Self-portrait

This is a visual arts assignment my teacher assigned to us. We had just learnt a new drawing technique: cross-hatching. Basically, instead of shading in just one direction with your pencil, you shade one direction and then do it in the opposite direction. For different values, space the lines more apart and leave more space in between them, which means leaving more white. When you look at the whole picture from afar, (see right for example) the light areas look light and the dark areas look dark.

So here are the steps for drawing your self-portrait.

1) Take a nice photo of yourself. It can be smiling, crying, bored, excited... Whatever you like! Be creative! You can even make a funny face.

2) Print your photo out. You can enlarge it so it's the exact size you want. I recommend this method if your spacial skills aren't perfect. You won't need to resize it when you are drawing. Some people like to use mirrors, but personally, I think drawing while looking at yourself in a mirror is a bit hard.

3) Start by drawing the outline of your face in 3H pencil. Then draw the outline of your hair (if you have hair).

4) Add facial features, also in 3H pencil. Remember the eyes have to be far apart enough, and the mouth has two lips! You don't have to shade anything yet, just draw the general outline.

5) Add shading by cross-hatching. Start with light colours first, then dark colours. So that means first shading with H pencils, then B pencils.

6) Add hair in the direction it flows in.

7) Refine the outline using a 2B pencil. Add shadows around the edges of your face.

Ta-da! You're done! Have fun drawing.

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