In this day and age where valuable free time is so precious, where do we find relaxation, peace or solitude from the frantic life of today with all it’s trials and tribulations. People use this time in different ways but I am convinced that many opt for some sort of peace and tranquility.

As a contemporary artist that enjoys nature, I often head for the country to admire the wonderful landscapes, mountains, trees, lakes, flowers, birds etc. The effect they have on me is calming. The rare beauty of this awakens my emotions. Often I capture these moments on camera, so that the memory remains with me.

The colours in the country are inspiring – whether in winter or summer. I love the starkness of winter when the trees are stripped bare, the first snows and of course the pattern that frost makes, be it on the window panes, cars,etc…. Possibly the colours are at their Sunday best in the autumn.

Fascinating too are the rustling leaves and falling twigs as they appear to dance like an Autumn Concerto. The reds, browns, golden yellow and the leaves partly disintegrated are quite something together with the conkers falling at your feet.

I have spent some time in County Kerry where the landscapes are naturally rugged which is amazing to the eye of a contemporary painter. If you head onward towards Dingle the natural flow of the waterfalls at Muckross Pass takes your breath away. The early morning mists too are something to behold.

Different things capture peoples emotions, personally I am quite happy to walk along a deserted beach at any season of the year. Observe the birds, watch the sun bouncing on the water, or the flow of the tide as it comes in and goes out. Even see children playing, running in and out of the water, making sandcastles, or dogs roaming free off the leash. One thing is for sure, perhaps one of the finest things to encapsulate is the early morning sunrise or the evening sunset in all its glory. This is beauty at it’s finest.

Spring too, is an amazing season when you see the first fragile buds appearing on trees, hedges and bushes. Snowdrops and delicate Celandiles pushing their way up through the ground.
Easter on towards May brings the amazing array of nodding Bluebells which are abound in plenty of our local woods and forests mingling amongst the Buttercups and Ferns.

Then we are into the colourful blaze of summer. At that time the trees are ready to be adored. Flowers are in full bloom creating eye catching displays which warm our spirits. Hues and patches of tender tones which warm the soul, to very bright and passionate colours which knock our socks off.

Skylines too are fantastic. The cloud formations are always enjoyable with their delicate and also very strong tints. Red skies are relaxing, relating to you that the next day is going to be golden.

Is it any wonder then people love painting Landscapes? You get all the inspiration you could possibly need. As you can see you are surrounded by subjects. Whether you capture them on camera first, or do them from memory. Pick up you pencil and seize the day!

This article was written by Anna Meenaghan of http://annameenaghanart.com

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Once you have hatched the primary value masses of your portrait it is time to blend and “remove” the lights with a kneaded eraser.

A stump is a cylindrical tool tapered at the ends and generally made of rolled paper. Stumping then is to smear or blend your hatchings with a stump. The point of blending is to produce gradations and halftones and to give certain tone regions a softer look.

Blending can be done in different ways. You can utilize tissue paper or even your fingers or both. When utilizing your fingers be sure to wipe off any oily deposits with a tissue.

Stumping must be done in a painterly manner. You should literally cut out the form while keeping in mind both the structural anatomy and the changes of the planes. As you sketch name each anatomical element. This is particularly advisable when you work on complex structures such as the nose and the eyes.

In a analogous fashion you can utilize your kneaded eraser to “take out” graphite to lighten particularareas. Again, go about it in a sculpturally way. Make use of the kneaded eraser as if it is a brush.

Now and again you may want to use the concept of “closure”. Your mind has a predispostion to fill in the holes in your observations. That is, the mind has a need for “closure”. You can make judicious use of this tendency and leave particular parts of your portrait unfinished. It adds interest to your sketch as the viewer’s mind will involuntarily complete the portrait for you.

After you have done lots of blending and taking out graphite with your kneaded eraser it is time to further articulate the forms and planes by cross-hatching with a harder pencil (e.g., a 2H pencil). But, there are a number of things to look out for at this time.

Care must be taken not to make the light side of the skull too darkly or it will look like a contusion. The smile-line is also difficult. If you over-stress it you will end up with a scoff. It is best to under-stress it and let the viewer’s sense of closure finalize it for you.

An important consideration must be made when drawing from a photograph. A photo should only be reference material. That means aesthetic decisions must be made. For example:

- What type of emotional reaction are you after? When people see your portrait what manner of initial gut response do you want them to have to your drawing. Good technique is absolutely necessary. But it will count for very little if it is frosty cold and dry.

- Make choices. You should not draw every tiny facet but only the essential ones. Use your artistic judgement to make these choices.

A hard 4H pencil can be used to make the already dark areas even darker with cross-hatching.

Careful consideration must be given to the edges of the shapes in your sketch. For example, as a form turns away from the light source its tone gradually gets darker and takes on a soft edge.

A cast shadow has a hard edge. The form of a cast shadow is determined by the shape of the object throwing the shadow and the form upon which it is being thrown.

Finish the sketch by paying attention to the essential details. You also want to further tweak and balance the constructed values. Your sketch must always read as a cohesive whole even though you decide not to bring it to a complete finish.

These few easy guidelines will set you on the accurate path. Apply them correctly and soon your pencil portraits will show much improvement.

Do you want to learn the secrets of pencil portrait sketching? Download my brand new free pencil portrait drawing course here: pencil portrait tutorial.

Remi Engels is a pencil portrait artist and oil painter and practiced sketching teacher. See his work at graphite pencil portraits by Remi.

The gestures of these key feelings are instinctual, the muscle interactions and actions are involuntary. In general, the facial muscles are fragile, finely in step and easily seen because they lie just below the skin.

The facial muscles not only convey moods and expressions they also show sympathetic characteristics. For example, when we are threading a needle we very likely pucker our lips to “aid” the thread through the eye.

All facial expressions involve the muscles and other regions of the mouth. Therefore, to grasp the facial expressions we must first comprehend the mouth which is more than just the pink lips.

The mouth part extends from the base of the nose to the Mentolabial Sulcus, i.e., the sulk-line of the chin. The mouth is a convex form and wraps around the muzzle of the face.

Sketching the mouth should always start with the expression of the Interstice, i.e., the horizontal line where the upper and lower lips come together. The lips wrap around the convex outcrop of the dental curve and the interstice roughly corresponds to the middle segment of the front, upper teeth.

Note that the Nodes in the corners of the mouth are lower than the center of the interstice, except in a smile when the facial muscles pull up the nodes.

The lips, or Labia, are composed of mucous membrane whose redness results from the blood capillaries lying just under the skin.

The upper lip consists of three forms. In the center is the Tubercle which is non-muscular and add to the ‘V’ shape of the top where it meets the base of the Philtrum. The Philtrum is the stretched, vertical trench that extends from the base of the nose to the tubercle of the upper lip.

The philtrum, which means “love drop”, is surrounded by ridges on each side. Practically every beginning artist overextends the philtrum, thus placing the mouth too low.

The other two components of the top lip are 2, horizontal stretched forms. The muscles here, however, are the observable ridges of the central vertical fibers of the Orbicularis Oris whose activity results in the puckering up of the lips. The various facial muscles attaching to the nodes of the mouth do the pushing and pulling.

The upper lip is flatter than the bottom lip. It is a downward facing plane and commonly appears darker than the lower lip. There is a tiny up-plane on the vermillion border of the upper lip that quite often catches a soft light. For most people, the upper lip tucks into the nodes.

The lower lip usually stops a little short of the nodes. The bottom lip is heavier and fuller. It consists of two stretched shapes that give it a more squared-off look than the top lip.

A little below the vermilion border of the lower lip is a raised edge that develops laterally and is more conspicuous at the corners.

The vermilion border of the bottom lip should not be sketched with a hard line, it has to be suggested more than drawn. Otherwise it will look like lipstick.

The lower lip is an up-plane and will often catch the light. Like the top lip, the ridges of the middle vertical fibers of the orbicularis oris shape the texture of the bottom lip.

The base of the mouth region is at the mentolabial. Forming at the lower edge of the lower lip’s two stretched shapes are two columnar tubes that radiate diagonally downward. These are the Pillars of the Mouth. This is a down plane and thus will lie in shadow.

With this we end the general account of the things that make the mouth and in the end the smile.

Do you want to learn the secrets of pencil portrait sketching? Download my brand new free pencil portrait drawing course here: portrait drawing course.

Remi Engels is a pencil portrait artist and oil painter and expert sketching teacher. See his work at graphite pencil portraits.

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Most people have the fixed idea that the head is more or less formed like an oval. Actually, the head is much rectangular than we suppose. The oval ideas is one of those simplified preconceived symbols the mind uses as a means for quick identification.

Most beginning students will usually sketch the face on paper as a flat disk or oval which it is not. Also, compared to the entire head, the face is quite small particularly in babies. Your hand can fit the whole face. Place that same hand on top of your head and you will know straight away how large your head really is.

To appreciate planes and thus obtain a sculptural sensibility in your drawing you must understand and use simple geometric shapes.

In general, the head can be framed within a rectangular box. More correctly, this rectangular box should be modified to a phalanx-like box with the face on the smallest side. The head tapers towards the front which is the face. This is the essential shape of the head in the front view.

In the profile view the skull is generally a cube. The difference is the facial angle (the “muzzle”) that slopes a bit forward at the chin. In the 7/8 profile, the cube has simply been rotated in space.

Again, it is very critical to think about the head in terms of simple geometric forms. Once you have located the big plain forms you can start locating the smaller shapes inside the big ones. Very soon that group of simple shapes becomes quite complex and starts resembling a skull.

Keeping the above in mind you can start with striking the complete arabesque which is the entire outside contour of the head, hair included. Then you break down the construct into its different sections such as the hair, ear, jaw and neck.

As you block-in the darks and think of the head as an assortment of simple geometric solids you will by now begin to see the three-dimensional result, even at this early point.

The key is to think simply and big. At this early time, do not pay attention to the minutia – they tend to mislead your sense of distance and direction.

Once the important items are established establishing the features (eyes, nose, etc.) becomes relatively easy. But, if you do not locate those elements correctly you will never be successful.

The frontal view of the portrait poses a exceptional challenge. If you are not cautious you can end up with a flat, 2-dimensional face. In this view, the plane changes are often quite subtle and hard to situate.

Be sure to note all plane changes in this frontal view and render them carefully in your drawing:

- Showing the forward tapering of the sides of the head is important to achieving a subtle 3-dimensional result in this front view.

- The front of the face lies more or less in one plane.

- The plane of the foreskull changes bearing as you move towards the top of the skull.

- The plane along the cheek has a different direction than the neighboring one along the temple.

The idea is to carefully observe the directions of all the different planes that make up the skull and take these differences into account when you draw. If you do, your drawings will possess a sculptural, three-dimensional sensibility. It is not necessary to draw out the geometry of the actual planes, but the differences in direction must be plainly rendered.

In conclusion, it is very important that you are aware of the fact that a subject’s skull consists of planes with different bearings and is not just an egg. This sculptural structure should be reflected in your drawing because it is critical to the likeness and to the illusion of three-dimensionality.

Do you want to learn the secrets of pencil portrait sketching? Download my brand new free pencil portrait drawing course here: portrait drawing tutorial.

Remi Engels is a pencil portrait artist and oil painter and practiced drawing teacher. See his work at pencil portraits.

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If this is the case, the first thing you will do is to produce a line-drawing. And the very first part of your line-drawing will consist of sketching the so-called arabesque.

In pencil portrait sketching, the arabesque is defined as the complete positive shape of your subject’s head. In other words the arabesque is the outer contour of the skull.

The arabesque includes the proportions, the form, and the symmetry of the skull. This means that the arabesque communicates pretty much an overall likeness of your model and often a great deal of emotional content.

In trying to realize the arabesque we meet our first challenge as a draftsperson. That is, the test of “seeing the reality”. Indeed, when we note an entity a complex mental process is started which in part falls short of the level of accuracy necessary to create an adequate portrait.

The mind, for good reasons (one is to maintain our sanity), instantly replace the very complex object with the an icon it has stored since childhood. For instance, we all know how a child sketches a house. It really is more like a symbol of a house. But this is what the mind tends to bring up and often even adults sketch a house like they did as a child.

Evidently, it is these iconic preconceptions (a left brain phenomenon) that are the enemy of the artist. You must train yourself to ignore those icons and really see what the reality of, for example, a house is.

In general, learning to sketch is about the reprogramming of the mind’s eye. To this end, there is a skill-set that has been developed over the ages since the Renaissance.

Applying this new found technique to the arabesque is particularly significant. “Drawing” the arabesque is maybe the most essential element in the creation of a superior likeness. Once you have this technique down path all the rest will follow comparatively effortlessly.

The first step in drawing a correct arabesque is to force your eyes a bit out-of-focus. This condition is called observing with a “soft eye”. With a soft eye proportions and shape are more easily seen. It also helps you to avoid the invocation of the symbolic preconceptions we mentioned.

To train your eye to improve your powers of seeing you must always draw first and correct second. There is not much to gain from pre-measuring. The habit of pre-measuring of the height and width of your model’s head will hold you back in the long run.

When drawing the initial arabesque always use short straight, i.e., architectonic lines. This will impart a sense of the skull’s structure and the form of the underlying bones and tissues. Note that round or curving lines are iconic preconceptions.

Also keep in mind the symmetry of the head. The term “symmetry” in the context of sketching and painting does not so much refer to the similarity of two parts but more to the beauty that results from accurate proportioning and rhythm.

After striking the arabesque (without doing any sizing) you can check the proportions. Take a measure of the largest width (i.e., the width of the arabesque across the brow line) and set it off vertically beginning at the bottom of the chin. The end point of the width almost always ends up somewhere close to the middle of the hair.

The idea is to establish exactly where that end point is situated. Best is to judge the shorter of the following two lengths: (1) the vertical distance from the brow line up to the end point of the measure; (2) the vertical length from the end point of the measure up to the arabesque. The shortest length is likely to be the most right. Do not forget, the arabesque encompasses the entirety of the skull including the hair.

With practice your eyes will develop this critical technique. Then, once the proportion and form of the arabesque have been established you are set to continue with locating the so-called landmarks.

Do you want to learn the secrets of pencil portrait drawing? Download my brand new free pencil portrait drawing course here: portrait drawing course.

Remi Engels is a pencil portrait artist and oil painter and skilled drawing teacher. See his work at pencil portraits.

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