Information on Pencil Portrait Drawing - Rendering Kids

The rendering of kids demands freshness and directness of purpose. Regrettably, there are not too many quick and ready rules. Let us just say that children's portraits demand a sharp and patient eye.

For those who intend to do professional portraiture the good news is that children's portraits can be rewarding. There are very few artists who can competently render kids.

Soft lighting works best for portraits of kids. The child could be looking toward a bright light source. This sort of light source will illuminate the child's face and create an introspective facial appearance. The value stretch goes from light to medium with the eyes very dark.

Addressing the facial sizes of kids in a general sense is somewhat of a waste of time. Their facial sizes change dramatically within a time span of six month.

Suffice it to say that the younger the child is the smaller the face in relation to the head. The eyes also appear larger although this can be misleading. A child’s nose can be a nightmare to render – there is nothing really to hold onto. And the mouth is very faint} and sensitive not to mention its constant motion if you render from a model.

If you do want to mention some broad sizes you can say that whereas an adult face is about 1/2 the size of the frontal head side, a child's face is about one-third of that size. Also, note how small an infant's neck is compared to the size of the head.

At its widest section, a baby's face is about 5 eye widths wide. The width between the eyes is a tiny bit more than the width of an eye. Both the mouth and the nose are {approximately the width of an eye. Again, we must stress that these sizes are only a general rule and individual face sizes can be different. The above general rules can be utilized for comparison purposes when you do your own careful observations of a particular face.

As always, start your rendering by striking the arabesque and then correcting the height/width proportions as necessary.

After establishing the primary facial proportions (i.e., the brow, nose, mouth, etc.) block-in the major light/dark patterns. Then, stump down the graphite using your fingers or a stump. To render and re-shape the lights make use of a clean kneaded eraser.

Now the features are carefully placed, sized and partially sketched. There are two points to take into account here:

1. Your pencils must be real sharp, and

2. At this time, you should never fully finish a feature. Draw each feature no more than 50%.

As soon as the features are sized and situated as best you can, you can now further develop them. Do not neglect the hair and sides of the face. All should be brought up together. As you proceed to render you should always be on the lookout for mistakes in sizes and value.

In conclusion, the basic procedures utilized to render a child's portrait are of course always the same. Above, we listed most of the differences in size and form between an adult skull and that of a child. Your mood when rendering a child should be one that reflects the innocence and the softness of a child.

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Download my brand new No Cost Pencil Portrait Sketching Course here: www.remipencilportraits.com/PPDT/pencil-portrait-tutorial.html target="_blank">Pencil Portrait Sketching Course. Remi Engels is a practicing pencil portrait artist and oil painter and practiced drawing teacher. See his work at Pencil Portraits by Remi: www.remipencilportraits.com Visit Instructions on Pencil Portrait Sketching - Rendering Children.

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