Stabilo x Cristjen_lai portrait drawing workshop

And it's time for .....
*drumroll*
#bulatgoestoworkshops
#stabilomy

😂😂😂
drama haha #syioksendiri

It has been a while!! I love attending workshops but ..the wallet has been pretty erm...sahara desert-ish lately (can u believe I have 3 weddings this month alone? Give angpao till pain 😂 💸)

Super blessed to be able to attend this one☺️

Portrait drawing by christjen_lai (that's his insta handle btw) using Stabilo point 88.

Doesn't the drawing look insane!?

Forgive me...but the post might prolly sound all over the place cause I didn't take enough photos + it has been a few days + kinda forgot how to Dayre hahahahahah 😂

As usual!
Materials!

We were all given a few pcs of photostated portraits, eraser, pencil, tracing paper and of course, Stabilo point88 in 12 colours!

I brought my own since I have! Don't waste.

So firstly, we traced the portrait on the tracing paper.

#cheatone 😂

I really got a shock honestly. Cause I wanted to know the tips (tricks?) to drawing a portrait (need to lvl up for my live drawings, in case ma)

But here I am, tracing 😂 that being said, the teacher doesn't trace yea.

I mean, he traced to show us la but he can do live portrait drawing 😁

Anyway I asked him how come trace...I mean, how is that helping? Copying ma.

He said it's actually one of the faster way to learn. It's called ...muscle memory 😂 the more you trace, the more your muscle learns plus u will see things that u won't notice if u just look instead of tracing.

Tracing gives u more concentration and also more confidence ☺️

Okay. Fair enough 😂

Anyway, he said even famous painters from history (forgot who) traced. They use projectors to project on the wall / huge canvases.

Didn't know that.

So this means...anyone can draw 😂😂😂
With lots of hard work + patience.

After that we traced it again on Watercolour paper.

Can't believe we are using Watercolour paper 😅 feels so wasted + expensive. But he said the texture will help give depth or something like that.

There is no rule for the tracing!

Like me..I think I traced almost every thing. The highlight, the shadow 😂😂😂

He said it's fine. It just means I see more details in general.

Then we proceeded to mark the areas where we see the highlights (means the light parts) the shadows (the dark part)

I didn't do it but the next step is to actually number the areas.

So 1 being the lightest.
Till...whatever number for the darkest. That would really depends on how much your eye can distinguish.

For me...I just whack 😂😂😂 can't really tell.

But he says it's all about practice, so the more u draw, the more your eyes can see the differences.

That is also the reason why when u wanna pick portraits, u pick a more contrasting one. So that it's easier to see where are the highlights etc.

Or u can just adjust the contrast on photoshop before printing it out la 😂

Since we are all noobs 😂😂😂

Start with yellow!
Leave the highlights white and start shading.

Sounds easy right? 😂 but honestly quite intimidating cause it's pen (ink?) straight. Meaning no erasing. No undo button.

If it's pencil, then it isn't so bad.

If I already feel intimidated (cause in general I am not super good in colours) I can just imagine how the rest (esp those without art background / work) feel 😅

Btw, this is the teacher's work!
Damn nice Pls!

Mine and the teacher's!

Maybe not obvious but I can see the differences 😂 my strokes are so heavy! And I have some awkward shadow here and there as compared to his.

Thankful he was next to me, means I can refer to his work when I feel lost 😂 #cheatone

Why u must try to be as light as possible is because you can go darker but not lighter. That's why it can be a lillll tricky.

Unless you are doing other mediums like oil painting, then ok la (in his words yo. I nvr tried oil painting)

Also cause I have problems doing strokes. So he was kinda showing how to.

Mine can't seem to come out 😂 same with the woman sitting next to me.

It is how we angle the pen. I think if u use the point 88, u will know what I mean.

Also, one must be lighter (seriously, I thought I was doing qi gong) for a while. We both have stiff hands 😂

And lastly...the way we stroke, it wasn't even.

So yup...he actually asked us to practice drawing strokes 😂

Proceeded to the orange for the medium tones. Add the details.

Even more intimidating hahahahahahah 😂 cause it's so freaking bright??

And it's gonna be so hard to save if it's done wrongly.

Though that being said, he did say that if it's too dark (like a sudden too dark. Too much contrast suddenly) then u just gotta overall darken the whole thing😂

And then the dark parts!!

Nice?!?! 😱😱😱
It's the teacher's btw. Can you see his strokes? They really differ from area to area, I think depending on muscle or structure or something.

You can add background if you wanna have some contrast or to cover up your lines that came out of the drawing.

Can u see that he coloured the hair yellow first before colouring it black? It's actually a common technique so that the whole drawing feels "together". Learned it at another workshop 😂

And ta-dah!
Mine!!!

Filter 99 so that it looks presentable 😂😂😂 overall still pass right?!

It helps that the face was traced la. If not sure don't know look like what man.

I did ask him, that I can never capture a person's face 100%. He said there's bound to be some "off". What more I do cartoon drawing.

If the person is so anal about it looking 100% ...then just take a photo 😂😂😂

Thank you!! Made me much more confident & practice more!

Just realized my guy's eyebrows like he just did tatt!