try this with me. Beginners are ALWAYS welcome, and this is an amazing exercise to work on together.  I LOVE the highlight on the iris in our 4th photo!! It's like a perfect little window!!  The lashes on our last reference photo are AMAZING!! They're also downturned a smidge. Gorgeous right? Make sure you're watching the video so I can show you exactly how I sweep in with my pencil to capture what I see in these unique eyelashes. In case you need my 5 in 5 Practice Packet link one more time - here ya go - cick the button below and I'll send it straight to your inbox!! Good luck with today's eye drawing tutorial over on my YouTube drawing channel! I can't wait to see your work!! Please share it with me!
Thanks SO much for hanging out with me today!! I'll see you back here NEXT Monday for our next facial feature... Have a wonderful week!!! ❤️ Want FREE, immediate access to my Fun Fab Drawing Club and/or Mixed Media Society plus discounts on all my art books, sneak peek at YouTube videos and new book content, behind-the-scenes fun and MORE? Join me over on Patreon today and get HUGE PERKS in return for a small monthly donation. ❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my art books on AMAZON (available in both Kindle and Paperback) ❤️ SIGNED COPIES of my art books on ETSY ❤️ MY FAVORITE ART SUPPLIES on AMAZON ❤️ MY BELOVED FACEBOOK GROUP ❤️ FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM ❤️ FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK HOW to DRAW NOSES REALISTICALLY in Just 5 MINUTES! (#DrawingFacialFeatures with Karen Campbell)8/2/2021 Want me to teach you how to draw noses realistically in just 5 minutes?! LET'S DO IT!! Last week I started a new series on my drawing YouTube channel ALL about drawing facial features! Each week we're going to focus on a different facial feature, and will draw it five different times (from reference images provided), and will ONLY spend five minutes on each drawing! Sounds FUN right?! If you've always wanted to learn how to draw a face or how to shade a face, have been struggling to work drawing practice into your daily life, or need to add MORE FUN into your art practice, THIS SERIES IS FOR YOU!!  Last week I showed you how to draw lips realistically, and this week we're gonna tackle how to draw realistic noses!!! The only supplies you need are a pencil, an eraser, and my FREE 5 in 5 Practice Packet. If you haven't downloaded your packet yet, CLICK the BUTTON below and I'll send it straight to your inbox. Simply print it out, grab a pencil and click over to today's video on my YouTube Drawing Channel. If you missed last week's video on how to draw lips realistically, make sure to check that out, and draw along with me at your own pace on pages one and two of your packet. Feel free to go out of order and skip around. This is FOR YOU, and no one else. I've got 5 nose drawing references for us to work on today, so if you're drawing along with me (and I hope you do!!) flip to those two pages and let's get started!  The goal is to spend about 5 minutes total on drawing exactly what you see in the reference image photo. You can draw right into your packet in the empty white space next to each photo. While we're doing these drawing exercises, I mainly want you to focus on three things:
Before we continue, super quick announcement! All product links noted below are Affiliate. I may earn a small commission if you choose to order through these links, but by law there is never any additional cost to the consumer for doing so. I only reccommend products I actually use and love. Thank you for your support!  I'm working with my favorite Blackwing pencil again today. I love these because the graphite is SO soft. They are a luxury if you buy them individually, but around $2/each if you buy them in bulk. I feel like the lead is equivalent to a 4B, so I suggest working with that if you have it. If you don't - you can use a straight up #2 school pencil. I'm not kidding! Whatever gets the job done and has you drawing is what is most important!! As you'll see in the video, I do pull out my phone to time myself for each drawing. You totally don't have to do that!! I'm just doing this to keep myself focused because I could spend an hour working on ONE nose drawing, and that's not what this kind of drawing practice is about. What we're interested in right now is just spending time on something that is QUICK and EASY!  I spend the bulk of my 5ish minutes observing my reference photo and trying to replicate what I see next to it in pencil. Once I'm happy with the gist of my nose outline drawing, I use the side of my pencil to get some graphite down and drag that around with a blending stump to add some shading. If you don't have a blending stump, don't worry about it! You can use your finger or a q-tip! If you DO have a blending stump, you WANT it to be dirty. In fact, the dirtier, the better! After I get the darkest part of my drawing done (nostrils), I pull out my Tombow Mono Eraser (I LOVE this thing)! If you haven't used one of these before, it's basically a mechanical eraser, like a mechanical pencil! It has this SUPER teeny tip that is awesome for carving out detail highlights.  After you're done with your first nose drawing, make sure you hold your paper back a little to get some perspective. Compare your work to the reference to see if there are tweaks you want to make. If you're happy, move on to reference image number two! If you see something you could have done better, try to keep that in mind as you move on to the second image, and definitely don't beat yourself up about it! I'm finding as I do these drawing exercises with you that my first drawing is really a warm up, and I often get better the further into the packet I get!!  The second nose has a really has a unique shape, doesn't it? That's exactly why I chose it! I really hunted around to try and find a wide variety of nose reference photos for you, so I HOPE you're drawing along with me while you watch my YouTube drawing tutorial, because this is ALL in "real time" with no timelapsing to help you make the MOST of your drawing practice!  When I sit back and look at my drawing from a distance, I see that I really could have made the center highlight a bit more pronounced, so I make a few adjustments. Drawing has SO much to do with observational skills, so really take your time when studying each reference image. If you're just learning how to draw faces, or anything for that matter - your observational skills will develop and improve over time with practice. These little exercises are PERFECT to help you fine tune the way you look at images. Plus- if you watch my YouTube drawing lessons, you KNOW I'm all about pointing these little nuances out to help you along!!  This third nose is super random, and not like ANY nose I've ever drawn before, but it gives me a great opportunity to teach you how to draw a nose from an angle. It's kind of an upturned nose. As you can see in the image above, really the ONLY drawing that goes into a nose is at the base, where the nostrils are. The rest is basically ALL shading and highlights!! Crazy, right?!  If you've been away from drawing for a while, or get caught in a mindset of thinking you don't have enough time for drawing practice - I HEAR you!! SO many people have shared this concern with me, and it's one of the reasons I created this 5 in 5 Practice Packet! What I'm challenging each of us to do is to only carve out 5 minutes of time to work on each reference photo in the drawing packet. That can help us slowly shift our mindsets into thinking of our art practice in a different way. We don't have to set aside TONS of time for drawing practice. Just a few minutes a day is SOMETHING, and it's time you're carving out just for yourself. You're WORTH IT!  Now my last nose of the day was actually my favorite of all five and I did that one the fastest! See... there's something to that whole idea of PRACTICE and not needing to spend ALL DAY on it either!! In case you need that link for the 5 in 5 Practice Packet one more time, here ya go - click the button below and I'll send it straight to your inbox! Good luck with today's fun nose drawing practice!! I hope it goes awesome for you. Make sure you click over to my drawing YouTube channel so we can do it TOGETHER!!! See ya there. Thanks SO much for hanging out with me today!! I'll see you back here NEXT Monday for our next facial feature... Have a wonderful week!!! ❤️ Want FREE, immediate access to my Fun Fab Drawing Club and/or Mixed Media Society plus discounts on all my art books, sneak peek at YouTube videos and new book content, behind-the-scenes fun and MORE? Join me over on Patreon today and get HUGE PERKS in return for a small monthly donation. ❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my art books on AMAZON (available in both Kindle and Paperback) ❤️ SIGNED COPIES of my art books on ETSY ❤️ MY FAVORITE ART SUPPLIES on AMAZON ❤️ MY BELOVED FACEBOOK GROUP ❤️ FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM ❤️ FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK HOW to DRAW & SHADE a WHIMSICAL Face WITHOUT Face Drawing GUIDELINES?! (Whimsical Women #13)11/1/2021 I LOVE teaching how to draw a whimsical face, and have been enjoying creating the whimsical face drawing tutorials in this series! Today's art reference photo features a three quarter view face AND a tricky new head tilt to give us some practice drawing faces at different angles! Because her head tilt is so unique- none of my cheatsheets will work to help you draw her from scratch...SO I'm teaching you how to create YOUR OWN FACE DRAWING GUIDELINES!!! I honestly don't know WHERE this gorgeous model is from, but for the sake of our Whimsical Women of the World portrait drawing series, I'm going to pretend she is from the Ukranie!  We've done two, three quarter portraits already in the Whimsical Women of the World series, and I've shown you two different ways to approach drawing faces from this angle here with an Asian model, and here with a Latina model. Because today's model has her head tilted, we can't use the face drawing guidelines from either of our previous lessons. That's actually one of the reasons I selected this photo- because it presents us with a new challenge to learn from! Most artists come up with ways to help themselves accurately replicate what they see in a reference on their own paper. Many will use a light table or some form of grid to at least get them started. If you've seen any of my videos before, you know I really like to draw from scratch as much as I can, because I want to continue developing my drawing skills, building muscle memory, etc. Today I want to teach you how to come up with YOUR OWN guidelines, so you can truly draw faces at any angle!  When I have to create my own guidelines from scratch - my trick is to lay a sheet of trace paper on top of my reference image to sketch in key angles and note specifically where the facial features features should be located in relation to one another. As you'll see in the video, I traced the outline of the model's face shape and laid my pencil across her face to help me determine the correct angle of her eyes, nose and mouth. This nose is especially tricky because it's upturned. I found the shape to be very much like a triangle, so sketched that in. Additionally I noted approximately how wide the eyes and lips were, as well as the basic hair shape.  When I finished tracing, I laid a sheet of drawing paper to the side of my trace paper and tried to replicate the guidelines I had created for myself on the trace paper. If at any point, this one feels too hard- try something simpler! I've got two playlists on my YouTube drawing channel for beginners: how to sketch and shade a simple face, and how to draw profiles - all in graphite! If that feels more like your pace- start there and pop back here when you're ready! We're not going anywhere :)  If you want to do this lesson or ANY of the drawing projects from my Whimsical Women of the World series in REAL TIME - with NO timelapses, you can find these projects in the Whimsical Women of the World Classroom over at AwesomeArtSchool.com. If you're already in my Fun Fab Drawing Club- you'll see the Whimsical Women classroom in your library of club courses!  If you haven't been to AwesomeArtSchool.com before, I highly suggest you check it out!!! I've got so much FUN stuff for you to explore whether you like to draw, paint, do mixed media art - it's all there, and there really is something for everyone!  Back to today's project! When you feel like your drawing is in good shape and you'd like to start shading, go ahead and erase all of your guidelines. If you are shading in copic markers (or ANY brand of alcohol markers!), be sure you've removed as much as you can of the graphite from your guidelines because the graphite really has a tendancy to smear and get carried away by these juicy markers. One of my little workarounds to make sure this doesn't happen when I'm using my light skin tone markers, is to use kind of a pouncing motion to lift some of the graphite from the facial features I've drawn, so there is less of a chance I'll drag it across my page with my marker.  If you're new to shading with alcohol markers, I know there are SO many skin tones and SO many brands out there, it can really be overwhelming when you're first getting started, and/or have a limited budget to spend on art supplies. If you'd like some tips about what skin tone markers go well together, I've recently created a HUGE cheatsheet to help you out!! I say "cheatsheet," but it's really a little book, because this PDF is 12 pages of detailed color swatching!!!  Click the button below and I'll sent that straight to your inbox! You'll find recommendations as to which skin tone markers work well for light, medium, and dark complexions across three different alcohol marker brands (Copic, Ohuhu, and Arteza). It's really quite comprehensive, so even if you're not a total newbie to working with alcohol markers - there are still some gems in here for you that you may not have thought of before!   When I'm coloring with copic markers, I typically shade light to dark, laying down a foundational shade of the lightest skin tone I'll be using to shade the face. Then I slowly work in an additional 2-4 more skin tone markers to help me indicate the range of shadows I see in my reference photo. Every time I add in another layer of shading in a slightly darker shade, I ONLY shade in the areas where I see shadows on my reference model's face and simply keep darkening smaller sections of the areas I've already shaded. When I have a good four layers of shading down, I will take the lighter skin tones and color the entire face with it - shading in a DIFFERENT direction from my original strokes to try and blend any streaks, color transitions or mistakes. I feel like this particular step is TRULY MAGICAL!! It takes all my previous layers, re-wets them, and BLENDS them together. As you'll see in the video, I also use a combination of skin tone famlies. I started out in yellows and beiges, and eventually worked in some pale pink, which adds a layer of sophistication in the complexity of my shading. Don't be afraid to reach for a wide variety of colors, because it's the BLEND of all these tones that really takes your work to the next level!!  When you hit this point of your project, you're about half-way done. Her eyes aren't finished, she hasn't "come alive" yet, and you're in what I lovingly like to call "the ugly phase." Try to be patient and keep working your layers. I promise she WILL come out of it. My biggest advice is DON'T GIVE UP. If you do- the "ugly phase" wins - and you'll never know what your girl could've turned into, SO just KEEP GOING.  Hair can be daunting for a lot of us, but the COOL THING about alcohol markers, is you can really sweep your marker from root to tip fairly quickly to fill the space and create the illusion of volume in no time. I like to use three shades of color in the hair of my girls to break up the space and add depth.  I LOVE outlining my girls, but if you don't - do whatever works for you! This is just an artistic preference for me, and part of my whimsical /illustrative style. I use my fineliner for this job, and look at THAT... she's coming alive, and busting OUT of her ugly phase. LOVE IT!! I told you it would happen!!  Once you're happy with the shading you've done in marker (or whatever art supplies you're using!), it's time to add some colored pencil. If you need help with this part of the project, you can find it in real time over at AwesomeArtSchool.com in the Whimsical Women of the World classroom. I share tips and techniques like how I hold my pencil, and why, so I get the effects I'm after.  I suggest you don't add MORE alcohol marker layering on top of your colored pencil, because the colored pencil can really have a waxy finish to it, and can fight with your markers. If you haven't heard, I am writing a book about this series and would love to feature YOUR ARTWORK! Please read the submission requirements and upload your interpretation of this or ANY project from the Whimsical Women series, right here on my website. I hope you learn as much from this drawing project as I did! Please scroll down for supplies used to create this project, and leave a comment if you have any questions!! See ya back here next week!! If you need any new drawing supplies, here are links to all of my favorite supplies that were used in this project! All product links are Affiliate. I may earn a small commission if you choose to order through these links but by law there is never any additional cost to the consumer for doing so. I thank you for your support! 👉Hammermill Cover Cardstock 100lb 8.5" x 11" (fave to use with markers and best value at 4-8 cents per sheet and 250 sheets!!) 👉This Arteza pencil set is a new find and a GOOD one!! 👉Pentel GraphGear Mechanical Pencil Set (only ones I use) 👉Ohuhu Markers 24 piece skin tone set (Around $1/marker and with the brush nib, the best alternative to Copics in my opinion!) 👉Copic Skin Tone Pack of 6 ($33) 👉Copic B Set (my fave which has the most skin tones) (72 Set for $330) 👉Arteza Everblend Skin Pack of 36 ($36 - insane value!!!) 👉Arteza EverBlend Alcohol Markers (60 Set for $112 - also insane value!!) ❤️ Want FREE, immediate access to my Fun Fab Drawing Club and/or Mixed Media Society plus discounts on all my art books, sneak peek at YouTube videos and new book content, behind-the-scenes fun and MORE? Join me over on Patreon today and get HUGE PERKS in return for a small monthly donation. ❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my art books on AMAZON (available in both Kindle and Paperback) ❤️ SIGNED COPIES of my art books on ETSY ❤️ MY FAVORITE ART SUPPLIES on AMAZON ❤️ MY BELOVED FACEBOOK GROUP ❤️ FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM ❤️ FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK HOW to DRAW & SHADE a WHIMSICAL 3/4 View Latina Face in Copic Markers (Whimsical Women #10)13/12/2020 Teaching how to draw a whimsical face is one of my FAVORITE things to share on YouTube, and I'm having SO much fun with the whimsical face drawing tutorials in this series! Today's reference image features a three quarter view - one of the trickiest to draw! As always, the whimsical drawing portion of today's video is in real time so you can see exactly how I get it done!! HOT TIP! Because the color version of my reference image is highly saturated, the lighting can make it tricky to see where my shading should go naturally. Whenever you have difficulties with images like this, and color is throwing you off - I HIGHLY recommend you simply print yourself a black and white copy of the image so you can clearly see what is in shadow and where the highlights are.  As a matter of fact, this is the WHOLE REASON I printed my book How to Draw and Find Your Style in black and white instead of color! It's so much easier on artists to replicate the values they see on paper, when working in grayscale - especially when they are just learning to draw faces. Once you master this skill- moving over to color is SO much easier!! Trust me!! Before we go any further, super quick announcement: All links are Affiliate. I may earn a small commission if you choose to order through these links, but by law there is never any additional cost to the consuner for doing so. I thank you for your support!  People ask me all the time about how to draw faces from different angles. The three quarter view is definitely one of the hardest to conquer! If you were watched episode 4 in this series, our Asian reference was also a three quarter face drawing prompt, and we used my 3/4 Face Drawing Guidelines Cheatsheet (click the link below to download yours for FREE if you haven't grabbed this yet).  Today, I'm using my other favorite method for drawing a 3/4 face. It's slightly different, and from my How to Draw and Find Your Style book. I sketch a rough triangle at the bottom of a circle and add some curved lines across the face to help me position facial features. Make sure you click over to see me do this in the video because watching it in motion REALLY helps!! In case you feel like you need them, the art reference photos for this whimsical face drawing tutorial, and ALL of the Whimsical Women of the World tutorials can be found in my YouTube & Cheatsheet Library over at Awesome Art School, as well as in my new Whimsical Women of the World classroom over at Awesome Art School.  Once you have the face shape sketched in, take some time to really study the angle of your reference image. Sometimes I actually draw right on top of my printouts (shown below), because it helps me understand the angles on the model's face.  This can sometimes make me feel a little more comfortable when I put my pencil to paper and try to replicate what I see. Don't worry if you get into your sketch and feel things need to move around or be adjusted - just make alterations as needed. That's what erasers are for!!  I LOVE the eyes on this model. They are SO huge and are going to look awesome when they are all colored in! When I'm ready to move on to the hair, I sketch in the main shapes that I see, in sections. When you're drawing hair, it extends UP and OVER the the oval of your face shape drawing because it has so much volume. Hair also has TONS to do with directionality - so look to your reference to copy what direction it's flowing from. Be sure to watch the video so you can see how this is done.  Remember to always take a step back from your drawing to pause and really look at it from a distance to reassess the spatial relationships in your drawing vs the art reference photo. It makes a huge difference!  When you're ready to begin shading with your alcohol markers, erase all of your face drawing guidelines and extraneous marks. I often "pounce" the graphite a bit with my vanish eraser as well, to life some of it off the page without fully erasing my lines because I don't want my lightest copic markers to smear the graphite, or pick that up as I'm dragging them across the page.  If you're new to coloring with copic markers, you need to move fairly quickly with them as you lay your color down because they can definitely get streaky. You only have a small window of time while the alcohol is wet, and the pigment from the color is suspended in the alcohol. This is the time when it's easiest to blend shades from multiple markers.  I love drawing hair with the copic markers brush tip because I feel like I can almost paint with it! A cheaper copic marker alternative that I've recently discovered and enjoy working with are my Ohuhu markers. They also have a brush nib, which makes them very easy to work with in a painterly way.  I use the chisel nib on my copics when I want to cover large areas on my paper, and find this can get the job done a little bit faster than the brush nib.  Another thing I LOVE about using my copic markers, is I feel like I can really achieve a lot of personality and variety with them - just by switching nibs or changing the amount of pressure I use when I press the marker to paper.  As you alreayd know if you've been watching this series - copic markers and colored pencils work amazingly together!! Colored pencils are awesome for adding detail, easing transitions between colors, and they create a pretty texture. As you'll see in today's face drawing tutorial, adding colored pencil on top of the coat (or blanket- or whatever she's wearing!!) helped to create the look of cloth that I couldn't achieve by using copics alone.  SUPER HOT TIP! The ingredients in your art supplies matter greatly. If you're experiencing smearing/bleeding where you've added some black outlines - make sure you're using a WATER BASED black marker/fineliner here, because the alcohol and water IGNORE one another! There is currently a 40% off coupon running - so be sure to check that out if you are interested in purchasing or gifting the Whimsical Women of the World classroom for the holidays!! Each lesson is about 90 minutes long, contains all the drawing reference photos, and the lessons are in real time (even the shading parts)! I hope you have fun with this lesson! See ya back here next week!! HOW to DRAW & SHADE a SMILE with TEETH on a WHIMSICAL Italian Face in Copics (Whimsical Women #9)30/11/2020 Students often ask me how to draw a smile with teeth on a whimsical face! This totally cracks me up because drawing and shading teeth is actually super detailed! BUT, I aim to please, and love breaking things down so drawing feels EASY, so let's do this! Grab a sheet of card stock or a paper you love using for copic marker drawings, a pencil, and let's get ready for another Whimsical Women of the World drawing project!!  As you can see in the art reference photo for today's portrait drawing tutorial, the model also has her head tilted at an angle, creating some interesting smile lines and skin folds in her face and neck. I did that on purpose! These are two other things people have been requesting in my Facebook group quite a bit - if we could work on drawing faces at different angles and how to draw wrinkles. Needless to say... week 8 of my Whimsical Women of the World series is JAM PACKED with learning opportunities!! It's not for the faint of heart though... and really not for beginners, so if you've landed here and want something easier- I've got you!! To start at the beginning of the series, CLICK HERE. If you're a total beginner and want to learn how to draw a whimsical face that's SUPER EASY, click here. Everybody else - especially if you are one of the lovely FB peeps who requested all these crazy things.... I love you, but YOU better be drawing WITH ME! You're not gonna learn a thing just by watching 😘   We are beginning this lesson just like we have for ALL of the Whimsical Women of the World drawing projects in my series! Sketch your face shape in, followed by your whimsical face drawing guidelines. Not sure what I'm talking about? It sounds like you need to download my FREE Face Drawing Guidelines Cheatsheet to help you out! I printed and laminated this because drawing proportions of the face are SO important. They also really are the same no matter what ethnicity you are drawing. I've always got this drawing reference on my art table. Click the button below, and I'll send a copy straight to your email! If this angle of the model's head is driving you nuts, one of the easiest ways to get started with how to draw a face at an angle, like this one, is to actually tilt your paper sideways so it's sitting at the same angle as your art reference photo - just like if you were reading a map! Easy fix, right?! After your paper is tilted, go ahead and sketch in your face drawing guidelines.  While I sketch in my main guidelines, I also rough in what I'm seeing in my art reference photo for the shape of the model's hair, and how it extends up and OVER the head, and does or doesn't touch the sides of the face and ears.  If you've been drawing with me lately, you know we are definitely straying from my whimsical face drawing guidelines today with the huge smile on this model! Be sure to draw along with me so I can walk you through drawing facial features for this girl. I'm not gonna lie - she's a little tricky! If you feel like you want a copy of my art reference photo for this drawing project, or any of the whimsical women in this series, head on over to Awesome Art School and join my YouTube Collection and Cheatsheet Library.  When you're ready to move on to sketching in her nose and eyes - these facial features are also quite different as a result of the model's smile. There are a lot of laugh lines around both her mouth and her eyes, so watch carefully as you're getting those roughed in.  When you're drawing expressions like the one in today's art reference photo, you really have to pay attention to all the extra wrinkles, skin folds, and angles because these are what create the expression you're trying to replicate, so all these lines have to be in your drawing. Things get especially busy on the right hand side of her face with the folds in her neck - so this is another area to really watch me carefully on. Again, the entire drawing portion of this video is in real time so you can draw along with me, just like all of the videos in this series. I don't time lapse the project until it's time to shade because I know a lot of us are shading with a wide variety of art supplies. Before we continue, super quick announcement: All product links are Affiliate. I may earn a small commission if you choose to order through these links, but by law, there is never any additional cost to the consumer for doing so. I thank you for your support!  When you are ready to start drawing the teeth in for this lovely model's smile, make sure you have a really great eraser by your side. If you need a new drawing eraser, I LOVE mine. It's called the Vanish Eraser. It, ever so lightly, removes my graphite from the page without ripping it. I also love it because sometimes I don't want to erase an entire line of graphite- I just want to pick up some of the graphite because of how I'm shading. This eraser is A-MAZ-ING at that! You can get one for about $2 in person at Jerry's Artarama. When you're drawing teeth, or anything detailed and small, it can also be helpful to also have a teeny eraser. I often use the eraser on the end of my blackwing pencils if I'm drawing with those (they have a refillable erasers!). I also love the tombow mono eraser. It's the bomb at getting into teeny corners, or removing bits of shading to create highlights in pencil drawings. It's also helpful to use a pencil with a very thin lead if you want to draw a smiling mouth with teeth. I love using mechanical pencils for stuff like this. My favorite is the Pentel Graph Gear Mechanical Pencil Set. For this project I'm using a 0.3 lead because these teeth lines need to be really light.  Before we start drawing teeth in on this girl's smile, it's important to sketch in her gum line so we get the proportions correct, and know exactly where her teeth need to go. When you're ready, just go one by one, tooth by tooth- drawing what ya see until you're done. This part of today's tutorial takes about twenty minutes.  When everything's penciled in, and your drawing guidelines are erased, it's time for the FUN PART!! Coloring!! I've been doing all of the #WhimsicalWomen in this series in my alcohol markers, but please feel free to use whatever art supply YOU love best! I've seen a ton of gorgeous girls flying around in my Facebook group in watercolor, colored pencil, straight up grayscale pencil - so use whatever supplies you have and love best! Regardless of what art supply you are using, be sure you swatch your colors so you have a game plan before diving in. I don't know how many times I have reached for a marker based on the cap, only to find it was totally NOT what I expected when I started to shade.  Like I typically do with a lighter skinned art reference photo, I shaded from light to dark with my alcohol markers. As you can see in the above photo, I began by covering the entire face in my lightest skin tone marker. Little by little I took the shading one step darker wherever I saw shadows in my reference.  As you can see in the photo below, the teeth are the white of my paper. In reality, that's not how we look - even if we have SUPER white teeth! Some of our teeth are behind others, or positioned further back in the mouth, so there are shadows all over the place. Before I begin shading her teeth, I work on the gums with some very light pinky/peach tones.  Little by little, I added very pale shades of ivory, and even gray to replicate the shadows I am seeing in my art reference photo. I used a teeny, black copic multiliner to indicate the darkest areas of her smile, behind the teeth.  To shade her hair, I used the same hair drawing technique from last week's episode for my Sweet Scandinavian. Simply drag your marker from root to tip for some of the strands. Wherever you'd like to indicate highlights, drag your marker from the root to a half-way point. Taper your pressure here, and leave some white space. Then pick your marker up and drag your marker up from the tip of that imaginary hair strand to the half-way point. Taper your pressure again, and deliberately leave some white space. This looks SO cool when you get additional layers of color added!! Definitely check out the video to see how this technique is done!  As with the other lovely ladies in this copic marker drawings series, I added a layer of colored pencil on top to indicate texture, and to help soften the transition lines between marker shades as needed. I used my favorite pentel pocket brush for the eyelashes, and to do a little doodling throughout. I grabbed my white sharpie (a white posca pen works beautifully too here) to add in some highlights wherever I see them in my art reference photo. There's always some gorgeous eyeshine, a little sparkle on the lips, and I totally added some highlights to the teeth in the middle, front - where they were gleaming most in the model's smile!  I hope you enjoyed today's tutorial and learned a TON!!! I know I sure did (even though I whined!! LOL!!) NOW YOU KNOW why I tend to always draw my whimsical faces with a closed lip smile!! Haha!! Because I just wanna have fun... and I actually also really love doing drawing projects and mixed media projects that don't take a long time to complete ;) Stay with me till the end of the video because I give you a sneak peek at my baby girl, Maggie dog!!  Thanks for watching!! Have so much fun with this lesson! I can't wait to see your work!! How to DRAW & SHADE Bangs on a WHIMSICAL Scandinavian Face with Copic Markers (Whimsical Women #7)23/11/2020 I haven't covered how to draw bangs on a whimsical face yet in this series, so today's the day! Scandinavian is my best guess at her ethnicity for now, but most importantly- she is giving us a reason to add a bangs drawing to our international mix of beauties. Whether you are intimidated with how to draw hair, or love drawing hair- today's drawing tutorial is FOR YOU! Grab a sheet of card stock or a paper you love using for copic marker art, a pencil, and let's sketch in our face drawing guidelines together!  Isn't our model for today gorgeous? They all have been, haven't they?! We start this beauty out the same way we start every face - with some loose ovals to draw the head shape, followed by our whimsical face drawing guidelines.  If you're not sure what I'm talking about, you HAVE to download my FREE Face Drawing Guidelines Cheatsheet to help you out! I printed and laminated this because drawing proportions of the face are SO important. They also really are the same no matter what ethnicity you are drawing. It's a reference I've ALWAYS got on my art table. Click the button below and I'll send it straight to your email!  This is such a great project because it can show us the VOLUME hair can have. Every hairstyle goes UP and OVER the top of the head. At this stage, I'm just roughing in the shapes I see with the bangs and the waves hanging down. As I sketch in the lines I'm seeing from the hair along the sides of her face, I make the face a bit more narrow as I go. When I get to the eyes and start fine tuning those, I notice her tear ducts are "barely there." Typically I see a long, lean tear duct, so this is an interesting difference. There's something new about every single face we have been drawing in this series!  Another unusual observation about the angle of this photo is our model barely has any nostrils showing. She also has a nose ring though - which I kinda love! Before we continue, super quick announcement: All product links are Affiliate. I may earn a small commission if you choose to order through these links, but by law there is never any additional cost to the consumer for doing so. I thank you for your support!  At this point I start erasing all my crazy guidelines with my favorite vanish eraser (because it NEVER eats up my paper). As I was erasing, I decided I wasn't happy with the position of her left eye, so I just started over there. Easy fix, right? NOT today!! So many of my students ask me how to draw the other eye after the first one has already been drawn. It's actually really hard to make them match when you draw them one at a time. I have SUCH an easier time teaching how to draw symmetrical eyes when I build them up at the same time! Oh well! It's good for you to SEE ME STRUGGLE because it shows you just how you can troubleshoot your way out of a pickle too, if you find yourself in one!! I'm a student myself, EVERY TIME I do one of these new drawings from scratch, and I honestly do learn something new each time I draw!  HOT TIP: Because this particular model is so fair- you need to really go easy on the graphite while you're sketching because you can smear the graphite with your markers when you start shading. If you got a little heavy handed with your pencil and have darker lines at this point- the easy fix is to just work your eraser over your drawing lines lightly to pick some of that graphite up, without losing your lines completely. See below...  The model in our art reference photo is wearing a turtleneck sweater, so I sketch that in as well, and drop my circle template in place to give me a hand with the irises. I add just a few more waves in for the outer shapes of her hair so I've got a little more to work with before I start coloring with my copic markers.  Just as I've talked about in each of our Whimsical Women of the World drawing projects, it's SUPER important to have a game plan with your colors so you know where you're going when you start to shade. As you can see, I was scribbling some possibilities off to the side earlier!  Remember, I don't care at ALL about what art supplies you use to do this project! I just hope you do it and have fun with the process. Use your watercolors, colored pencils- whatever you have! DO NOT feel the need to run out and try to collect the stash I've got. I don't care what art supplies you have. All I care about is what you can DO with your art supplies!  Regardless of what art supply you're using, you want to step up your skin tones one shade at a time. Typically when I'm shading a Caucasian girl, I start my layering from the lightest shade and work my way darker. With other ethnicities that have darker skin, I often start dark and work my way lighter. I've discovered a great way for blending copic markers is to use the lightest shade (or even one shade lighter than your lightest skin tone) to shade in the opposite stroke direction from what you used initially. You can also use the "colorless blender" to achieve the same effect.  When it's time to layering in the next shade of hair color, (I'm using the shade I used on the eyebrows), and just add half strokes from the root down, and also from the tip up. Leaving that "white space" exposed in the middle will give you a super cool highlighted look when we're done. This is one of my FAVORITE hair drawing techniques. If you haven't tried this before- you should! I think you'll love it. Be sure to watch the video so you see this technique in motion!  Here's another closeup view of that hair drawing technique...  As you'll see me demo in today's copic markers tutorial, I tend to use a sweeping motion while I shade because the brush nib on a copic marker really feel a LOT like a paintbrush. This is one of the big reasons I've invested in so many gorgeous shades of these alcohol markers! I couldn't afford copics for YEARS, so do not feel bad if these are out of your price range. There are a ton of copic marker alternatives out there that cost MUCH less. I love the skin tone markers set by Ohuhu. Those are great to try (and the 24 pack is MORE than enough!). I also have a lot of Spectrum Noir markers, and have tried ParKoo (these are totally the cheapest and really pretty juicy!!) No matter how you mix and match your alcohol markers - they will ALL play nicely together. You can mix your cheapies with a couple of expensive ones if you want. Just pick your poison and draw!! And MOST importantly...have FUN while you're doing it!!  While you're working on the sweater for today's chick, just make sure you're paying attention to the directionality of the lines in the ribbing of her fabric. I added some white highlights and a few marks in blue colored pencil after I finished this section to provide a bit more depth. Colored pencil is a great way to add texture when you're shading with alcohol markers. I switch over to my pentel pocket brush to work on her eyelashes and dramatic eye makeup.  I'm also an outliner- I LOVE the look of black outlines throughout to unify a piece. I used my thin, copic multiliner to add a few lines to the more delicate areas of her face in the lips, nose, and eyes. Then of course I have to pull out my white sharpie and white posca paint pens to add some beautiful highlights - like the eyeshine, and glossy lower lip. I used the same technique for her nose ring stud.  You'll notice as I deepen the shading on her face, I never go to new areas in her face. I just rework tinier subsections of the areas that have already been shaded.  I added a little more depth to her neck and back sections of her hair with one of my darker gray copics.  I liked where this was going and continued adding a few shadow lines around the outer edges of her face and bangs. And after a few finishing touches with the pentel pocket brush and my white sharpie...  She's done! I hope you love doing this as much as I did! PLEASE remember to post your work on social with the hashtag #WhimsicalWomen and remember I'm taking submissions for my upcoming book if you'd like to enter your interpretation of any of the Whimsical Women from my portrait drawing series, just head over to GET PUBLISHED, read through the submission requirements and go! Did you grab your whimsical face drawing guidelines cheatsheet? Here's that link again in case you need it to get started on today's free drawing lesson... Thanks for watching! I'll see ya back here next week!! How to DRAW & SHADE a WHIMSICAL Middle Eastern Face with Hijab in Copic Markers (Whimsical Women #6)14/11/2020 I love teaching how to draw a whimsical face, and am having an absolute blast with the portrait drawing tutorials in my Whimsical Women of the World series! Today's art reference photo is of a GORGEOUS Middle Eastern woman wearing a hijab.  My reference photo for this project didn't have any information attached to her, so unfortunately, I don't know the model's actual ethnicity. I'm guessing she is from somewhere in the Middle East, or at least has roots there. I called a friend of mine who has helped Syrian refugees for years to see if she could provide a little insight. She thought possibly Syrian or Turkish? At the moment, that is our best guess. If YOU have any opinions to share here, I need your help on this one! I'm super curious and would love to identify her background. I'd also love for YOU to draw along with me, so grab a sheet of cardstock or whatever your favorite paper is for doing alcohol marker art / copic marker art, and let's sketch in our face drawing guidelines.  If you're not sure what I'm talking about, you HAVE to download my FREE Face Drawing Guidelines Cheatsheet to help you out! I printed and laminated this for myself because drawing proportions of the face are so important. They also really are the same no matter what ethnicity you are drawing. It's a reference I've ALWAYS got on my art table. Click the button below and I'll send it straight to your email ;)  Ok back to our gorgeous girl for THIS week!! She has stunning cheekbones so I really study my art reference photo to try and capture them! As I sketch in the placeholders for drawing facial features later - I also rough in the shapes I'm seeing close to her face that are formed by her headscarf.  Slowly, I begin to darken the facial features as I gain a bit more confidence in their placement. If you're struggling with this - make sure you click over to the video so I can demonstrate for you step by step!!  If the idea of how to draw a hijab, how to draw a headscarf, or how to draw fabric folds stresses you out, I HEAR YOU!! I was totally intimidated at first, but like anything - you just gotta dive in. Honestly, it ended up being a LOT like drawing hair! Drawing a hijab may EVEN be easier!! Now let's get our copic markers out to start shading!!  Remember, if you don't have copics, any alcohol markers will do! I know copics are super expensive, so I'm constantly looking for alternatives for my students to try. Over the weekend I posted in my Facebook Group about the skin tone pack from Ohuhu. These are actually SUPER juicy and totally worth a try at around $1/marker.  Before we continue, super quick announcement: All product links are Affiliate. I may earn a small commission if you choose to order through these links, but by law there is never any additional cost to the consumer for doing so. I thank you for your support! If you're in the market for new skin tone markers, or just love trying new art supplies, click here to grab some on Amazon. I totally think the 24 pack is sufficient for ANY face drawing project you have in mind!! If you're new to me - you'll soon find out I'm a HUGE FAN of using WHATEVER you have on hand for any and all art projects! For me - art is just about creating and having fun!! You can do both with ANYTHING you already have. As a teacher, students are always asking me my advice on art supplies, so I'm constantly testing things out. This way you don't have to buy all the things! I'll tell ya what's worth trying whenever I find something good. That way, I can help you save a little of your money so you can spend it on the supplies YOU LOVE!!  There are two ways to shade a face with copic markers. Either start with the lightest shade and work dark, or start dark and work light. I find it's a bit less scary to start light and work dark. It feels WAY less intimidating! I do my best to "map out" the shadows on her face as we go. As you can see- I'm incorporating gray and even using some purple grays to get my shadows in. This helps to tone down all the peach and pinky "heat" from the warmer skin tones. It evens it all out and makes her look a little more neutral.  Right now you're probably thinking EWWW!!! LOL. We've just entered what I lovingly refer to as "The Ugly Phase." Unfortunately, we're stuck in the "ugly phase" for quite a long time when we're working with alcohol markers because we do a lot of layering! When you hit this phase, you've just gotta embrace it! Acknowledge it and KEEP GOING!  Every time I introduce a new color in my shading, I try to pop a little of that color throughout the entire piece. I've found this helps me to unify each piece of art and really stick to a color scheme.  This week I tried a new technique for shading eyebrows. First I used a skin tone color, then I drew individual hairs in a darker brown. I like the way it turned out! This might be a fun technique for you to try, too.  She's starting to look a little more human, isn't she? LOL. We're slowly working our way out of the ugly phase!  After I've got some good layering going on with my alcohol markers, it's time to pull the transitions together with my colored pencils. I find this helps A TON with copic marker blending and really minimizes the streaks that are bound to happen. There's a lot of magic that happens when the colored pencils come out!! As you'll see in today's whimsical portrait drawing tutorial, I alternate quite a bit between my copics and my colored pencils. Go ahead and keep doing this until you get what you're looking for in terms of skin tones and blending.  Next, I pull out my "secret weapon" for drawing eyelashes! I am obsessed with my pentel pocket brush and use it for drawing eyelashes on all of my girls- no matter what medium I'm doing. If you struggle with how to draw eyelashes, you have to check out this video, because I did a whole tutorial on it. I've also got a cheatsheet for that!! This is another awesome reference to keep on your art table. As you'll see - directionality of your lines are SUPER important when it comes to eyelash drawing.  Now she's coming alive, right?! As soon as those pupils get popped in, and the eyelashes are added - she really starts looking human AND beautiful, doesn't she?! It's only gonna get better from here! Now it's time for the eyeshine...one of my favorite parts!!  I add the eyeshine wherever I see it in my reference photo. I either use a white sharpie or my white posca pen for this. Wherever you add the eyeshine to the first eye, add the same style mark to the second eye, so both eyes match. Then I continue with my white paint pen highlights -adding a little to her nose and to her lips. My reference photo for today has a TON of gorgeous shine on her lower lip. Excited to get that in!  Always take a step back and look at your work from a distance. What do you see? What can be improved?  I decide to add a few more shadows to the outer corners of her forehead - right near where the edges of her hijab are resting. Remember, when you want to add more drama to your shading, always darken a small subsection of an area you've already shaded. Watch the video to see exactly what I mean!  I could seriously keep layering over her gorgeous face ALL DAY!! But I'm sure you're ready to move on...  Just a quick reminder - there is a WHOLE BOOK coming out of this fun Whimsical Women of the World portrait drawing series!! I'd love to feature YOUR interpretation of these drawing projects in my book! Simply hop over to GET PUBLISHED, read through the submission requirements, and send in a photo of your work. I can't wait to see!!  Now, onto shading her headscarf... I started out by coloring the entire hijab in one shade of green. I'm using copics here, and my shade is called Acid Green. GORGEOUS!!! If you move quickly with your alcohol marker shading, it helps to reduce the streaking. Next, I begin layering some shadows with a darker shade called Moss. I simply study my art reference photo and try to replicate exactly what I see.  My second shadow layer is in a dark gray, Copic N7. This is to hit the darkest areas of depth, and the underside areas of her scarf. As you'll notice, these darkest shadows all occur along the edges of the face.  SOOO pretty!!!  Hijab drawing is really similar to drawing hair, and could even be a little easier! With hair, the strands closest to the face are darkest. I'm seeing the same pattern happening in the folds of fabric closest to her face. These are the darkest darks. Once they are shaded, they REALLY make her face pop forward.  I finished up my hijab girl drawing by adding a few more details with my pentel pocket brush (what I used for drawing her eyelashes!), and she's done! I hope you enjoy today's FREE 30 minute portrait drawing tutorial, Whimsical Women of the World #6. Thanks for watching!! See ya Friday. Let's kick this week off with another fun FREE art lesson!! In today's video, I'm going to teach you how to draw dreadlocks on a whimsical African American face, using copic markers and colored pencil. If drawing dreads or copic marker blending have been tricky for you in the past, today's face drawing tutorial is for YOU! As you can see, today's beauty has lots of exciting challenges in store for our face drawing practice from how to draw dreads to shading with a variety of skin tone markers. If you're not sure how to blend copic markers - you're in luck, because I demo 3 different ideas to help you conquer the streaks that are SUPER common with copics / alcohol markers! If you've struggled with how to draw curly hair, or if you're feeling intimidated by drawing dreads, don't worry- I was too at first, but it didn't take me long to come up with an EASY drawing / shading technique I liked. I can't wait to show it to you!! Ok!! Go grab some art supplies and meet me back here for the tutorial. Before we continue, super quick announcement: All product links are Affiliate. I may earn a small commission if you choose to order through these links but by law there is never any additional cost to the consumer for doing so. I thank you for your support!  I'm working on hammermill cover cardstock because I've found it to be the best value at 4-8 cents per sheet when I get a box of 250 sheets on Amazon. The paper is perfect for working with alcohol markers! To get this project going, I'm sketching in my whimsical face drawing guidelines, just like I always do. Remember to NEVER skip this part because it makes such a difference when you're trying to get drawing proportions of the face right! While I sketch in some placeholders for the facial features, I also block in the main shapes I'm seeing in my art reference photo for this model's hair. Hair is a HUGE part of our lesson today ;)  The model in our reference photo today has gorgeous, HUGE eyes. If you're just learning how to draw faces, and struggle with getting your eyes to match - especially after you've got one you like and then don't know how to draw the other eye... I've got you!! Here's my trick: If you "build" your eyes up at the same time while you're drawing, this can really help to make them even. I start with the tear duct lines and for whatever reason pencil that in on the right side, then do the same on the left. Then I go back to the right to draw in another line and do the same to the left side, until I've got two eyes staring back at me ready for more detail! Not bad right? They're not a perfect match, but they're close enough for me because I'm just having fun, keeping things light and into teaching you how to draw and shade a WHIMSICAL face!  Once you've got your features all sketched in, go ahead and start erasing all of the guidelines. If you need a new eraser, or have been looking for one that does a super job but doesn't kill your paper, I LOVE my vanish eraser. I have NO SHAME in using a circle template to draw in the irises and pupils, and neither should you!! Make something a little easier on yourself. We're just having fun :)  Isn't she looking pretty already?!  I LOVE her cat eye makeup and feel like it just needs to be penciled in asap! I usually do this near the end, but I just can't wait :)  Once all your guidelines are erased, it's time to swatch your skin tone colors and start shading. I know you may feel tempted to skip this step, but don't! It's super important and will save you! I don't know how many times I've reached for a marker or paint tube based on the cap / packaging - only to find out it looks COMPLETELY different on paper! So do yourself a favor and take the time to make yourself a little cheatsheet of the colors you have on hand for whatever supply you're using! Mine totally isn't fancy and was super quick to do, as you can see in the bottom left.  I'm purposefully NOT calling out the exact names for the marker shades I'm using because I have a MILLION alcohol markers and I don't expect you to and want you to just create with what you have. Don't get caught up in matching your colors to mine. Just work on the PROCESS I'm teaching you ;) Today we're really focusing on the LAYERING PROCESS with our alcohol markers. More layers help to blend your streaks. I know it can feel like this takes quite a while, but just be patient and your shading will totally come together!  I started with my lightest skin tone today and used that almost everywhere, then slowly started building up my layers going through a variety of colors to catch the medium and eventually darkest of darks that I was seeing in my art reference photo.  Now!! If you have been following this series at all- you know I've been specifically calling out "the ugly phase" every single time it kicks in for me because you HAVE to know how common this is!! If you look at the pic above- my girl IS IN IT big time!! The ugly phase starts to kick in when you are about HALF way done. And while it can feel frustrating because she looks SO unfinished and it may feel like you're never gonna pull it all together, you have to be patient. KEEP GOING. If you give up on your art when you hit this phase, the ugly phase will "win." Just IGNORE it and keep chuggin' full steam ahead!!  If blending your marker streaks is bugging you at this point in your project - remember you can totally use colored pencils on top at the end to help you out. This is going to get better as well - just keep layering. Watch the video and do what I do. Pause as much as you like!  Not sure how to blend copic markers? When it's time to blend, I choose to work with one shade lighter than the lightest color I've used. Using this lighter marker, I'll lay down both a horizontal and vertical layer to "erase" the streaky marks in the transitional areas. If it's still not blending the way I want it to, I'll take the lightest shade marker I used, or go a shade up to a medium color to cover the entire face, both horizontally and vertically. For this particular project, I decided to try something new and incorporated one of my favorite products I love for my mixed media portraits when I'm blending the shading and skin tones- my faber castell gelatos! Even thought these are considered a "craft" product, I LOVE what they do in terms of blending. They're SUPER buttery and honestly did the job quicker and better than my colored pencils for larger face areas. They're super simple to blend with your finger and leave a smooth effect. Check out the upper right corner of the pic below...  You'll notice I also worked some light gray (alcohol marker) into the whites of my girl's eyes, and used a pale peach colored pencil on top of her eyelids to drop in some highlights.  Looking good!!! Remember to always take a step back to hold your drawing from a distance. Your eye will typically see something you want to adjust, and you'll probably also be more than a little amazed at what YOU have just accomplished!! I feel like my girl's left eyebrow needs a little love, so I quick take care of that, then move on to some white highlights - like the eyeshine (which I think TOTALLY makes my girls "come alive!"). I also add a few taps to her lips and the white highlight down the center of her nose.  Now it's time for HAIR, but I have no idea how to draw dreadlocks!! LOL. Not a problem! We've got this!! I decided to get my pencil back out to sketch in the shapes I'm seeing in my reference photo. While I was sketching, I decided to try diving in with my marker using a circular movement, and I ended up LOVING the effect! It gave me just what I was hoping for. Be sure you watch the video to see how this goes!  To give the appearance of texture, I experimenting with using a lighter colored pencil and did squiggly circles on top. This is what it looks like up close...  When I pull the camera back, I kinda love the effect and feel like this technique for drawing dreads really helps to indicate the texture I see in the model's hair from my reference photo. Not bad, right?!  If you're not sure how to draw dreads, be sure to watch the video because I'm really happy with the simple technique I made up. I switched up my markers a bit as well and incorporated some black to indicate depth, as you can see below...  I can't wait to see how you do with this week's project!! Please share your work with us in the Facebook Group or over on Instagram and use the tag #whimsicalwomen! Remember I'd LOVE to include your interpretation of this project, or any of girls from my Whimsical Women of the World portraits in my upcoming book! Simply head over to GET PUBLISHED, read the submission requirements (they're easy, promise!!), and submit your artwork. Thanks for hanging out with me! I hope you enjoyed this project as much as I did!! |
Karen CampbellFounder of Awesome Art School. Mixed Media Artist. Author of 15 Instructional Art Books!    
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What Fans Are SayingKaren, you are absolutely fabulous! You make me feel like I can draw anything. I have recently retired and finally have the time to do some of the art that I have loved since I was in school. I am really at the beginning of my art journey and I hope to learn as much as I can. Thank you for all you do. |
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