Master the art of portrait drawing with Craig Nelson

Master the art of portrait drawing with professor of illustration Craig Nelson. With this instructional video workshop, Drawing a Duotone Portrait, you will soon master portrait drawing following the logical and intuitive progression Craig has refined. [continued…]

Drawing a Duotone Portrait

Craig Nelson emphasizes logical order while drawing. He compares his drawing process to focusing a photograph. He builds layers of soft lines and swatches of tone then rapidly sharpens his subject with crisp edges and bold darks.

You see Craig translate angles from his source photo to his paper, as he looks for reference points to guide him. He completes a gentle outline of his subject then dusts in a layer of tone. With tissue and fi ngertips, Craig diffuses blocks of color to avoid locking in detail too early in the drawing.

With his value in place, Craig finishes the drawing with dark charcoal lines and deliberate strokes. He carves out the well worn character of his subject’s face and lifts out highlights with a kneaded eraser.

Throughout the workshop, Craig emphasizes restraint, “under doing” each step until he finds the right moment to bring his subject into focus. As he adds last details to the nose and chin, you’ll see this logical, intuitive process come to fruition.

Craig Nelson has been teaching for over 30 years and is currently the director of Fine Art, Drawing and Painting at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco.