Few days ago I was trying to study the human anatomy based on real models so I decided to try to trace it from the photos.
I found this quite fun in a way when trying to study the head shapes and figure but I'm not really fond of this kind of method I just found it quite too easy and conservative I feel like I'm not pushed to emulate it by my own strokes but that's just me I wanted to improve by my own terms, It is really fun though when tracing it and coloring at the same time but not as satisfactory as I expected it to be.
Methods
First copy your desired image in photoshop and set the opacity to 50 percent or below it depends on you which opacity your comfortable with.
Image source http://www.brooklynvegan.com/taken-by-trees/
Try to scribble or get comfortable with the strokes unless you are confident with your strokes then can trace it directly don't trace it slowly try to sketch it naturally while maintaining its shape.
I did my final line art since I'm not really good at it so I created another layer for my final line art
Lastly I added the colours
I was just playing around with colours since I'm not really good at blending to make it realistic or semi realistic I was aiming to be more like a comicy vibe or traditional portrait but it didn't end very well haha.
But if you wan't to practice realism then this method could be a very useful to you also with the photoshop effects your art would be magical.
That's it, it was fun but like I said before I wasn't really satisfied with it since It's more like editing a photo than a sketch, but that's just me if you enjoy this kind of stuff then go for it.
I enjoyed this method when trying to practice the anatomy or skeletons since when drawing from scratch you tend to focus on the anatomy and its core, that's what I learned from a great artist I watched on youtube named Aaron Blaise you can check his channel here: (https://www.youtube.com/user/AaronBlaiseArt)
Set it's opacity to below 50 percent and try to build a skeleton figure on the model
Image source:
https://twitter.com/tashimrod/status/852721708847046656
- tashimrod
With these I can focus more on the structure and it's figure rather than emulating its appearance and you can create a version of your own art style rather on focusing copying the models facial figure.
Not everyone has the knack to do realism art since everybody has a different preferences and I respect that and not everybody is talented and that's the sad truth and I'm certainly not one of those talented individuals, some of the artists just work hard to get good don't look art as a talent driven thing but more on hardwork and passion just like any sport there are talented individuals and also hard working individuals that are also successful in that certain field. If this can help you in any way to create a drawing that has more dimensions in to it then I'm happy to help I'm still practicing at this and getting the hang of it also.
Blending it with the picture haha..
Well that's it thanks for reading my article and I hope it helps It really helps me to get better each day and I had a lot of fun with it.