How To Draw: Myself (Birthday Week Special)

It is my birthday this coming Friday (March 11th) and it is a big one as I will turn 30 this year. To celebrate, I thought it would be a great idea to build up to the big day all week starting from today. To start the ball rolling, I will be doing a How To Draw special in which I shall draw... myself! I haven't drawn a person (let alone my own self) since my college days, so I'm a little rusty. This could go badly. Just don't take this How To Draw seriously. We can laugh at the results later. Let's begin the embarressment shall we!

Stage One

I am first going to draw myself posing for a photo at Wheatfen Broad from the other week. The basics in drawing any human figure is to create a stickman and building the general shape around it. So you need to draw a circle for the head, then a T-shaped line beneath it for the shoulders and back. Then you can bulk out the shape of the torso and create lines or a series of sausages to map out the arms and legs. I am also adding a line for my walking stick that I used that day.

Stage Two

With the basic shapes drawn in, I can now build on it, improving the size and shape as I go along. I begin by drawing my cap (which I wear to cover up my parting hair). Then I work on my head and facial features. For the body, it helps to use the creases in my coat and trousers to measure out roughly the width of my torso and legs. What I do is to start at the top and work your way down using the creases as a guide (which were shaded lines). While doing this, I also included my binoculars. I also used the crease technique on the shoes, using the markings instead of creases to map out the shape of each shoe. The hands were created by drawing hand-like shapes without too much detail and I drew a second line for the stick which was divided up with small shaded marks.

Stage Three

Next, I went over the drawing again in pen. It is basically just doing the same thing, using the creases as a guide, but this time with extra shading. I also started from the feet this time and worked my way up the body. I took my time and took a lot of care while I was shading, especially around the face.

Stage Four

 
The final stage was to colour myself in. I began with the hands and face. I created a light layer of yellow first, then a layer of pink and red for the lips. The coat was a layer of purple, then blue and then a light covering of black. I used black on the trousers and binoculars and to also lightly highlight the stick and shoes. The cap and shoes had a very light layer of khaki green.

 I have to admit, this was a reasonably good drawing of myself in the end. Let's have a go with a close up of my face next. I am sure it won't go as well as this has.

Stage One

I am only drawing my head and shoulders, so the only shapes I need to draw is a circle for the head and some lines for the shoulders.

Stage Two

Before I work on the embarrassing job of drawing the features of my face, I first need to improve the shape of the head and draw my clothes in. I began by drawing my cap. The peak of my cap was a bit tricky as its shape was slanted forward and at an angle. I shaded in a shadow beneath it to make it stand out more. From the centre of my face, I drew a set of lines to mark out where my features needed to go for later. On the side of my head, I drew an ear and shaded in the part of my hair that was poking out from my cap. At the bottom of my face, I drew a line for my jaw and my neck. Below that, I started to map out the collar of my jacket as well as using the creases and stitchlines as a guide to build the rest of the jacket.

Stage Three

Now for the part I have been dreading, my face! Using the set of lines as a guide, you should know where each feature goes. I'm starting with the mouth and chin first. Just draw your best mouth shape the best you can around the line marked out for the mouth's position to create the lips. Below that, shade in a small line and another slightly longer one below that for the chin. I like to use the contours of my face to connect and map out the rest of my features, from my mouth and chin to my nose and to my eyes. Try and create the shape of your nose, eyes and eyebrows the best you can (I may do seperate How To Draw posts for each feature in the future).

Stage Four

Time to get that pen out to redraw and shade again. I found it easier to divide my face and clothes into different sectors and to redraw and then rub out the pencil marks of each section at a time.

Stage Five

Finally, I coloured myself in. Layers of yellow, then pink, then red and purple for my face. Purple and black for my jacket. Khaki green for my cap and blue for my eyes. 

I have to say, I look a bit like Shrek in this drawing. I think my face needed to be slightly thinner here and it would have been a better drawing. At least the colour scheme looks good and makes a big difference. Its ok, you can laugh if you want to. I told you I was a bit rusty when it came to drawing people!

I think I will stick to drawing wildlife! Speaking of which, if you want to learn to draw anything else, check out my new How To Draw menu. Simply click here and it will take you to a list of every How To Draw post I have ever done. Good luck with your drawings!