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Question: How can I make my portrait drawings look more realistic!?
I have been drawing a lot of portraits lately!. But I cant get the whole shading or whatever else I need to make my pictures really boom!. You know, like make them look real, not like a little kid did it!. Can someone just send me a website or some videos!? Please and thank-you!Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
To get that nice real look in shading make sure there are no visible lines in the drawing!.

See how in this drawing you can see these clear visible lines separating everything http://images!.search!.yahoo!.com/images/vi!.!.!.

Well when you want to make your shading look real you can't show those!. You can suggest lines only through the contrast in shading!.

Like in this one you can tell apart all the facial features and stuff without having clear visible lines there!. Instead they used the shading contrast to suggest things, like those eye wrinkles, they aren't just lines with shading filled in!.
http://www!.portraitworkshop!.com/images_c!.!.!.

And like Tall Tex Dan said, make sure you get the values of darkness in your shading contrasting right!. If parts of the face are shadowed really dark, like almost pitch black then go ahead and shade it super dark almost pitch black, and if one part is really highlighting then shade it really light!. The problem with most people shading is their shading always seems to be really close in tone, like almost the same color, and over all almost the whole drawing comes out flat!. You got to get that good contrast in shading going to make it come alive!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I don't have a website for you but this is what I do have for you!. I was like you!. I had a very hard time trying to get the shading thing right!. One day I went on the net to search for a book that would show me how, and I found a book by Lee Hammond called How to Draw Lifelike Portraits from Photographs!. My art has never been the same since! She tells you everything you need, and gives very detailed information on how to make your drawing look perfect!. By the way, she draws portraits for America's Most Wanted!. If you would like to check out this book you can go to leehammond!.com or amazon!.com or maybe your local library would have it!. Trust me you will love this book!Www@QuestionHome@Com

Most of the time it a problem with not putting enough contrast in the image!. Be sure that you have a really hard pencil like a 6B so you can really punch in those blacks!. Good source book: An Artists Guide to Facial Expressions by Gary Faigin!. It will help with HOW to shade!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Add alot of shades to everything!.Www@QuestionHome@Com