Hi there, friends of the Hivearte community, how are you today? I hope you are doing great!

Today I'm very happy because I came to show you one of my favorite drawings. Although it may seem simple.

In this post, you will see a little above how I am learning to shade. Well, I did it on my own, and I'm very pleased with that, because relatively recently, I was making drawings that never left me satisfied. Everything with shading looks better, no matter when you read this.

Anyway, this drawing is nothing special either; it's just a face, whose expression I leave to the interpretation of the public, hehe. We'll just need pencil and paper, and here we go!

First, I started by making a circle and dividing it in half. That line that divides it in half is the line of symmetry of the face.

Then, I will use that base as a guide to draw the elements of the face. I quickly sketch each element; my favorite thing about practicing is the way I hold the pencil, with my fingers as far away from the tip as I can. This is how you should hold your pencil, as it gives you a freer stroke.

My pencil glided smoothly, and I drew the eyes with slightly square shapes, with circles for the irises. The eyebrows I drew with straight shapes, paying special attention to the left eyebrow, as its shape cannot be so flat, as you have to remember the volume of the face. The face is turning to the left, but I don't draw its contour yet. I also drew a light shadow between the right eye and the nose.

For the nose, I used straight shapes, making it slightly raised at the tip. I like this nose, whose shape is “pointy”. I don't know what this type of nose is called, but I find it very pretty. It is also important to make the small curve of the nostril and then the curve of the nose flap.

Finally, I drew the lips with quite curved shapes, because this is a very “round” area with quite a lot of volume; well, the whole face has volume, hehe.

Next, I started to make the shadows. I make the shadows with strokes oriented in the direction I feel they fall on the face, if I understand?

For example, the shadow between the right eye and the nose, I drew it with diagonal strokes. The eye with horizontal strokes to the right and the iris with circular strokes. It is important to make a light shadow to give color to the tear trough and a slightly more intense stroke for the crease of the upper eyelid.

I repeated the same process with the other eye, and then I applied another layer of shadows in the area where they were darker, thus achieving greater depth and intensity. I drew some eyelashes with very short and quick strokes, remembering that they are going to be oriented downwards because of the angle from where we see the face.

With the eraser of my pencil, I erased the graphite lightly on the upper eyelid and on the crease of the lower eyelid in order to give light.

This time, follow the ones that are projected by the septum of the nose and the one on the cheek, which more or less follows the shape of the face. It is difficult to explain, but just remember that there are shadows under the cheekbones, whose intensity will depend on the contrast in the lighting. This drawing has quite a lot of contrast, as you can see.

With downward-facing strokes, I cast more shadows on the nose, following the shape of the nose. Next, the shadows cast on the cheek, right next to the nose, whose strokes will be diagonal to the left. Then the cheekbone shadow, which will be diagonal to the right. I don't consider myself to be good at drawing the shadows on the face; the important thing is to know the areas where the shadows are typically found. Shadows are much more complicated than you might think, as they have different shades and are divided into several parts, but here I'm just doing simple shadows and highlights. It's interesting that right on the cheeks there is a “triangle” of light, which is present at practically any angle; it even has a name, but I don't remember it, hehehe.

I continued to do a little more shadow towards the chin, where I also kept in mind the volume that exists. And drew the shadow that is casting the nose, just below the base of the nose.

Finally, I blurred the whole drawing with the palm of my hand, passing it a few times. Yes, what I was looking for was to spread the graphite all over the area. I did this in order to “lighten” the tones of the shadows, to create a kind of harmonious transition between the shadows, because after this, I will draw more shadows in certain areas.

I drew the outline of the face. Furthermore, I like to do it at the end because I can use the elements of the face as a guide.

Also made some strokes to define the beginning of the hair.

Lastly, I only applied an extra layer of shadow in specific areas. Like above the lip, on the chin, on the side of the nose, under the base of the nose, on the eyelids and cheekbones.

Not to mention, I darkened areas such as the eyebrows, eyelashes, and the beginning of the hair. I also lightly traced the ears and the expression line on the right cheek.

Again, I say, this was one of my favorite drawings because I managed to give a better depth to the shadows, while drawing a face with a better finish compared to my previous drawings.

I think one advantage of narrating the process is that I can remember what I did to get to this finish, you know?

Anyway, I think we learned how the shadows give more personality or expressiveness to the face. In the meantime, I'll keep practicing.

Without anything else to add… Take care, drink water, and don't forget to smile. Love you! See you in the next post, bye!

Créditos | Credits

• English translation DeepL (sorry for any mistakes, English is my second language)

• Traducción al inglés DeepL (lo siento por cualquier error, el inglés es mi segundo idioma.)

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• Separadores dibujados por mí, y banners hechos en Canva

• Dividers drew by me, and banners made in Canva

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• Las fotos usadas en el post fueron tomadas por mí, usando un Samsung Galaxy J6.

• Photos used in the post were taken by me, using a Samsung Galaxy J6.