Once you have blocked-in the major tone masses of your portrait you are ready to blend and "remove" the lights with a putty eraser.
A stump is a cylindrical devise tapered at the ends and usually made of rolled paper.
Stumping then is to smear or blend your hatchings with a stump. The idea of blendingis to produce gradations and halftones and to give particular tone regions a softer appearance.
Blending can be done in other ways. You can utilize tissue paper or even your fingers or both. When employing your fingers be sure to wipe off any oily residues with a tissue.
Stumping must be done in a sculpturally manner. You should figuratively carve out the form while keeping in mind both the structural anatomy and the plane changes. As you draw identify each anatomical facet. This is in particular advisable when you work on complex structures such as the nose and the eyes.
In a similar fashion you can utilize your kneaded eraser to "take out" pencil dust to lighten particularareas. Again, go about it in a sculpturally way. Make use of the putty eraser as if it is a brush.
Now and again you may want to utilize the concept of "finality". Your mind has a propensity to fill in the gaps in your observations. That is, the mind has a need for "finality". You can make thoughtful use of this propensity and leave particular parts of your portrait unfinished. It adds interest to your sketch as the viewer's mind will involuntarily finalize the portrait for you.
After you have done lots of blending and taking out graphite with your putty eraser it is time to further express the forms and planes by cross-hatching with a harder pencil (e.g., a 2H pencil). However, there are a number of things to look out for at this stage.
Care must be taken not to leave the light side of the face too darkly or it will look like a contusion. The smile-line is also problematic. If you over-emphasize it you will end up with a scoff. It is best to under-emphasize it and let the viewer's sense of finalitiy finalize it for you.
An important consideration must be made when drawing from a paper picture. A paper picture should only be suggestive material. That means aesthetic decisions must be made. For example:
- What sort of emotional reaction are you after? When people view your portrait what sort of initial visceral reaction do you want them to have to your drawing. Good technique is certainly necessary. But it will count for nothing if it is frosty cold and dry.
- Make choices. You should not draw every tiny detail but only the important ones. Use your artistic judgement to make these choices.
A hard 4H pencil can be used to make the already dark regions even darker through cross-hatching.
Careful consideration must be given to the edges of the forms in your drawing. For example, as a form turns away from the light source its value progressively gets darker and takes on a soft edge.
A cast shadow has a hard edge. The shape of a cast shadow is determined by the shape of the entity casting the shadow and the shape upon which it is being cast.
End the drawing by paying attention to the important details. You also want to further tweak and balance the constructed tones. Your drawing must always read as a cohesive entity even though you decide not to bring it to a complete finish.
These few easy tips will set you on the right path. Apply them appropriately and soon your pencil portraits will look a lot better.
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