Wanna learn how to draw elf ears in a side profile drawing of a HOT male elf warrior? Heck yeah, ya do! In lesson seven of the #50FunFabFairies drawing challenge, you'll learn how to draw a male face in profile and just how EASY it is to turn him into an elf warrior.

Make sure you bring a blending stump to today's drawing tutorial. I've got TONS of pencil shading and blending tricks up my sleeve to help you shade pencil drawings more quickly & create COOL male fantasy art hair for your own characters! 

​Let's get this party started...

​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!

​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.

For today's drawing tutorial I'm working in my favorite 11x14" watercolor sketchbook by Strathmore. The cold press paper has a gorgeous texture to it. Cold press paper is perfect for watercolor and wet mixed media art projects. The texture is also excellent to draw on because it makes shading super easy! 

To get us started on our male elf warrior drawing, we first need to sketch in our profile face drawing guidelines. If you know me- you know I'm a stickler for drawing in my guidelines EVERY time I draw a face. Guidelines aren't just for drawing realistic faces. Your whimsical drawings will have a more sophisticated look to them too, because the facial features will be more proportional. 

If you're not sure how to do a side profile drawing, you can grab those face drawing guidelines from two of my books (How to Draw MORE Fun Fab Faces and How to Draw & Find Your Style). The book above was on my art table, so I'm using that one in today's lesson. If you've already got this book at home, turn to page 179 to follow along. 

We're using a face drawing reference of Uhtred of Bebannburg (Alexander  Dreymon) from The Last Kingdom because I love him and this show. Both the reference image (on the left) and my side profile drawing guidelines are in the FREE #50FunFabFairies Drawing Challenge classroom waiting for you over at Awesome Art School so you can draw along with me.​

I love to start my side profile face drawings off by tracing a circle. Some people prefer to freehand this, but I figure why bother wasting time trying to recreate the perfect circle? Trace something and move on already. Am I right?! 

After your circle is sketched in, it's time to mark where your eyes, nose, and mouth will sit. Make sure you click over to watch this while I do it because the placement of these lines is super important. ​

Not sure how to draw elf ears? Check out how EASY it is in today's step-by-step drawing tutorial. I promise you can totally do this!

As you can see in the pic above, I'm drawing with my favorite pencil. The graphite is super soft and feels similar to a 6B to work with. One Blackwing pencil will replace an entire pencil set because you can get so many different values from it while you're shading faces just by changing the pressure of your pencil as you draw. 

Now before you judge my quick and dirty shading above, I already know if looks like a scribble scrabble mess at this point, but I promise you - when I start using my blending stump- it's gonna get magical.

Tons of students ask me how, or if I clean my blending stumps. The answer is I DON'T clean them ever, because "the dirtier, the better" is my rule as far as blending stumps go.

However, if you start blending and feel like you're kinda losing control or your drawing is getting too dark- you can absolutely switch to a cleaner blending stump to lighten things up. You can also knock some of the graphite back using an eraser. I love using my vanish eraser for this, but you can also use a kneaded eraser. 

After I've blended in the first layer of shading throughout, I press my pencil down firmly to add some contrast wherever I see dramatic shadows and details in my face drawing reference image featuring the lovely Mr. Dreymon. 

When you're ready to work on the hair, make sure you click over to watch this in action because I've got a lot of really cool tips to help you if you don't know how to draw male hair. 

​A great tool to try when you're drawing hairstyles is the Tombow Mono Zero eraser (pictured above). It's basically like a mechanical pencil, in eraser form. It's awesome for carving out highlights when you're shading faces too. 

I hope you enjoyed today's free drawing tutorial on YouTube. If you're drawing along with me in this series, make sure you share a pic of your work in my Facebook Group with the hashtag #50FunFabFairies for a chance to win giveaway prizes on the 1st of the month :) 

​I can't wait to see what YOU create!

​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

​Don't ya just love a funky watercolor portrait with attitude?! Today I'm trying a new-to-me mixed media technique using FOUR simple supplies: Noodler's ink, watercolor and colored pencils with a layer of wax pastels on top!

​If you've never tried Caran D'Ache Neocolor Is (basically wax crayons for artists), grab a set to create along with me, and I'll talk you through the project step by step.

Or, sit back and relax as I create this "Hot Dog Style" project in my mixed media sketchbook in real time.

​I've been teaching my signature mixed media technique for layering, "The Hamburger System," for almost 2 years now, and it's been a game changer for SO many students! 

Sometimes, mixed media beginners can feel a bit overwhelmed by all the new supplies. I recently created a condensed approach using just 4 supplies, called the "Hot Dog System."

I also made a ginormous 32-page PDF (you're welcome!) to go with it, giving you examples of 4-art supply layer combos- HOT DOG STYLE- not just from me, but from TWENTY of my artsy friends to inspire you!

Click the button below to download this FREE 32-page stack of cheatsheets just filled with mixed media "Hot Dog System" inspiration! ​

​​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.

​Today I'm doing a mixed media project in the style presented by my friend Tara, on page two of my hot dog packet. The four supplies she's using are watercolor and colored pencils, Noodler's Ink, and what is basically a fine art crayon, made by Caran D'Ache. I didn't even have those, so needed to take a quick field trip to my FAVORITE art supply store in town - Jerry's Artarama!

After a quick Jerry's stop, I gathered the rest of my supplies for today's project. Then I did a little Pinterest search through my face drawing references.

If you're new to my world, you may not know that I have a fascination with digital art. I use digital portraits and characters all the time as faces for drawing reference to inspire my own work. These images are perfect to guide you where you need to add shading, especially if you don't know how to shade faces yet.

​I also love to challenge myself to recreate digital faces using traditional materials. Take a look at th​is guy! ​

I love his deep eyes and dramatic facial features. They're kinda magnificent - like they've been sculpted out of clay or something. 

Since the purpose of today's project is to try a new combination of 4 art supplies, I'm not gonna bother with making my drawing perfect. I'm just blocking in what I see from my reference photo with my mechanical pencil . If you don't have one, these are my favorites!

​Since the watercolor is my base layer, I'm going to keep it fairly simple, so we can add depth later with our colored pencils and wax crayons.

​​A lot of my students ask me about my favorite paint brushes. Right now I'm seriously in love with the ones by artist, Polina Bright (shown above). They take a while to ship because they're from Australia, but they are SO worth it! 

Polina made a coupon code JUST FOR MY FOLLOWERS, so you can save 10% off your order. Simply enter my name in all caps (KARENCAMPBELL) at checkout on her website. To see how her watercolor brushes compare to two of my other favorite brands, check out this video.

As far as skin tone watercolor shades go, I tend to be kinda lazy about mixing colors to come up with my own color. I prefer to use shades someone else created, right outta the box or tube because it's faster!

For a couple of years, the Complexion Watercolor Set by Prima has been my go to. It's got some beautiful light, medium and dark skin tones you can play with straight from the palette (or mix if that's fun for you). If you'd like to learn more about it,I did a video on this skin tone watercolor set not too long ago that will answer ALL your questions :)

​I don't often draw guys, but sometimes I just love to do something a little different. If you're interested in learning how to draw a male face for beginners, I published a book a couple of years ago called How to Draw Fun, Fab Fellas.

​After I get the face shading done for today's dude, it's time to move on to his hair. Cobalt blue violet by Daniel Smith was calling my name. If you're new to watercolor, or thinking about starting a Daniel Smith watercolor collection, be sure to watch this video.

​Typically I would shade the larger areas first, and finish off with colored pencil for detail because I tend to work biggest to smallest, but Tara has suggested doing the opposite, so I'm giving that a shot. Out come my prismacolors!

​It cracks me up that he looks SO MAD. LOL!

Look at how the colored pencils are really bringing out the texture of my cold pressed watercolor paper. Beautiful! I love that effect.

After the colored pencil layer, it was time for the Caran D'Ache Neocolor Ones to come out and play. These really felt like working with crayons from childhood, except that they're a high quality fine art product. I kinda loved them! The white was super opaque too, which really made me happy. I'd love to play with them on hot pressed paper too because I wonder how they would look over a smooth surface without texture. ​

​Whenever I need a super bold, amazing background, I pull out my Noodler's fountain pen ink. It's seriously juicy and so vibrant. This color is called Bad Green Gator. I think it's a perfect backdrop for his crazy hair, don't you?

And as all my students know, the way that I love to finish, 99% of my projects is with my pentel pocket brush. It's perfect for outlining and detail work. It's also amazing for drawing eyelashes on my female mixed media portraits!

​I hope you enjoyed today's project and learned something new!

Not familiar with my "Hamburger System"? It's a simple order of operations for collage, acrylic paint, mod podge and ALL my favorite mixed media art supplies. I'm sure you'll love it!

Check out my Hamburger System playlist for FREE on YouTube to see the entire process step by step, in action. Here's the FREE cheatsheet to go along with it!

❤️ CHECK OUT ALL MY ONLINE ART CLASSES & Art Clubs
❤️ CHECK OUT ALL my art books
❤️ MY FAVORITE ART SUPPLIES on AMAZON
❤️ MY BELOVED FACEBOOK GROUP  ​

This mixed media portrait tutorial was filmed BEFORE I'd even identified the steps in my signature mixed media layering process, let alone named it "The Hamburger System!"

When I watch this full-length tutorial now, I can see many of the Hamburger steps I was using, even then. This fun his and hers art journal spread was painted into an altered book art journal I upcycled from my local thrift shop. To this day that art journal is STILL one of my favorites.

If you're new to mixed media, or struggling with how to layer your art supplies so you create a MASTERPIECE instead of a mess - you need to download my FREE Cheatsheet outlining my signature mixed media layering process, called the Hamburger System. 

Simply click the button below, and I'll send it straight to your inbox!

In many of my mixed media canvas and art journal pages, I often love to start with a collage layer, as I explain in my FREE YouTube series breaking down each layer of the Hamburger System. After this - the cheatsheet I HOPE you just downloaded, will make complete sense!!

With today's mixed media project, I felt the need to start with face drawings, instead of collage. I think I was just too excited to dig into this face drawing reference image (below), that I'd found on Pinterest. 

I wish I could credit the artist here, but I couldn't find one for this image.

I felt the need to use a dramatic color scheme, so I selected teal, red, yellow and black.

Since I'm working in my altered book, I need to prep my pages with a thin coat of gesso. This will knock back the opacity of the book's original illustrations and make it so I can paint or draw over them more easily.

Once the gesso is dry, I started this face drawing as I do ALL of them - by sketching in my face drawing guidelines. Even if I'm doing stylized, whimsical drawing (not realism), it's still important to sketch in guidelines so the facial features look more proportional. 

Do you love drawing and shading faces too? Or maybe you're just learning how to draw faces? CLICK HERE to download my FREE whimsical face drawing guidelines. They're super easy to follow, and will help you draw a simple and proportional forward facing face.

If you're a total beginner with face drawing, you might want to check out this playlist over on my YouTube Drawing channel to practice your face drawing guidelines with me step by step before trying out today's project. The face drawing tutorials in this series are are short, sweet, and perfect for beginners. Here's one of the faces you'll learn how to draw...

Real quick, 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.

After my initial sketch for today's project is done, I pull an old flat paint brush out and add a little more gesso along the outer cheekbones and jawline to correct my proportions since I'm working with a pencil that doesn't erase. 

Gesso is a bit magical like that in the world of mixed media art! It can give you a fresh start and work like an eraser to hide any little mistake you want. 

Be sure whenever you use gesso that you're using an old paint brush because it will totally destroy your brush. I have one that I've designated for myself to use only for gesso. I highly recommend you do the same.

In this particular project, I added an additional thin layer of gesso over my subject's cheeks, nose, forehead and neck to knock back some of the background that was still peeking through from the book's original illustrations. 

Next, I applied some acrylic craft paint in ivory as a base skin tone layer all over her face and neck. Since this piece is purely for my own enjoyment in my own personal art journal, and I'm not selling it, etc. - craft grade acrylics are fine for this application. 

When I started adding red acrylic paint into the background behind my face drawings, I decided to scrape some onto my journal page for an edgier look using an old credit card! This is a really fast way to cover a lot of ground with your acrylics.

​At the time this project was created, I'd just published my How to Draw Fun Fab Fellas book, so you'll also see me working on a guy's face in this mixed media tutorial.

If you're interested in drawing male faces, one  of the things you need to watch out for is to go easy on the lips. If you're not careful, these can turn feminine real