{"id":2458,"date":"2016-08-09T11:30:51","date_gmt":"2016-08-09T15:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/?p=2458"},"modified":"2026-01-22T00:08:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T05:08:29","slug":"how-to-shade-a-face","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rapidfireart.com\/2016\/08\/09\/how-to-shade-a-face\/","title":{"rendered":"How to shade a face: Ultimate tutorial"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HowI’m sure you’ll agree with me when I say this:<\/p>\n

Shading is so damn hard!<\/p>\n

I’ve been drawing for most of my life and\u00a0it still gets to me sometimes.<\/p>\n

Shading is what makes a drawing look realistic and triggers that “WOW” reaction.\u00a0It’s also a tedious process, and that’s why it’s so difficult to teach.<\/p>\n

So in this monster of a tutorial I will show you how to shade a face with pencil from beginning to end using a ton of images, explanations and tips.<\/p>\n

This tutorial is so long that it’s the equivalent of a 40 page book<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

If you haven’t read\u00a0the\u00a0in-depth\u00a0shading\u00a0guide, please\u00a0click here<\/a> before you continue on. I’m not going to talk a lot about shading techniques in this\u00a0post\u00a0because it’s already covered there.<\/p>\n

Tired of reading shallow and confusing tutorials?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Do you have trouble following shading tutorials online because they usually skip from step ‘A’ all the way to step ‘G’ with little to no explanation? Do you have difficulties making your drawings pop or look realistic, eventually giving up in frustration?\"Shading<\/p>\n

For this tutorial, I recorded the full drawing process by scanning\u00a0213 high quality images<\/strong> which took over 35 hours<\/strong> in total just to scan! From that, I\u00a0carefully selected a group of images for each step which clearly shows the intricate stages and layers of my shading process. Each step is backed up by clear explanations, shading tips and techniques.<\/p>\n

You can immediately apply these techniques to your own artwork and watch your portraits come to life.<\/p>\n

Each step is packed with a ton of image examples. Most steps contain a clickable\u00a0slideshow<\/strong> of 3-9 images so you can\u00a0view them at your own pace, and easily observe the subtle changes from one image to the next. You can also zoom in and out of each slideshow image to analyze the details further.<\/p>\n

The GIF below is a preview of only a few images you can expect to see in this tutorial.<\/p>\n

\"HowIt doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or intermediate… if you have the patience and dedication to sit through\u00a0this entire tutorial, I PROMISE you will walk away with a handful of value.<\/p>\n

This is going to be a very detailed and lengthy\u00a0post\u00a0<\/strong>where each\u00a0step covers a specific area of the face such as eyes, nose, mouth, chin, etc. You can skip to any area by using the links below, but please do not skip the first 2 sections!<\/p>\n

From step 3 onward, each step is broken down to multiple sub-steps<\/strong> so you can easily follow along with what I’m doing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

NEW:<\/strong> <\/span>There’s a downloadable template of the unshaded face so you can print it out and follow along without having to re-draw the face every time. Thanks Dale Fisher for the great idea! Also, included is a PDF version for offline viewing.<\/p>\n

\u2b07\ufe0f Downloads:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Click here<\/a> to download a template of the face (it will open in a new tab). There are 4 versions to choose from. To print only 1 from the PDF, navigate to “pages” and type the page number you would like to print.<\/p>\n

Here’s a PDF <\/a>(offline version) of the tutorial. Please keep in mind that the tutorial is best viewed online<\/strong> because the changes between each step are quite subtle and best viewed with the slideshows which are not supported in PDF.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Quick Navigation:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Step 1:<\/strong>\u00a0Lighting the Face<\/a>
\nStep 2:<\/strong>\u00a0Preliminary Outlines + Shadow Lining<\/a>
\nStep 3:<\/strong>\u00a0Shading Eyes<\/a>
\nStep 4:<\/strong>\u00a0Shading the Nose<\/a>
\nStep 5:<\/strong>\u00a0Shading the Mouth<\/a>
\nStep 6:<\/strong>\u00a0Shading the Forehead<\/a>
\nStep 7:<\/strong>\u00a0Shading Cheeks and Smile Lines<\/a>
\nStep 8:<\/strong>\u00a0Shading Jawline and Chin<\/a>
\nStep 9:<\/strong>\u00a0Shading Neck and Ears<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tools I used<\/strong><\/p>\n