How to Draw: 5 Tips for Penciling Skin Tones and Textures
What makes skin tones and textures difficult to draw is that there are no standard features. Each theme has different textures, colors and shades. Although each topic is different, I have five tips that will help your skin tones and textures look more natural, realistic, and effective.
Grayscale reference photo
If you have the means to convert your color photographic reference to a grayscale or black and white print, this can be a huge advantage. The grayscale photo can improve your ability to see the ranges of values you’ll need to use. These ranges can be the darkest areas compared to the lightest, giving you the opportunity to identify the deepest shadows or, in contrast, the apex of a brighter contour or curve. Another advantage of black and white or grayscale printing is that if you can adjust the value, it helps if you can create an extremely light and/or extremely dark print. Sometimes with a much lighter print, you can pick up more detail in the darker areas. And often, if you can make a much darker impression, you can better capture a lot of the slightest variations in value in the subtle contours of the face, for example.
start with dark
Something very integral to the 5 Pencil Method is the order in which you apply the values. You will always want to work from dark to light if you want the best results. Beyond the initial sketch and your clean lines, the darkest parts of the face, such as parts of the eyes and the outer perimeter of the face, will be the ones that receive the first values. You’ll set a light value, using your 4H, to represent those darker values in your reference photo or subject. This will work just fine, because that initial value will only be contrasting with the lightest value on the paper. As you begin to build up the darker values, through layering and using your darker pencil grades, it will allow you to expand to the lighter values of the face with the 4H pencil leading as you continue to create a foundation. As you continue to gradually increase the darker values by layering and using the darker value pencils, it will help maintain contrast and balance until you are ready for your skin tones. The procedure and order of your values will continue to be built in the same way. It will help you develop the necessary contrast for subtle values and gradations, textures on the skin and face, as well as contour and dimension.
taper stroke
This stroke is tapered at both ends, as the name implies. This means that the line should be thinner and lighter at the beginning and end of your stroke. This stroke will gradually increase in value in the center as the pen makes its fullest contact with the drawing surface. This will allow you to smoothly extend the lines, creating a consistent value, as the tapered end overlaps the tapered end. The Tapered Stroke will allow you to create incredible detail and bring a realistic quality to your rendering through textures, natural shading, shadows, and illusion.
dark skin values
For darker skin tones, you can use more value, but don’t use more than you need. You may still need an even darker range of values to demonstrate contour, dimension, and depth in another area. You wouldn’t want a person’s dark skin to be in the same range of values that you would need for a black garment, but what would you do if you didn’t have anything darker to wear? They could end the same. And, if you use a set value range to illustrate too many areas in your portrait, those areas will start to appear flat relative to each other. So keep your value range relevant to what you need to illustrate in your portrait. Apply your values in order from darkest to lightest. Develop the darkest value in all relative areas first, so they can maintain their proper relationship to each other and always have an idea of where to stop. This will help you maintain a proper contrast with the other ranges of values in your render. Instead of relying on the undertone of a particular skin tone, first rely on characteristics that will help you designate a particular ethnic look or character trait. Although the skin may be darker, do not overdo it. Remember, be careful to only use the value you need. So it will always have a darker value reserved to use. Learn to discern even the slightest change in value and range. The wider the range of values you can create, the more you can capture and express.
add depth
Depth and outline are two of the most important things you want to achieve within whatever area or set of values you’re working with. To imply depth, be it an outline or a separate dimension, contrast is always a critical factor. If you can see an unbroken range of value going in and out of a recession, it’s a contour. Darker values should be used in the deeper shaded areas to imply depth, and this is where smooth transitions will be a big advantage. Create your gradations by placing the tapered strokes next to each other to create a range of value that gets lighter as you get closer to a light source or the apex of a contour or curve. If there’s an outline that goes around and out of sight, or disappears behind something, you’ll need to create a clean border for your value. This will separate those dimensions and create depth in your drawings. Although we tend to rely on darker values to imply depth, practice developing an outline even within a very limited range of values.
Have fun drawing!