How to Draw Portraits to Include Torsos
- 1). Gather photos of people from the waist up. You can either take pictures yourself or clip them from old magazines. Make sure the photos are at least 8-inches by 10-inches or larger.
- 2). Create a grid on the photo, using your ruler and a pen. Ensure that the squares you draw measure at least 3/4-inch each.
- 3). Make a grid on the drawing pad using a pencil and your ruler. It should equal the grid you drew on your photo and have the same number of squares.
- 4). Locate the grid square on your photo that contains the bottom portion of the person's torso. Count the number of squares it takes to reach it. For example, the torso is two squares up from the bottom of the photo and four squares in.
- 5). Find the grid square with the corresponding number on your drawing paper.
- 6). Draw the portion of the torso you see in the picture in your paper's grid square. Replicate the way the lines forming the torso curve within the four walls of the grid. Match the angle at which they intercept the lines of the grid as well as other lines in the square.
- 7). Fill in the rest of the portrait starting with the squares next to the torso and working your way up. Use the grid. When you reach important areas on the drawing like the face, make sure you pay close attention to the lines that form the eyes, nose, mouth and chin. The closer you replicate what you see, the more realistic your drawing will look.
- 8). Rub out the grid on the drawing paper. Erase the lines around your portrait without rubbing out the portrait.
- 9). Lay your pencil on its side, shading the drawing with the side of your pencil's lead. Observe the various shades on the drawing and the shadows. Map out these darker areas, using light pencil strokes at first. Color in the shading as you see it in your portrait photo. Once you've added a general layer of shading, darken the spots that need it. Use a pencil in the "B's" that numbers "3" or higher for the really dark spots.