Category: Face Drawing Tutorial

Why Cheap Alcohol Markers are AWESOME PLUS 11 HOT Marker TIPS! (FaceChart Inspired Art No. 4)

30/11/2022

When it comes to alcohol markers, I keep noticing there is such a HUGE range in price points. WHY is THAT?! For example, I bought a 5-pack Copic Sketch Marker set in grayscale that comes with a fine liner, for $38 (~$6.33/marker) on Amazon. Recently I also grabbed a 6-pack grayscale set of alcohol markers FOR $5 at my local Five & Below shop. You can't really beat the price at less than $1/marker.

But...will they perform? Let's find out!!

I seriously HOPE you are drawing along with me today! Face charts make amazing face drawing references!!

But before you even attempt drawing the fun makeup in today's reference, you NEED to make sure your facial features are proportional! How do you do that?! With my FREE whimsical face drawing guidelines! Click the button below and I'll send them straight to your inbox!

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.

Whenever I get new markers, I've gotta swatch 'em to see what I've got! I compared the Five & Below cheapies with my neutral grayscale set of copic sketch markers (see how they compare below). The top line is the cheapies (that set came with one additional marker, so score!), and the bottom line is my copics.

I love the gradation and the value scale range included in both sets, but I gotta say - whenever you can get MORE colors - I tend to gravitate toward that option, so way to go Five & Below!

However, I also REALLY love how Copic included one of their black fineliners in this set. The fineliner they included retails for about $12 on its own - so adding this to their grayscale pack is really pretty generous.

Whoever manufactured the cheapies from Five & Below DID cut some corners by producing their alcohol markers without labels. Kinda hilarious. At least the opposite sides of these caps have labels so I don't have to swatch again every time I grab a marker!!

In terms of quality- the nibs in this set are great, and the ink is nice and juicy, so these were definitely worth picking up. I have no idea how readily available this specific pack of alcohol markers are, but I guess my general advice is not to shy away from grabbing a set of cheapie alcohol markers when you find them at your local dollar or craft store.

Pretty much every set I've picked up, I've been happily surprised by in terms of quality. Now let's see how they PERFORM in an actual project!

Make sure you click over to see today's face chart inspired drawing tutorial so you can DRAW ALONG with me!! Don't just sit back and watch - go grab your markers and come draw with me!

Need today's face drawing reference? Grab today's along with the last 3 in this series right here in my YouTube & Cheatsheet Library.

Definitely check out today's YouTube drawing tutorial because I give you TONS of hot tips for shading faces with alcohol markers that will help you tremendously - whether you're new to alcohol markers as a medium or not!

Shockingly, as soon as I started today's face shading with my cheapie alcohol markers, I was surprised to discover they felt identical to my copics. I KNOW!! This is a big deal, because if you've been following me for a while you KNOW how much I love my copics and ohuhus!!

Today's project has once again solidified my opinion that copic marker alternatives are WORTH trying! And really, price point doesn't seem to matter as much as you might think as far as this medium is concerned.

I've shared TONS of copic marker alternative product reviews for you here on YouTube, but hope YOU have confidence to try out whatever you find, especially if you're on a budget. You DON'T have to stop drawing, even when money is tight.

If you've never tried shading a face in alcohol markers, maybe you're addicted to shading faces in pencil - TRY today's free face drawing lesson. It's filled with tips to help you along.

If you're nervous to try shading faces with alcohol markers, especially when it comes to layering in darker shades, you REALLY CAN go at it slowly by adding multiple layers of the SAME shade over and over again. Your piece WILL get darker wherever you've added additional layers, and there's very little risk if you're afraid of screwing up :)

Plus- if you're hanging out with me on YouTube (or in one of my online art classes or clubs at Awesome Art School) you're NEVER alone, I'm right there by your side doing the project with you from start to finish!

Thanks for hanging out with me today! If you drew along with me, make sure to share your work so we can give you some love over in my Facebook Group!!

LOVING the whole face chart inspired drawing tutorial thing?
Here's a playlist with MORE of them for ya!!

NEED MORE resources to get your creative juices flowing?

❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my art books on AMAZON
❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my online art classes @ Awesome Art School
❤️ MY FAVORITE ART SUPPLIES on AMAZON (affiliate links)
❤️ MY BELOVED FACEBOOK GROUP

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Testing the most expensive alcohol markers, ARE THEY WORTH IT?!

14/11/2022

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In today's drawing tutorial, I'm trying an expensive new set of skin tone markers by Winsor Newton called ProMarkers. I have high expectations for these alcohol markers because Winsor Newton is a top-of-the-line, fine art brand for artists.

I'm curious to see how ProMarkers compare to the go-to alcohol marker brands I reach for every day. My biggest question today is ARE PROMARKERS WORTH IT?!

Wanna draw along today, but not quite sure how to draw a face, or how to make the facial features look proportional? It's WAY easier than you think!

Simply click the button below to download my FREE whimsical face drawing guidelines. I never start a face drawing without them!

I've been shading the faces I draw with alcohol markers for years, and
am constantly testing new brands to ensure I'm recommending art supplies with the BEST VALUE for my students over at Awesome Art School.

After testing a million brands of alcohol markers, I've discovered expensive isn't always better, and multiple brands of alcohol markers can be used successfully on the same project - regardless of price point.

The ProMarker set I'm demo-ing today runs around $30 on Amazon and contains six skin tone alcohol markers. Depending on your budget, this might not sound too bad, until you start comparing ProMarkers to less expensive brands like Ohuhu, which will give you a full 30 more markers for just $9 more!

I don't know about you, but I want MORE COLORS to play with, so will choose that every time!

If you're sensitive to smells, you may want to steer clear of ProMarkers. They definitely have more of an odor to them than I notice from my Ohuhus or Copics.

This Promarker set has dual nibs like most alcohol markers. There's a brush tip on one side and a chisel tip on the opposite. Right away I noticed how flexible the brush nib felt. Not sure if I'm gonna love this or get annoyed with it while shading larger areas!

While swatching, I was seriously surprised by the shades Winsor Newton selected for this palette. If you've been following me for a while, or have a copy of my book, Skin Tone Secrets, you know I always recommend selecting three shades of the same color in light, medium and dark to shade ANYTHING.

These subtle variations in color will help give your drawings dimension and make them look more sophisticated.

As far as skin tone colors in the Promarkers set of 6 are concerned, I'm not impressed because I can only find two shades in this palette that will truly go together as my light and medium skin tones. The darker markers included are too big of a jump from the medium shades for most artists to use successfully - as you can see below.

If you watch the video, I'll show you the face chart I selected as today's drawing reference. It has super dramatic makeup in rich fall colors, but my first layer of brown makeup and shadows looks intimidating, even to me!

I keep going though, because I know the only way out of this is more layers of shading, blending, and doodling.

If you'd like a copy of today's drawing reference, you can grab that as a PDF in my YouTube & Cheatsheet Library over at Awesome Art School.

Once I've added detail to the eyes and eyelashes with my Pentel Pocket Brush, the darkest skin tone shading begins to push into the background and becomes less intimidating.

I use my Pentel pocket brush pen for drawing eyelashes on all the faces I draw and paint. It's amazing but has a bit of a learning curve to it. If you need help with it or want to learn how to draw gorgeous eyelashes, check out this video.

Make sure you click over to the video to get my final thoughts on this skin tone ProMarkers set by Winsor Newton.

As you'll see, I did end up getting annoyed with the brush nib on these markers. They just felt too flimsy and flexible to me so I switched sides and continued the project with the chisel tip for greater control.

I hope you found today's product review and demo helpful, and I sincerely hope you take a minute to stop and draw along with me in today's video!

See ya next week!!

Need more resources to get your creative juices flowing?

❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my art books on AMAZON
❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my online art classes @ Awesome Art School
❤️ MY FAVORITE ART SUPPLIES on AMAZON (affiliate links)
❤️ MY BELOVED FACEBOOK GROUP

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FREAKY Fashion Face Chart Drawing Tutorial - Just in Time for Halloween!

19/10/2022

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Halloween is right around the corner, so I thought it would be super FUN to create an original drawing with inspiration from TWO fashion face charts! Not sure what a face chart is? No problem. I can't wait to introduce you to them in today's Halloween Drawing project!

Go grab a sheet of bristol, a pencil, and let's draw!

New to drawing faces? Or have trouble making them look proportional? It's WAY easier than you think.

Simply click the button below to download my FREE Whimsical Face Drawing Guidelines. I'll email them right over!

Then check your email, print out the guidelines and meet me right back here for today's FUN Halloween fashion face drawing tutorial.

If you're TOTALLY brand new at drawing faces, you might wanna do this project first :)

What's a Face Chart?

If you're not familiar with what a face chart is - I want to explain that right off the bat. Face charts are basically drawings of fashion faces that have been used since the 80s by makeup artists to plan out the makeup they'd like to do on their clients.

Tons of these are floating around online from individual makeup artists to big makeup companies like MAC. I think they're gorgeous and often print them out as drawing references to inspire me with new drawing ideas. Isn't this one stunning?!

It one was done by someone I follow on Instagram, @sonya_miro. I used one of her Halloween makeup looks to inspire me for the spiderweb makeup in today's drawing.

If you'd like to get a copy of the face charts I'm using in this lesson, I've added them to my YouTube & Cheatsheet Library over at Awesome Art School. Use the coupon code YOUTUBESUB to save 25%.

How to Draw & Shade a Halloween Fashion Face

I started this face drawing as I do all of them with a bazillion ovals, then slowly sketched in my face drawing guidelines. Once those were in place, I began adjusting my final oval into a face shape similar to my references, with chiseled cheekbones and a pointy jaw.

Even though we're drawing a semi-realistic face, it will look more sophisticated if the facial features are proportional, so I follow my face drawing guidelines, and pencil in three ovals along the eye line to help me space the eyes out correctly.

As you'll see in the video, I look at both of the face charts I've printed out for guidance on eye, nose, and lip shape. I mix and match aspects I like from each face chart to create my own original drawing.

Once I'm happy with my main lines, I erase my guidelines and draw in some simple hair so we can start coloring with alcohol markers (my favorite part!!).

If you're new to alcohol markers, they're really fun to use and you can cover your drawings quickly, but there are a few tricks to them. Watch the video and I'll talk you through the layering process and how to blend. If you're a total beginner and need more help, this is a GREAT intro lesson to try first.

I've tried out ALL the alcohol marker brands over the years and discovered they really all work the same and can be used together interchangeably on a project, as you'll see in today's video.

I needed ALL my greens today so grabbed everything I could find, from my Copics, Ohuhus, Artezas, and ArtBeeks to the cheapies I recently found at Five & Below!

The way I shade a face with alcohol markers is very systematic. To show dimension on a face I typically use at least three shades of the same color in a light, medium, and dark.

Then I either make up a shading pattern of highlights and shadows for the face I'm drawing, or look to a reference image (WAY EASIER!!), like the green face chart (by @moiseartnyc on Instagram) I'm using today.

Isn't the reference image above gorgeous?!

The pic below, on the other hand... not so much! LOL.

This is what I lovingly refer to as "the ugly stage." It happens to ALL of us in EVERY project. It's the point in your project when you pause, look down to see how it's going, and freak out. It's the point when you decide your work looks like garbage and think you should probably throw it in the trash.

DON'T!!!!

This is "the ugly stage," and it's trying to get the better of you. Accept it, acknowledge your work isn't finished yet, and KEEP GOING.

If you KEEP PUSHING THROUGH till the end of the project, you will have another art experience under your belt that you've completed. Whether or not you love your finished work, you've gained experience and it's made you grow as an artist.

Take a look at my next picture....

As soon as I started adding in eyebrows and drawing eyelashes, my character started coming to life, and the ugly stage disappeared.

Once I finished my outlining and details in black, I added some white colored pencil on areas of the face that needed highlights, and got ready to start the crazy spiderweb makeup!

Make sure you click over to the video because the spiderweb makeup is in real-time (no timelapsing!), so you can see exactly how I do this, step-by-step.

I'm not gonna lie... I was pretty nervous adding this part in!! But in the end, it's just a drawing, right? And it's just FOR FUN!!

SPOILER ALERT: The spiderweb makeup turned out great!!

I hope YOU draw along with me today!!

And please, if you do... take TWO pix of your drawing for me so you can share them in the Facebook Group. Take one of your ugly stage (I know it's hard - but we're ALL doing it!!), and one of your finished piece.

It's gonna be SO encouraging to see all these posts.

It's also gonna be more than a little hilarious to scroll through all these ugly stages at once, am I right?!

See ya there!!

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Easy EVIL FAIRY DRAWING Tutorial in Pencil with Karen Campbell [#50FunFabFairies]

19/9/2022

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Already starting to think about Halloween? You're gonna LOVE today's TWO-PART evil fairy drawing tutorial! This full-length drawing lesson is step-by-step, simple enough for beginners, and challenging enough for seasoned artists interested in drawing faces at different angles.

When you're finished, hop over to my mixed media channel to add sophistication to your drawing with a layer of watercolor in PART TWO of this lesson.

Grab a pencil, eraser, blending stump, and a sheet of watercolor paper to draw along with me for our final lesson of the #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge!

Want easy access to today's fairy drawing reference and even MORE fairy drawing ideas? Join my FREE #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge over at Awesome Art School!

Simply click the button below to receive instant access to ALL the fairy drawing images for each drawing prompt, plus info on supplies, cheatsheets, and more!

Wanna become a better artist? Do today's lesson (and every lesson of the challenge) five times, making a few creative alterations of your choice, and watch your skills soar as you practice fairy eyes drawing, fairy and ears drawing AND fairy hair drawing 50 different ways.

Today's fairy drawing reference comes from a cool art magazine I picked up a couple of months ago called Sketchbooks. I love the downturned head of this creepy fairy! If you've never drawn a head tilted down like this - don't worry, I've got you! Click over to the video and I'll show you how to do it step-by-step.

Typically I start my faces off by sketching a zillion ovals, but today we're starting with the hair because it's key to replicating the head tilt in our reference photo.

Lots of people are intimidated by drawing hair, so if this is you - you're not alone. When students tell me they're not sure how to draw hair, I teach them to break it down into "clumps," as I do in this lesson.

As you'll see in the video, we're keeping things simple and not getting into the nitty gritty of drawing every hair strand. In fact, most of the clumps I draw are kinda like long skinny triangles. Easy, right?

If drawing eyes evenly is something you're trying to work on, watch how I sketch the eyes in for this fairy. I often tend to go back and forth between each eye - drawing one line at a time, then mirroring what I just did on the first eye to the second.

I've found this process of building both eyes up at the same time is much easier than drawing one whole eye and trying to draw the second eye to match.

If you feel like your eyes are still coming out uneven, don't stress. None of us are exactly proportional as humans anyway. Just keep practicing - sometimes that's all you need!

After I get the main lines of our fairy sketched in with my mechanical pencil, I switch over to my Blackwing pencil to add a little face shading. I'm obsessed with these because they're SO soft and make shading a breeze.

These are fairly expensive, so don't feel like you have to buy them in order to be successful. Blackwings feel like a 6B or 8B drawing pencil to me, so reach for one of those if you have a drawing pencil set already. If you don't, that's fine too! Use what you have on hand. A #2 school pencil is totally fine!

My face shading technique for today is super simple. Just grab a dirty blending stump and "moosh" the graphite around wherever you want to add shadows. If you don't have a blending stump, a cue tip or your finger will do the trick.

Did you notice I forgot to draw in some fairy ears? ?

Head over to PART TWO of this project to sketch those in, and learn how to add a layer of watercolor to really make your drawing pop!

When you're finished drawing her, watch this video next to add watercolor!

If you're OBSESSED with fairies and fantasy art like this, you might just LOVE the Celtic Collective over at Awesome Art School that I run with my Scottish bestie, Lucy Brydon. Add your name to the waitlist to be notified when it's open for enrollment.

You might ALSO enjoy our podcast 1Scot,1 Not. We talk about everything under the sun to do with Scotland - whether it's historical, fantasy, whatever. Just a quick warning - we have a blast and are totally ourselves on the podcast, which means there is some drinking and swearing.

❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my art books on AMAZON
❤️ MY FAVORITE ART SUPPLIES on AMAZON
❤️ MY BELOVED FACEBOOK GROUP
❤️ FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM

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SCARED of DARK Skin Tone Markers for Face Shading? Help is Here!

22/8/2022

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SCARED of your DARK skin tone markers? You are NOT alone! The process for shading faces with dark skin is EXACTLY the same as shading faces with light skin tone markers. Press play to CONQUER these fears once and for all and to see my BEST alcohol marker blending tips in action. Playing along with my #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge? Today's FAIRY face drawing and shading tutorial is lesson 8!

Want easy access to today's lesson and even MORE fairy drawing ideas? Join my FREE #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge over at Awesome Art School!

Simply click the button below to receive instant access to ALL the fairy reference images for each drawing prompt (including today's elf ears drawing reference!), plus info on supplies, cheatsheets, and more!

Wanna become a better artist? Do today's lesson (and every lesson of the challenge) five times, making a few creative alterations of your choice, and watch your skills soar as you practice fairy eyes drawing, fairy and elf ears drawing AND fairy hair drawing 50 different ways!

How to Draw a Fairy Face

To get today's drawing started, I simply draw an oval and sketch in my face drawing guidelines. Not sure what face drawing guidelines are? Check out lesson one of the #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge, and my face drawing guidelines are waiting for you in the FREE #50FunFabFairies classroom over at Awesome Art School!

HOT TIP: Grab a piece of bristol or my favorite cardstock (cheaper and works exactly the same!), to complete this project. This paper is smooth, non-porous, and will help your markers blend more easily!

This week I'm using an ellipse template (above), to sketch in my eye drawing guidelines. You can TOTALLY do this at home too - it's a little time saver, and a simple trick to help you draw eyes evenly if you're just learning how to draw eyes for beginners.

Next I pencil in the fairy ears and facial features. I'm basically creating a "mashup," because I'm using two face drawing references today - one for the fairy ears, and one for the facial features and shading. Both images are with today's lesson in my FREE #50FunFabFairies classroom.

Combining various aspects of different reference photos in this way is an awesome way to create your very own, original art. This is excellent advice as well if you're someone who is insecure about looking for copyright-free images.

I'm an outliner and love this look in the faces I draw, so once I've finished sketching in my fairy face, I outline the whole drawing with a few of my favorite fineliners by Molotow. I use a thicker nib for outlining the hair, and a smaller nib for outlining facial features.

Next, I erase all the graphite with my vanish eraser. This is a really important step if you're going to shade a face with alcohol markers because they will pick up any remaining graphite on your page and smear it around if you're not careful.

How to Select Skin Tone Markers for Face Shading

Typically my students tell me the most intimidating part of shading faces with alcohol markers is getting started and selecting your skin tone marker shades. I always recommend to use at least three so you have a light, medium and dark that go well together.

I have TONS of references to help you with color selection. Inside the FREE #50FunFabFairies classroom, you'll get access to my Skin Tone Markers Guide (shows you the best skin tone marker combos for across THREE alcohol marker brands), along with the exact colors I'm using today from my Ohuhu Skin Tone Markers (Set of 24).

In addition, I recently published a book ALL about shading faces with alcohol markers and how to choose which skin tone markers will go well together.

You can shade a face from light to dark, or dark to light- it's totally up to you. Lots of my students prefer shading light to dark - especially if they're intimidated by working with darker skin tone markers because it can feel like you've got a bit more control.

As you'll see in the video, the contrast between my initial three marker shades for today's project was just too great. This is OK and TOTALLY fixable. It's actually great for you to see this happen to me so you can watch how I troubleshoot.

If this happens to you at home, and the jump between shades 1 & 2 is too great, find a happy medium shade of a "1.5" to fill in that gap and help you blend your skin tones. It's really systematic.

What to Do If You Hate Your Project

If you're new to my world, you may not have heard me talk about "the ugly stage" yet! EVERY project goes through this, especially when you're drawing and shading faces. Here is the perfect example of what I'm talking about below...

She looks crazy, right?! This is the "ugly stage." It's the point in a project when you're about half-way done, and you look down at your piece and think it's garbage. She looks like an alien, you think you should just quit and move on with your life.

DON'T LISTEN TO THOSE VOICES IN YOUR HEAD! I'm serious. These feelings are SUPER normal and you just have to keep going no matter how ugly your girl is. Do NOT let the "ugly stage" win. Just KEEP GOING.

How do you keep going when you hate your project? In this case - more layers.

How to Eliminate Streaking
and Blend With Alcohol Markers

As you watch the video, you'll see me adding additional layers of shading. Whenever I have streaking or want to ease the transition between two colors, I go back with my lightest skin tone marker to blend what I've already done.

Every time you do this add a new layer of shading in the opposite direction from your original layer. When you do this, you reactivate the previous layers of color, and they begin to blend (and reduce streaking). To create contrast, you can also add tiny bits of a new dark skin tone, as I did when I added a 4th "darkest" skin tone.

When I move on to shade the hair, I started off in the same way I did with my skin tone markers. I pulled three shades of the same color in a light, medium and dark. This is how you get dimension in your drawings.

Finishing Touches Make ALL the Difference

To pull everything together, and pump up the drama, I'm using my pentel pocket brush to add eyelashes and eye makeup. It works more like a paintbrush than a pen, and I use it in ALL of my eyelash drawings.

Not sure how to draw eyelashes? I've got a cheatsheet for that too! Head over to my FREE #50FunFabFairies classroom over at Awesome Art School.

As you may notice in the video- the eyes in this drawing were a bit uneven, so I used my pentel pocket brush and switched from eye to eye to even them out with some eye makeup. She ends up looking really glamorous, which I love!

Finally, I added highlights with my copic opaque white "nail polish." Love this product!

Honestly, this project was one disaster after another to get through. And just when I thought I had about one minute left of adding in highlights, my white paint pen exploded on her chin and I had to try and rework the whole area to fix it!

This kinda stuff happens all the time in art, and you just have to problem solve a little to get back on track. It's ok! Accept the challenge, try another solution and move on! This mindset is REALLY important when it comes to your art, or it will destroy you!

Stay positive and you'll get there. Everything is fixable.

Want MORE dark-skinned face drawing projects? You might just LOVE my Whimsical Women of the World series over on YouTube. This also turned into an online art class at Awesome Art School, AND a book! Enjoy!!

If you're OBSESSED with fairies and fantasy art like me, you might just LOVE the Celtic Collective over at Awesome Art School that I run with my Scottish bestie, Lucy Brydon. Add your name to the waitlist to be notified when it's open for enrollment.

You might ALSO enjoy our podcast 1Scot,1 Not. We talk about everything under the sun to do with Scotland - whether it's historical, fantasy, whatever. Just a quick warning - we have a blast and are totally ourselves on the podcast, which means there is some drinking and swearing.

❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my art books on AMAZON
❤️ MY FAVORITE ART SUPPLIES on AMAZON
❤️ MY BELOVED FACEBOOK GROUP
❤️ FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM

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Gorgeous REALISTIC FAIRY Drawing Tutorial with Watercolor Flowers [Week Six of #50FunFabFaries Challenge]

25/7/2022

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Today's REALISTIC fairy drawing tutorial with watercolor flowers is lesson six of the #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge- featuring Awesome Art School guest teacher, Bryn Nguyen.

A master of the grid drawing method, Bryn will show you step by step how to use this technique to achieve a fairy portrait that looks EXACTLY like any fairy drawing reference image you select! You'll learn how to draw fairy ears in Bryn's whimsical style and how to add colorful, loose watercolor flowers to bring your fairy to life. Enjoy!!

Want easy access to this and even MORE fairy drawing ideas? Join our FREE #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge over at Awesome Art School!

Simply click the button below to receive instant access to ALL the fairy reference images for each drawing prompt (including today's!), plus info on supplies, cheatsheets and more!

I'm excited to introduce you to today's Awesome Art School guest teacher, Bryn Nguyen. Bryn is a very accomplished artist with a distinct style (below) that my students and I have been admiring in my Facebook Group for years!

Bryn and I have known each other online for years, but finally got to meet in person for the first time this summer, on my 2022 Scotland Castle Art Retreat at Wardhill Castle with Lucy Brydon!

To get us started, Bryn demos how to trace the key lines of a drawing reference image using a sheet of trace paper and a lightboard. This helps her achieve greater accuracy, and she finds the process therapeutic.

You may be wondering why we're tracing today instead of freehand drawing. The freehand drawing part is coming up! As you'll see in the video, this is a great way to zero in on the key features of a drawing reference photo, and removes the distraction of all the shadows and highlights.

I've been asked many times over the years if "tracing is cheating" when it comes to art. I believe tracing can be a very effective tool when it's used like it is today to create an original piece of art that's all your own.
Check out this video for more of my thoughts on that subject.

Once her face outline is complete, Bryn explains how to pencil in grid lines over a tracing. She loves to get super detailed at this point and creates 1/2" x 1/2" boxes for this process. Then she transfers what she sees (this is the freehand drawing part!), box by box onto another sheet filled with 1/2" squares.

If you'd like to learn Bryn's process in even greater detail without time-lapsed (sped up) video, Bryn is a guest teacher in The Fun Fab Drawing Club with me over at Awesome Art School in my Realistic Face Drawing classroom. Add your name to the waitlist here to get notified when the Fun Fab Drawing Club is open for enrollment.

Since Bryn plans to add loose watercolor flowers to her fairy drawing, she needs watercolor paper. Today she's using a sheet of 140 lb. cold press (textured) watercolor paper by Canson. Bryn enjoys working small, so cut a sheet of this paper in half for today's project.

Make sure you watch the video to see exactly how Bryn transfers a scaled down printout of her original drawing to watercolor paper using graphite transfer paper.

I LOVE using transfer paper as well when I'm doing watercolor portraits because this process really saves my paper.

If you do a freehand drawing from scratch directly onto your watercolor paper, you risk wrecking your paper from tons of erasing. Drawing from scratch on another sheet of paper first (even plain old printer paper!) and transfering your finished drawing to watercolor paper is totally the way to go.

As you'll see in the video, Bryn uses a kneaded eraser to lift some of the bold graphite lines from her watercolor paper once her transfer is complete. This is a great tip, because if you skip this step, your watercolors can smear the graphite and turn brown.

When Bryn's finished with erasing, she uses a purple Copic multiliner (in .5) to outline portions of her drawing. This fineliner is non watersoluble so it will stay put once watercolor is added. Notice how Bryn doesn't add fineliner to each and every line of her drawing, and sometimes only outlines a piece of each line. This technique really adds a sophisticated look to her artwork.

Once the ink is totally dry, you can erase any remaining pencil lines, and get ready to add watercolor! Bryn is using "The Classics" watercolor palette by Prima today for this project, but you can use any kind of watercolor you like. I typically use Daniel Smith watercolors, and have a wide variety of my favorite shades recommended for you in my Amazon shop if you need ideas.

If you need help starting a Daniel Smith watercolor collection of your own, check this video out to learn about Daniel Smith dot cards to inexpensively discover YOUR favorite shades, and this one to start your first Daniel Smith watercolor collection.

To create loose watercolor flowers on a tiny scale, Bryn uses a #3 round watercolor brush and adds abstract doodles of color in spikes and swirls to indicate flowers. Watch this process in the video because each moment has been recorderd step by step so you can paint along from home.

After the first layer of watercolor is dry, Bryn darkens portions of the flowers to add contrast, and adds bits of yellow green throughout to suggest foilage and leaves.

For the skin tones on her fairy's face, Bryn adds in layers of pink from her existing palette. Once these layers are dry, she adds a light layer of yellow green to indicate the darkest shadows.

I LOVE this look! Just make sure your original layers are FULLY dry before doing this at home, so your colors don't turn into brown.

Next, Bryn thickens a few of the lines from her original drawing using her copic multiliner (above), and draws in a few light embellishments throughout her watercolor flowers to tie things together.

To finish her fairy, Bryn adds a little watercolor splatter paint. I LOVE this effect too!! The key to getting this just right is having a really wet brush. Watch the video to see this technique in action, and paint along with Bryn in real time!

Thanks for hanging out with us today! We hope you have fun with lesson six of the FREE #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge!

If you're OBSESSED with fairies and fantasy art like Bryn and I are, you might just LOVE the Celtic Collective art club over at Awesome Art School.

Add your name to the waitlist to be notified next time we're open for enrollment, or when there's a club member cancellation so you can join in the fun with us!

❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my art books on AMAZON
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EASY Fairy Drawing in Watercolor Pencil with Karen Campbell [Week 2 #50FunFabFaries Challenge]

31/5/2022

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Wanna create this EASY fairy drawing with me? If you've never worked with watercolor pencils, you're in for a treat! Adding a touch of water to the lines you draw will create magical face shading and turn your beautiful fairy drawing into a painting!

Never drawn a face before? This fairy drawing tutorial is EASY enough for beginners! Don't have a watercolor pencil? No problem! I'll show you a variety of common water soluble pens, pencils and markers you may already have lying around at home!

Click the button below to join me in my FREE 10-lesson, 20-week fairy drawing challenge for artists of ALL levels. The amazing classroom I have waiting for you at Awesome Art School includes expanded information and resources with full-length fairy drawing lessons not available on YouTube!

Wanna become a better artist? Do today's lesson (and every lesson of the challenge) five times, making a few creative alterations of your choice, and watch your skills soar as you practice fairy eyes drawing, fairy ears drawing AND fairy hair drawing 50 different ways!

Before we get into today's project, I want to reiterate how FEW art supplies are needed to participate in the #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge (and in basically any tutorial I share)!

Starting with paper, I basically only ever work on three types of paper: white cardstock (or Bristol if you prefer - I just love the Hammermill cardstock because it's cheaper and feels the same as Bristol to me!), tan toned paper (or grey- whatever floats your boat!), and watercolor paper (or a watercolor journal).

Why watercolor paper for my YouTube drawing channel? Because I LOVE drawing with water soluble pens, pencils and markers!

In case you're new to my world, or the term water soluble... if something is water soluble, it simply means it "melts" when you add water to it. Stay with me for the demo I'm about to share so you can see this in action!

Today I'm working with a water soluble pencil (Derwent watercolor pencil) for week two of the #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge.

To get started, especially if you're just learning how to draw faces, I recommend using a plain old pencil so you can erase whenever you want. In the interest of time, I'm diving right in on my hot press watercolor paper (that means the paper has a smooth texture), with my watercolor pencil and hoping for the best, LOL!

Even though I'm drawing with watercolor pencil and I can't erase, my face drawing guielines are my go to for step one, no matter what kind of face I'm drawing. Even if you've never drawn a face before, you can TOTALLY participate in this fairy drawing challenge because everything is step by step and the FREE #50FunFabFairies classroom over at Awesome Art School is stacked with cheatsheets and resources to help you along!

Once you've got your fairy face outlined, it's time to think about face shading. If you're new to my world, and don't know how to shade a face, I've got a cheatsheet for that too, so don't sweat it!

Looking at a face drawing reference for shading guidance can be intimidating for beginners just learning how to draw. This is why my face shading guide is so helpful! It cuts down on the "visual clutter" in a reference image so all your brain just needs to focus on is choosing a face shading pattern from my cheatsheet, and copying the pattern you've selected onto your own paper.

When I'm shading a face, I'm not using much pressure at all to start, (especially if I'm using a water soluble pencil), because as you'll see - the shading will REALLY pop and darken, as soon as I add water.

After you've finished shading your fairy face, it's time to add a little water. You can either use a water brush, or a watercolor brush. It's totally up to you!

When I'm traveling, I tend to bring a water brush because it's simple to pack and carry on the go. When I'm at home in my studio, I prefer to use my favorite watercolor brushes by Polina Bright. If you haven't tried these before- they're stunning, and now the only thing I use. (Side note: If you want to order one for yourself, Polina has extended a special discount code to my followers! Just enter my name in all caps KARENCAMPBELL at checkout on her website to receive 10% off your order).

If you've never activated watercolor pencils or a water soluble marker before, be aware that the more water you use, the more your drawn lines will run.

I prefer using a "damp" brush, because then wherever I add water, the effects won't be so shocking.

I typically get my brush super wet and tap it on a paper towel so it's just damp. Then I run my damp brush along the lines I want to smear and run in my drawing.

HOT TIP! Did you add a shadow where there shouldn't be one? Simply blot that spot right away with a paper towel to lift the color.

Be sure to watch the video to see this trick in action!

Once I've activated my watercolor pencil lines the way I want them, I use a hair dryer to make sure my paper is completely dry, so I can add a second layer of watercolor pencil to intensify the face shading.

See how the features pop even more once I add that second layer of pencil on top of the activated layer? I LOVE how that looks!

I'm purposefully not activating my second layer of watercolor pencil, because I love that contrast between the activated and non activated layers. In my second layer of shading, I darken the lines that feel most important in my drawing to add greater depth.

When I'm happy with my second layer of shading, it's time to glam this fairy up by drawing eyelashes with my secret weapon, the pentel pocket brush!

Once I've carried some soft black lines throughout my fairy with the pentel pocket brush to tie the drawing together, it's time to add her headpiece.

Click over to the video to see this in action. And by all means, PLEASE join me in this FREE fairy drawing challenge! We are having a blast sharing and commenting on each other's fairies over in the Facebook group.

Make sure you join us over at Awesome Art School for the full blow FREE classroom with all the reference images, full length drawing lessons and more to help you enjoy the #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge to the fullest!

If you're OBSESSED with fairies and fantasy art like me, you might just LOVE the Celtic Collective over at Awesome Art School. It's an art membership my Scottish bestie, Lucy Brydon, and I run together!

You might ALSO enjoy our podcast, 1Scot,1 Not. We talk about everything under the sun to do with Scotland - whether it's historical, fantasy, whatever. Just a quick warning - we have a blast and are totally ourselves on the podcast, which means there is some drinking and swearing.

❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my art books on AMAZON
❤️ MY FAVORITE ART SUPPLIES on AMAZON
❤️ MY BELOVED FACEBOOK GROUP
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QUICK & EASY! How to Draw a WHIMSICAL FACE in JUST 5 MINUTES!

22/4/2022

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I LOVE teaching people just how EASY it is to draw a face EVEN IF THEY'VE NEVER DRAWN A FACE BEFORE! Don't have a sketchbook yet? Don't worry! We're gonna start with the basics. All you need is a number 2 school pencil and a piece of paper to get started.

If you're a baby beginner at face drawing- you're in the right place! If you've been drawing faces for a while and want to take your drawings to the next level, you're ALSO in the right place!

Either way - you NEED my FREE whimsical face drawing guidelines. They're super easy to follow, and will help you draw proportional facial features every time.

Simply click the button below to request your free guidelines cheatsheet, and I'll email it right over!

My free face drawing guidelines cheetsheet will help you with today's face drawing tutorial, and is exactly what I use each and every time I draw a whimsical or semi realistic face!

Once you print that out, grab a sheet of any paper you have on hand, a pencil, and eraser and let's get started.

We start out by lightly sketching some large ovals on our paper. If you're totally new to drawing faces, draw as many as you need to - to warm up and get an oval you're happy with for today's face drawing project.

Next we're gonna simply sketch in the guidelines for where all the facial features need to sit on our oval. Even though I've drawn a zillion faces, I STILL ALWAYS sketch in my face drawing guidelines, each and every time because I dont want my faces to come out looking wonky. If I don't use guidelines, that's exactly what's gonna happen.

Once all my facial features have been penciled in, it's time to get ready to add some cute hair. Lots of people freak out about drawing hair, but I promise you - it's not nearly as hard as you think! Make sure you click over to the video so you see how simply this is in action.

The first step to drawing hair is to pick a part line - left, right or middle. Then you simply sketch in some lines extending from your part. Make sure they go up and over the head shape, and into the head shape space because hair has volume in real life, and doesn't just sit on top of our head line. We want to show that in our drawing.

Make sure you click over to the video to see just how easy this is!

When your drawing is done - keep on watching so you can take your drawing one step further. First, we'll shade her and add dimension with pencil...

Then, I'll teach you how to shade a face using alcohol markers!

Thanks for hanging out with me today!

❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my art books on AMAZON
❤️ MY FAVORITE ART SUPPLIES on AMAZON
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REALISTIC EYEBROW DRAWING in JUST 5 MINUTES! (#DrawingFacialFeatures with Karen Campbell)

17/9/2021

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Ready to learn realistic eyebrow drawing in just 5 minutes?! LET'S DO IT!! In today's step by step lesson, we're going to be drawing 5 sets of eyebrows in real time, directly onto my FREE drawing worksheet. If you need help with how to draw eyebrows, have always wanted to learn how to draw a face, are struggling with how to work drawing practice into your daily life, or need to add MORE FUN into your art practice, THIS SERIES IS FOR YOU!!

I'd love for you to draw right along with me! Simply click the button below to grab my FREE 5 in 5 Facial Features Drawing Packet, and I'll send it straight to your email inbox.

Today's video is a follow up to a facial features drawing series I did a couple of months ago because I'm getting a lot of requests for how to draw eyebrows and how to draw necks!

If you're just discovering this series on how to draw facial features, the whole point of this thing is just to get us practicing our drawing skills. We're not making it our "life's work," it's just a little drawing exercise, and we're just going to spend about 5 minutes working with each reference photo, then we're moving on.

You'll see a stop watch going in the bottom of my screen. It's not here to stress anyone out. It's just to remind me not to spend more than 5 minutes with any one reference image.

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!

There are three things I'd love for your to focus on one at a time, when looking at each eyebrow reference image:

1. Eyebrow Shape
2. Value
3. Details

For my supplies today- I'm just using my favorite Blackwing pencil - it's like a soft 4B, and super smooth to work with. You're also gonna need a blending stump, an eraser (I love my vanish eraser and the tombow mono eraser).

So with our first reference, as you can see- I draw in the general shape I'm seeing for the right eyebrow. The value I see is really pretty black, so I reach for my blending stump right away and then try to add in a few individual hairs even though I don't really see them in this particular photo - they're definitely there.

On the left eyebrow in this reference image, (above) you can definitely see a LOT more individual hairs, so I make sure to add those in where I see them, to make my drawing look more realistic.

or our second reference image, I'll show you how to draw bushy eyebrows - 2020 style. Lol! After these were drawn in with a little shading added, I carved out some highlights using my tombow eraser for detail.

The next face drawing reference has some really unique eyebrows for us to draw. They're much thinner than the last set, and are great practice if you're trying to learn how to draw curved eyebrows.

This style (above) is actually my favorite to draw on the mixed media portraits and whimsical drawings I love to create.

QUICK TIP: When you're ready to draw the individual hairs on the eyebrow, make sure your pencil tip is really sharp, or switch to a mechanical pencil.

Doing drawing practice like this with drawing reference photos and cheatsheets can help you think of new ways to draw from your imagination later.

Our fourth reference today has a very different shape and is a great face drawing reference photo if you've been looking for something to help you with how to draw a natural eyebrow.

QUICK TIP: You always draw things that grow (hair, grass, etc.) from the ROOT up to the tip.

I hope you find these eyebrow drawing references helpful for your own face drawing practice. Remember to grab my cheatsheet so you can do your drawing practice right on the drawing worksheet like me. This drawing worksheet is part of my 5 in 5 Facial Features Drawing Series on my YouTube drawing channel.

In case you missed that- it's a super helpful 6-part video series on how to draw facial features with a worksheet of drawing references to go with each feature.

We worked on how to draw realistic eyes, how to draw realistic noses, how to draw realistic lips, ears, how to draw different face shapes and how to draw fun female hairstyles in 5 minutes.

I popped these new eyebrow drawing worksheets at the end of my drawing packet. You'll also see worksheets for how to draw necks - that's coming up on my YouTube channel soon, so stay tuned for that!

Thanks for hanging out with me today!

Interested in learning how to create gorgeous mixed media portraits and learning how to draw art deco style? Join me for my upcoming 1-week, online art workshop starting September 27, 2021.

I'll teach you how to upcycle an old record jacket from the thrift shop into your very own mixed media canvas. Then we'll collage our hearts out, do a little mixed media drawing, and I'll show you ALL my tips and tricks to mixed media layering like a pro!

CLICK HERE to SIGN UP for the WORKSHOP and take advantage of my special 60% OFF Coupon Code before September 27th

If you do plan to join me for this upcoming workshop, one of the mixed media art supplies I ALWAYS use is faber castell gelatos. I have heard from a number of my students that they can't get their hands on gelatos, so I just did a video on my mixed media YouTube channel about Faber Castell Gelatos Alternatives, and test a huge variety of gel crayons out for you so YOU don't have to! Make sure you check this out before the workshop starts on September 27th.

See ya there!!

❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my art books on AMAZON
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TONED PAPER FACE DRAWING in my NEW Sketchbook!

25/7/2021

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Whether you already love toned paper drawing, drawing faces, or have never tried either, and are curious - TODAY's VIDEO is FOR YOU! Join me for a face drawing demo in my cute little toned paper sketchbook (that I recently designed) - complete with adorable little flowers in the background! I'll show you how I picked my face drawing reference, and will teach you why drawing on toned paper is actually QUICKER than drawing on white paper.

If you're new to toned paper drawing, I've got an awesome set of FREE cheatsheets for you to download and a Toned Paper Drawing three-part video series for you to help you get started over on my YouTube Drawing Channel.

Click the button below to grab those cheatsheets, and I'll send that straight to your inbox!

This cheatsheet packet includes my face drawing guidelines, plus a drawing reference face photo to help us in video #3, so make sure ya click that button!!

Before we continue - super quick announcement! All product links 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 thank you for your support!

For today's drawing tutorial, I'm working in my new toned paper sketchbook that I actually designed! It's got adorable little flowers in the background, which I love, because those flowers end up peeking through the cheeks of the faces I've been drawing.

The picture below shows a great closeup of how the background flowers look behind a drawing. SOOOOO cute!!!

It's perfect for doing some quick little face drawings in pencil with china markers and white posca pens!

Here is the link for the sketchbook over on Amazon in case you're interested! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!!

Click over to the video and I'll talk you through a few things I think about when I'm looking for faces for drawing reference. Mostly, I just keep it easy. Basically, I just think to my self - do I love this girl and think she's cute? Then I usually give it a try!

As you'll see in the video - I also will look at the face shading. In this particular image, it's really unusual! I felt she had some beautiful highlights on her eyes, nose and lips that I instantly could imagine doing in my white posca pens. Just one more feature that made this face drawing reference an instant YES for me, besides I'm obsessed with absolutely anything done by Loish.

One of the most important things to remember when drawing on toned tan paper or gray toned paper vs drawing on white paper, is that "your job" is just to pop in the darkest darks and lightest lights when it's time to start shading faces.

That's why I think doing toned paper portraits and sketches are SO fast! Half your job has already been done for you because your "skin tone" is the tone of the paper.

As you'll see, I did a lot of the face shading with my blending stump. Since the paper is already gray, I really didn't have to push down very hard to get some beautiful effects. Once I was happy with my shading, I just grabbed my pentel pocket brush to outline everything loosely with a light touch.

I LOVE the lashes in this reference so really enjoyed popping those in with my pentel pocket brush! If you've never used this before - you have to give it a try. Here's a video to help you on my drawing channel, and here's one to help ya on my mixed media channel (because it works amazingly well for mixed media faces too!).

I love using the china markers for highlights here because they sit beautifully on top of my graphite. These marks really add dimension to the drawing and pop those areas forward.

And of course, no whimsical face drawing of mine is complete without some dramatic highlights using my white posca pens!!

I hope you enjoy today's video! Thanks for hanging out with me!!

❤️MY ARTIST BESTIE, LUCY BRYDON & I created a NEW ART MEMBERSHIP together called The Celtic Collective! It's now open for enrollment! Join us before the price increases on August 7.

❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my art books on AMAZON
❤️ MY FAVORITE ART SUPPLIES on AMAZON
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<<Previous

blog

Why Cheap Alcohol Markers are AWESOME PLUS 11 HOT Marker TIPS! (FaceChart Inspired Art No. 4)

Testing the most expensive alcohol markers, ARE THEY WORTH IT?!

FREAKY Fashion Face Chart Drawing Tutorial - Just in Time for Halloween!

What's a Face Chart?

How to Draw & Shade a Halloween Fashion Face

Easy EVIL FAIRY DRAWING Tutorial in Pencil with Karen Campbell [#50FunFabFairies]

SCARED of DARK Skin Tone Markers for Face Shading? Help is Here!

How to Draw a Fairy Face

How to Select Skin Tone Markers for Face Shading

What to Do If You Hate Your Project

How to Eliminate Streaking
and Blend With Alcohol Markers

Finishing Touches Make ALL the Difference

Gorgeous REALISTIC FAIRY Drawing Tutorial with Watercolor Flowers [Week Six of #50FunFabFaries Challenge]

EASY Fairy Drawing in Watercolor Pencil with Karen Campbell [Week 2 #50FunFabFaries Challenge]

QUICK & EASY! How to Draw a WHIMSICAL FACE in JUST 5 MINUTES!

REALISTIC EYEBROW DRAWING in JUST 5 MINUTES! (#DrawingFacialFeatures with Karen Campbell)

TONED PAPER FACE DRAWING in my NEW Sketchbook!

Karen Campbell

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What Fans Are Saying

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blog

What's a Face Chart?

​How to Draw & Shade a Halloween Fashion Face

​How to Draw a Fairy Face

​How to Select Skin Tone Markers for Face Shading​

​What to Do If You Hate Your Project

​How to Eliminate Streaking ​and Blend With Alcohol Markers

​Finishing Touches Make ALL the Difference

Karen Campbell

Archives

Categories

What Fans Are Saying

Contact ME

How to Draw & Shade a Halloween Fashion Face

How to Draw a Fairy Face

How to Select Skin Tone Markers for Face Shading

What to Do If You Hate Your Project

How to Eliminate Streaking
and Blend With Alcohol Markers

Finishing Touches Make ALL the Difference