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Drawing Portraits

douglas r. graves

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Achieving a likeness in portrait requires close coordination of the hand and eye; Douglas Graves, a professional portraitist, has developed this basic premise into a functional technique. He describes portraiture as an evolving observing the basic surface shapes, discovering how these features deviate from the symmetrical ideal, envisioning the underlying human anatomy, interpreting the sitter’s personality, then conveying all this with a direct medium in a tonal drawing.

Mr. Graves begins with a list and discussion of the necessary materials—compressed and vine charcoal, chalk, Conte, graphite pencils, papers, erasers, and fixative. He next focuses on the single most important element of the portrait—the sitter’s head. He examines the overall bone structure of the head, it’s proportions and planes, and the structure of the individual features—the eye, nose, neck, ear, and mouth. Of course, portraiture often includes the hands, and so Mr. Graves devotes another chapter to the bone structure, muscle, and proportions of the hands. In subsequent chapters, he considers common portraiture lighting the sitter, reflections and shadows, composing the portrait with one or more figures, the most effective views of the head, and positioning the head and the hands in relation to each other and to the body.

After these preliminary instructions, Mr. Graves proceeds to analyze and illustrate how to actually draw the individual elements of the portrait. Eight projects offer step-by-step demonstrations of front, side, and three-quarter views of the eye, nose, mouth, ear, and hand. Also included are demonstrations of drawing a plaster cast of the head, the torso and arm with drapery, and various hair textures and colors.

In the succeeding ten projects, Mr. Graves develops complete portraits, demonstrating his technique step by step. He covers a wide range of subjects and a woman, child, and man in charcoal; a woman, teenager, and older man in pencil; a woman and man in chalk; a mother and child, and a full family group in Conte. Mr. Graves also supplements his technical instructions with some advice about drawing from photographs, using unusual or offbeat poses, and the question of flattery.

Drawing Portraits is simply yet engagingly written, with over 260 black and white illustrations. Artists, beginning and advanced students, and teachers will find Mr. Graves’ technique of portraiture clearly and logically presented and a solid basis for developing a personal style.

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1974

This edition

Format
160 pages, Paperback
Published
April 1, 1983 by Watson-Guptill
ISBN
9780823014316
ASIN
0823014312
Language
English

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douglas r. graves

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Rating(3.8 / 5.0, 5 votes)
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WitchFromMercury
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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The artist is amazing, his portraits are gorgeous. The first part, where he introduces the materials and techniques of portrait drawing, as well as talking about compositions and other stuff - that part was good and useful. The "tutorials" at the end were not good however, I thought they were too advanced for someone who is a complete beginner. While it is nice to see the step-to-step process and I appreciate that, there were not enough steps to make it really clear and easy to follow.
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glazehoney12
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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There is a ton of hints adn step by step build ups. different age groups, and tricks. Always good ideas, adn "Oh yeahs" in this one.
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Ken_G333
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This book is great for any artist who struggles drawing faces and hands
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homemcordial
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I like Douglas Graves for his easy writing style and explanation of his technique. It's most interesting to see the way he looks at going about portraits....not as technical as Loomis, but he has his own way.
The book is enjoyable, and lays a good ground work, i prefer one of his others which i will post, but this is a good book to own for any pencil drawing, charcoal rendering of the head.
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