How to Draw a Portrait in Pastel – Destitute Man

Lay a light blue over the background and well into the area where the hair will be.

Because the eyes are the windows to the soul we will paint them first.  We are going to give him some light Blue eyes.

With a very dark  Blue pencil draw in the shadows around the eye as well as the dark circle around the iris.  Add the pupil and don’t worry about the highlight just yet.

Plot the shadows around the eye and do the same for the other eye.  With a White pencil lighten the lower part of the iris.

The light is coming from the top right.  Do this only for the eye on the right as the other one is in the shade.  Now add the highlight with a soft White stick.

With a very dark Blue color block in the jacket or coat. Stroke some Black over the darker areas and blend with the finger.

Blend some Violet over the top of this.  Now with a lighter Blue and some Black, paint in the folds catching the light.  Continue building up the required tonal ranges and colors.  Blend the lighter areas with a White pencil.

Block in the hair area with Black and blend with the  finger keeping it fuzzy at the edges.  Then draw in the forehead wrinkles.

With an Orange pencil fill the gaps and lightly blend together.  Gently place some dark Brown in the shadow areas and blend, being very careful to leave lighter areas.

Darken up the shadows under the brow.  Use a White pencil for the lighter skin and blend with a cottonwool bud as the fingers are just too thick for these smaller areas.

Carefully build up the tonal ranges around the eyes and cheeks.  Carefully build up the shadows either side of the nose bridge.

There will always be a highlight along it.  Continue lightening and darkening to mould the features of the subject.  It is almost similar to a sculptor with a clay model – pushing and pulling as needed.

Use a White pencil to blend in the areas that reflect the light coming from the right.  With a dark Brown pencil add the shadows around the nostril area.

With a light Burnt Sienna tint, stroke in the highlight along the frown lines.  Those will be on top of the dark shadow line.  Touch some Burnt Sienna in places to warm up the skin.. Now, with a cotton-wool bud carefully blend the highlight areas around the eyes and forehead.

Some shadow areas need to be darkened up some more.  Very lightly blend the forehead with a Gray pencil.. Work in the bushy eyebrows and add the yellow dirt glow with some Yellow Ochre.

With a Brown pencil begin to add all the facial wrinkles.  After this we need to paint the ear that is visible.

Continue building up the facial features especially around the eyes.  Look closely and you will see a very slight tint of Green in parts of the face as well as in the beard around the mouth.

Add the beard in with a dark Gray and a White pencil – always flicking away from the face.  At the chin area block in a darker under-paint for a Mauve/Brown color.  Build up the beard with a whole series of short and long flicks.

Once that is finished, use the edge of a soft White stick to add in the few very gray hairs.  Do this very lightly and carefully.  A few smaller touch-ups before we begin to paint the unkept hair.  I feel like lending him my comb.  On second thoughts, it would be better to just give it to him.

We are not going to paint every single hair, only the shapes and groups.  The brain is very clever, it adds all those in for you.  Draw in all the general loose hairs first.  You can really have a ball here.  Add the ones over the forehead.

With an Orange pencil begin the general highlights.

I see the nose is not properly finished off and needs to be corrected.  Finish off by giving the eyebrows some bushy character.

The eye needs an extra glint, and then some white hairs for contrast.