10-16-10 wedding, a tutorial on my process of drawing Live Digital Sketches

The 6 minute color Digital Sketch

Step one: What are the basic, most definitive shapes that you see when you look at someone? Is the face long and skinny, round, or triangular? I roughly and as quickly as possible scribble these shapes out, paying attention to the composition of the page so that it is in the middle and fills out the space nicely. This is done on a separate layer, and will be deleted.

Step Two: On a new layer, I use the pen tool to draw out the face of the person being sketched. The structure of the scribble in step one shows me where the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears are placed so that the cartoon has a structural basis in real life.

Step Three: Erase the layer from step one, leaving a clean sketch. A lot of artists go straight to the final sketch of the face, leaving out step one. For my process, this works the fastest and I rarely have to erase or re-draw anything. Step one is a sort of road map, that allows me to complete the sketch quickly.

Step Four: Add Color!

Here is my subject, in front of the screen that I use to project my drawings as they are created.