“Beginner to Pro✏️ Portrait Drawing | Graphite Pencil 14 Steps in 14 Minutes!"

Hello everyone welcome back to BMDPortraits and today I'm going to walk you through a complete step-by-step graphite pencil portrait drawing tutorial We will be creating a realistic Close-up portrait of a young girl looking slightly upward with soft light falling on her face from the left side This video is perfect for beginners as well as those who are struggling to improve eir pencil shading skills because I will be covering everything from setting up accurate proportions building up layers and blending all the way to adding final highlights and details That will make a portrait come alive So grab your pencils and sketchbook and let's begin This 14-minute 14-step journey together into the world of realism Okay let's begin with our Step one This is what I call geometric sketching with the grid method because the foundation of every successful portrait is accuracy For this drawing I'm using the grid method on A4 size paper With each box measuring about 3 by 4 inches The grid helps me place the facial features precisely making it easier to capture the likeness of the subject Using a simple HB graphite pencil I Carefully sketch the basic outlines of the face eyes nose lips and even the hair At this stage the Lines don't need to be dark or detailed they just serve as guides Remember accuracy here will save you a lot of correction time later Think of it as laying down the blueprint before building the Structure But if this kind of grid is too big for you you can start with smaller grids to make it Accurate proportions but you can make it bigger and bigger as you continue practicing It's important to just have quite a bigger grid Try to practice bigger grids because it will save you You will be able to train your eyes to see the features of the face inside the grid to create an accurate proportion because as I said every A successful portrait starts with accurate proportions Okay so after step one we go directly to our step two This is building base tones with a D pencil light and steady So this is what I call base tone shading Once the outlines are in place I begin layering the first tones using a B grade graphite pencil I apply light hatching and cross hatching strokes Across the face especially over areas that would eventually hold mid-tones and shadows This base tone is crucial It acts as the first layer of skin Think of it like a primer A canvas before painting Don't worry about perfection at this point Keep your pressure light and consistent You're simply building the groundwork for depth and realism and at this Stage you will be able to see the significance of your geometric outlines You are just simply shading your geometric outlines that we did in the first step using this B pencil and you don' You have to be really perfect and accurate in terms of the shading because remember this is just the initial shading step You will be shading more layers of graphite later to achieve realism So at this stage you are not concerned with your drawing looking realistic It will look more like an artistic drawing at this stage because of this geometric shape that we are shading Okay Now we are going to our step three Next I use an H pencil to lightly shade across the entire face including the areas that will remain highlighted This helps blend the base tones softens the Transitions and adds a delicate uniformity to the portrait This step ensures that the highlights won't look like plain white paper later but instead appear more natural and skin-like And Now it's time to blend I take a piece of tissue paper and gently smooth out the pencil strokes The goal here isn't to make everything perfectly polished yet but to remove the roughness and Unify the tones This blending creates a soft surface that makes the next layers easier to apply And now let's go directly to our step five using the darkest pencil that you have With the base established I now pick up a Staedtler Mars Lumograph Black 8B or I ca Also choose a Krita Coloring Nero soft pencil for this one But I guess I will use the Krita Color because it's softer compared to the Staedtler But you can use either These pencils They are reserved for the darkest areas The pupils of the eyes the nostrils the gap of the lips e deep shadows where light doesn't reach By locking in these darkest tones early I set a clear value range for the portrait which makes balancing the rest of the drawing much easier And now let's start the process of realism Let us build realistic skin tones using the layering technique Okay so now this is where the magic of realism begins First using a B I gradually shade the skin again paying close attention to subtle tonal shifts I work in circular motions or very soft hatching strokes or cross hatching strokes to avoid harsh lines We want to be able to layer gently with less pressure and smoothly And here I am building mid-tones around the cheeks under the eyes as you can see right here and along the forehead I'm Not pushing for the final depth yet This is still layering Okay so always go with multiple layers The secret to realistic skin is patience and the gradual buildup of pencil layers on paper And to be able to do that you will also need a good paper In this drawing I'm using Strathmore Bristol has a smooth surface that holds multiple layers well of pencil So get yourself a good paper with nice texture to be able to build your skin very well This is how I create the skin tone more naturally and realistically So this is the initial A pencil for our actual skin tone Okay so now we are already on our step seven This is what I call Controlled blending And this is actually the second blending that I do on this portrait Because now that the skin has more structure I blend again but this time more deliberately I use this Casimir rubbing tool around the detailed areas like the eyes the nose and the lips to control the blending And then after this I choose to switc To the tissue paper again just to softly smooth out the larger areas of the face This step helps me eliminate unwanted grain and makes the tonal values appear much more natural Now are you ready for the next step This is step eight adding depth and shadows using a 3B Pencil And I do this to add depth I bring in this 3B pencil right here I think this is e Tombow Homograph 3B pencil This pencil is perfect for strengthening shadows especially along the side of the nose and also under the chin and the right side of the face where less light hits Light falls This is also when I start hinting at the hair texture Slightly firmer strokes so the drawing begins to feel three-dimensional at this stage with strong contrasts that definitely Separate light from shadow but again you don't need to apply heavy pressure when layering From the beginning to the end to avoid too much shine of the graphite Okay now in step nine we are going to quick blend or what I call smooth transition Another light blending with tissue ensures the new shadows blend seamlessly with earlier tones The face now feels more unified with no harsh divisions between values Okay now we are on our step 10 This is one of the mos The enjoyable part of every portrait drawing is where we erase to create our highlights And now I start with using a kneaded eraser to create realistic highlights I carefully lift graphite Using a kneaded eraser The left side of the face is where most of the light falls so I focus on it These areas Highlights on the forehead nose bridge and cheeks immediately boost the contrast making the portrait come alive This is one of the most satisfying stages I'm telling you Watching light emerge from the graphite is pure magic But you need to do this very gently Very accurately You don't want to erase everything You just want to be able to show your highlights This works really well to make your drawing more three-dimensional So I love this I love this Where I remove the graphite from the drawing Okay we are already on step 11 This is dark Shadows and smooth skin with deepening shadows using a 7B graphite pencil So this is a quite dark pencil To use Now comes the refining stage Again what I'm using here is the 7B pencil I darken the shadows Especially around the eyes under the lips and along the right side of the face where most dark shadows fall Here I work slowly shading small areas and immediately blending with a brush tissue or a foam applicator that you will see later here This combination of layering and blending creates silky smooth skin textures The portrait now feels balanced With both soft transitions and strong depths Okay so now I'm going to shut up for a few seconds because I want you to observe the process very carefully This step right here So now let's go to our step 12 using the same dark pencil as before Krita Color Nero or Staedtler Black 8B I add details like eyelashes eyebrows and strands of hair Sharp controlled strokes are essential here because these details frame the face and add character to the portrait And now we go directly to our step 13 Highlights are the The finishing touch that makes a portrait sparkle I use an electric eraser to add bright reflections in the eyes and on the lips For flyaway hairs and crisp light edges I use a precision pencil Eraser And finally I soften certain areas with a kneaded eraser to keep the glow natural This contrast between the darkest shadows and the brightest highlights gives the drawing its realistic depth And finally we go to our final retouch In these last moments I step back and Carefully examine the portrait Any area that feels unbalanced is adjusted whether it's deepening shadows refining edges or softening transitions Small corrections can make a huge difference And there you have it a completed realistic graphite pencil portrait of a young girl If you enjoyed this tutorial don't forget to hit the like button subscribe to B&B Portraits And turn on the notification bell so you won't miss future tutorials Share this video with other aspiring artists and let's grow this community together Thank you for watching Keep practicing I'll see you in the next video Bye-bye