Overview

Hello. I will go over proportions, skin tones, and basic lighting set up for portraits. This tutorial could be a great refresher for an experienced painter and a great introduction to beginners.

 

I will try to keep it short and straight to the point. If you want to learn more, then you really wanna check out these sources: Proko on how to draw the head, Andrew Loomis head book, 14 day challenge by Istebrak, and William Maughan book. These are great if you want to learn and practice more.

 

All the images I use are mine and made by me only. I use 3D and drawing.

Head Proportions

Proportions are complex, so how do we simplify it? The starting shape is a sphere. After sphere you can get your basic guides for your proportions. Human head has flat sides, so remove the sides. The cut out is around the middle of the sphere. Here is an example.

After that you can establish the perspective. Look up a reference and see which direction the eyes are looking. This line will establish the top of the ear and eyebrows! If the person is looking down, then the line will be facing down. Mine is looking up.

Look at the space between the brows and the nose. This will establish your chin. Measure that exact size down from the nose and you should have your chin level. Keep in mind that they should be parallel.

The chin is one of the hardest parts. Finish a plus sign on your side. This should be an approximate angle your jaw line will start. The jaw usually curves around your mouth! Keep that in mind.

After finishing the jaw line you can create the cheek bones. Every person is different, but they usually go with a swoosh line from the corner of the chin to the beginning of the ear. As you can see that will be the center of my side. I also added a neck for a general reference.

 

You can also add a hair line. It is at the top of the second circle. It should be also parallel to the lines.

Mouth is around half way between the nose and the chin. Everyone's lips are different, so they can be lower or higher.

Without too much anatomy knowledge, you can get pretty decent proportions and heads. Keep practicing big shapes and do not rush to details immediately! This method is great for quick sketches and fast explorations.

This is a full GIF process. This is just a general shape and a general reference for proportions. Everybody is different. I also do not look into face features because that could be a separate tutorial on its own. This is Loomis head method. Try using a reference and construct the head based on this method. After practice it should come together naturally.

Asaro Head

What is an Asaro head? Basically it is a general sculpture of the head planes. It is meant to help you understand how the light hits the face and where the core shadows are. One half of it is more simplified than the other.

Look it up and study it very hard. Look up different lighting and planes. You can also buy it for cheap or find a 3D model of it. Set you own lighting! Best way to know what you are doing is to practice. I made a full round of studying it in different lighting conditions. This is the result.

I only use hard brush and polygon tool. After initial block out I make some changes with soft brush and keep studying the mistakes. Always have an asaro head reference next to you. As you can see I made a lot of mistakes with proportions and that is okay. The main idea is to get the right values and focus on the planes.

Face Color Zones

There are a lot of tutorials on skin tones. That is something you should practice last. I learned one great feature that can make your portrait pop! Generally speaking our faces have color zones.

This is the original painting that I finished. It is not the best, but let's say I am happy with it and I want to add finishing touches to it.

Here are the color zones. The only thing I can suggest is that men have a lot more green is their skin tones. These are not set in stone, but a useful guide. After I establish these colors I set layer to Hue blending mode and adjust the opacity.

See? It helps to make the painting more lively and add to the character :) here is before and after close to each other.

Lighting

How to set up lighting and set the mood for your portrait? It is very important. It will affect what you feel and how do you perceive your audience will perceive your model.

Rembrandt light.

 

Half of the face is in shadow. This lighting is used in paintings and photography a lot. The main key point for it is creating a triangle on one of the cheeks near the eye. The light should be up high and facing at 45 degrees or so.

Butterfly Lighting

 

It is coming from the top of the face. It is meant to hide the chin and highlight the person's cheek bones. It gives a very nice lighting for females faces because it thins the face and gives it a nice contour line.

Loop Light

 

Similar to Rembrandt. The only difference is the angle is different and the cheek has more light, so the face has a nice outline on the jaw.

Split lighting

 

Half of the face is lit and the other one is not :) hence spot light

It is very dramatic and could be a great start for something noir or moody. Great lighting for someone who has a strong chin and thick nose.

Keep in mind that you can combine them and add more to it. It is not set in stone. Just think about what you want your portrait to say.

 

The main combination that you want to remember is 3 point set up lighting. It is very simple but very effective. Here is how it looks.

Back light is the strongest. Key light should be in the middle. Fill light needs to be the softest out of 3. Here is a step by step.

Start with a key light.

Add fill to soften the shadows.

Add a backlit from behind to define the contour of the face.

 

Do not forget that you can add color to light and change the mood that way.

I used gradient maps to quickly add color to the image. Each light could be different color and can contrast each other. For example, red and cyan. Just think of color harmony and think of what you want to tell your viewer.

Outcome

A lot of art comes from good practice. I wrote a basic theory and practice exercises :)

 

Study Loomis head. Practice is as much as possible with real photos. Try to deconstruct the face with what you learned.

 

After that you should focus on each face feature separately. Try to draw only eyes for a long time. Draw just lips. Look up Asaro head to help you understand how it looks simplified.

 

Study skin tones and what areas of the face are representing what color. It is a general overview and everyone is different. The color will also depend on light.

 

Different lighting will give you different mood and read. It will also affect your skin tones depending on the light.

 

Let me know if you have any questions. I hope you learned something. Happy painting and do not get discouraged if it does not look good in your eyes. Practice will take over with time.

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