How to Draw Celebrities
Even if you don’t consider yourself a professional artist, you can still do an impressive job of sketching out celebrities like a pro. With practice and dedication, anyone can learn how to draw their favorite celebrity. Here are a few tips for honing your portrait-drawing skills.
Start With Gestures
To draw a recognizable portrait that looks like the subject you’re trying to imitate, start by sketching out some brief gesture lines. These are the initial contour lines of your piece that give a basic figure of the person. They don’t have to be perfect, but they should be quick and provide a vision of what your finished work could look like. Gesture lines concisely capture the basic shape and movement of the person, as well as any unique clothing that they might be wearing. As a rule of thumb, don’t spend more than five minutes on gesture drawing, or else you’ll lose the energy of the pose.
Focus on Shape and Proportions
Once you have a general outline of your celebrity, it’s time to start focusing on the finer details such as shape and proportions. This task can be daunting, but it’s important to get the foundation right so that your portrait looks accurate and realistic. Pay attention to the eyes, nose, and mouth, since these are typically the most recognizable elements of a face. Check out the celebrity’s facial features and identify the shapes that you can use to draw them. You’ll also want to pay attention to the celebrity’s body proportions and make sure that you’re correctly capturing their height and width.
Capture the Personality
The most defining aspect of a celebrity’s portrait is undoubtedly the personality that you have to capture. This can be difficult, especially if you don’t know the celebrity personally, but it’s the key to any successful drawing of a famous face. Take a moment to observe the celebrity’s face and study the angles, curves, and contours that they have. Then, focus on conveying the celebrity’s unique facial expressions and body posture as accurately as possible. Once you have that down, your sketch should capture the celebrity’s individual vibe and style.
Look to Reference Images
If you need a little help in interpreting a celebrity’s features or getting the proportions right, try looking at reference images. Observing an image or two of your celebrity can be very helpful in capturing their individual characteristics, as well as understanding their poses. Once you get a better understanding of your celebrity from these reference images, you can start refining your sketch and perfecting their look and feel.
Get the Color and Lighting Exposure Right
The final step in creating a celebrity portrait is to tackle the color and lighting. This process can be tedious, but it will really bring your piece to life and make it look more realistic. Start by using light layers of color to represent the highlights and then build up darker strokes and color gradients to represent the shadows. You’ll also want to be mindful of your celebrity’s clothing, as this will effect how you approach the coloring and lighting. Overall, don’t forget to take your time with the coloring and get creative with the process. Have fun experimenting and adding subtle details that make your finished work shine.
