A step by step, easy to follow, drawing tutorial on how to draw a character and shade

Im going to draw and shade my picture, if you want to color yours you can

This is my first tutorial so it would be nice to get some feedback to help me improve :) hope you enjoy.

Step 1: Tools

The tools you are going to need are

Pencils
- I highly recommend getting some graphite drawing pencils. a regular #2 pencil make have to press hard/ lighter to get different shades and will start to leave deep line impressions / or rip your paper. with a 6 set drawing pencils, it gives you more of a versatility with shades ranging from 6B (Soft, darker lead) to H2 (hard, lighter lead).

Blending Stump / Folded paper
- a blending stump is for making smooth smudge or blend marks, I use it for small/medium shading. the piece of paper is used for large area shading

Eraser
- I would have a small and large eraser to be able to remove large areas, or make small/ precise corrections.

Pencil Sharpener

Working space
- a large working space so you can lay out your art supplies. you could clear off a table or work in your bed (which is what i did). as long as you have space and you are comfy.

Step 2: Blank Page

lay the paper out the way you want it, Portrait or Landscape, I chose to do landscape.

Step 3: Outline for the Characters Head

In the bottom middle of the page draw a circle, make sure it is proportion properly or your character will look deformed. if you are having trouble drawing this, find and object that is circular and trace it a few times until you can draw it without the object. Then draw a straight lint that will indicate how low the chin will go. Then draw a slant on both sides to help draw the jaw line. When you are done it should have an egg shape to it.

***For steps 3-8 use your 2H or HB, make sure u do not press to hard or u will leave imprints. (if your using a regular pencil, very lightly draw)

Step 4: Guide Lines for the Nose, Mouth, and Eyes.

Once you have the egg shaped outline done, its time to start laying out the outline for the facial features. from the top center of the circle, down to the jaw line draw a line that slightly curves to the left. this divides the face up from left to right and makes it easier to make everything look more proportional.

Then you draw a straight line that goes left to right. this will show you where the top part of the eye will go and will keep it one eye from being to high/ low.

Now to draw the nose. start in between the circle and make it curve in towards the center line, then make it curve out to make the point of the nose and curve back in to finish it. draw a curve that is on the other side of the line to give the out line of the other side of the nose. since the heads turned, this part would be lighter, which equals no shadow (or in this case a line) ,or the rest of the nose.

The eye is a pretty simple. the top eye lid is a curve that starts right where the right part of the nose ends. and its just a curve. Draw the bottom eye lid smaller and inside both points of the top lid. on the out side of the top lid, bring it down some so it look like it connects to the bottom.
to draw the other eye lid, draw a line from the right eye lid to the left so you can make them parallel. and draw the top eye lid.

Draw the eye brows as just regular lines and draw small lines to represent the skin part of the eye and draw a small circle (to show fear) for the pupils.

draw the center of the mouth on the middle line. the shape of it is a M that is compressed compressed vertically and stretched horizontally. i feel like if u erase the mouth wear the line hits it, it gives it a more realistic look to it. the line under the mouth is the outline of the bottom lip.

Step 5: More Detail in the Face. Adding the Ear and Neck

the left side of the face needs to be more rounded since its a 3/4 view. start where the line of the jaw and the circle meet and bring it in more to make it look like where the temple is, then bring it out to draw the cheek and then at the end bring it out to make the chin.

The outline of the ear starts at the top of the eye lid and comes down to the top point of the right nose then draw some detail into it.

for the neck draw curvy lines, the left line for the neck is not as long because its angled away from us.

you can erase the guide lines for the face.

Step 6: Body

Now to the body. I would draw a rectangle to help get the outline the shoulder, i would make the left shoulder shorter than the right cause of the 3/4 view. also draw out the shoulder muscle and let the neck come down some so it makes the muscle look like they are behind.

then draw circles on the end of the rectangle for the arms ( there is not going to be to much detail into the arms cause its the upper body part, but it helps draw the shoulders)

after you get all of that, you can erase the guide lines.

Step 7: Drawing the Hoodie

I started with drawing the inner part of the hood first, make sure you get the left side of it straighter because her head is turned to the left which would cause the hoodie to be pulled that way and the right would be rounded more because it would be pulled forward. make sure you get where it bunches up from the strings.

the outer part of the hoodie is pretty straight forward. just make sure the thickness on the left is thin and the right is thicker because of point of view. make sure the hoodie does not over lap with the outside of the head. include folds in the hood part. to draw the arm and shoulder part i would re draw it but give a little space between them, make sure you include fold line to give it a more realistic look.

just add a few more details like strings or a design \

then your done.

Step 8: Hair

I waited to draw the hair because i new i wanted a girl with a hoodie up.

this first picture is an example on how i draw hair, i like keeping it simple and just doing spikes instead of crazy detail, it gives that more cartoon look even tho i put a good amount of details into other features.

before i would even think about putting hair on my original drawing, i garbed a new piece of paper and drew a 5sec sketch (a.k.a layout) of my drawing just to get what kind of hair style i wanted. make sure every spike is different like one long, thick, going to the left / then a small thin, going to the right. once you get the style, apply it to your main drawing.

add some details like lines, shading, or both (i did lines). with lines make sure the line flows with the way the point is going. also shade the negative space inside the hoddie (i also include long hair in the hoodie).

Step 9: Adding Detail and Darkening

this is the time for you to step back and see what to add/subtract from your drawing. do what u want here.

after that darken all the lines you have made. and you are officially done drawing the character! :D

Step 10: Background (get a Visual Idea)

The idea for the background was to have it shaded like shadows and have monsters and faces to give it that spooky effect. im not going to shade around the character cause i want it to be like a goose bumps effect, like shes scared lifeless. it also makes her stick out more.

Step 11: Background (shading)

make sure when u shade you do not press hard or you will ruin the paper. also use the flater part of the pencil so your not digging into the paper. when u draw the lines to shade just scribble away. i would use the darkest pencil got on the edges and shade in ward to give it that gradient effect.

when your done, take the folded piece of paper and go in a circular motion around the paper.

Step 12: Background (monsters and Faces)

when drawing the monsters, grab a spare piece of paper and lay it down when u draw so you don't create smudges everywhere.

use the internet to get some ideas on what you want to draw. make sure you put your own creative twist to it. Give your opinion on what Halloween is.

in my opinion if you were able to draw your character well, you should be able to do this part on your own.

use your 2H when drawing so you can fix it easily. then add more detail to it. then darken and blend.

Step 13: Background (moon and Clouds)

on the top of the page draw a circle with your 2H pencil.

start drawing the outline of the clouds

then erase.

i left it white because i wanted to give that pure light feeling when the moon is a bright as the sun.

Step 14: Sign It

sign your name cause you put the effort into working on your artwork for so long.

Step 15: Finished :D

hang it on your wall, put it on your fridge, make it your wallpaper, turn it into a t shirt and wear it 24/7 and eat/sleep/wash with that shirt till it starts to decay. do what ever you want with it. its a piece of art and you should be proud of it :)