Face WIP

[kiko3d]

New updates will be coming as soon as I got time and inspiration.

[eofeapr]

try this site for ideas on how to blend in shades and muted color to bring in dimension and realism to your sketch...

jrg

[Ilikesoup]

Since you're asking for "resources", I assume you're doing this picture without reference because you don't have a picture to reference from. It's always good to use a reference--drawing from life is best, photo is good, too--otherwise you're making guesses about anatomy, proportion, light and shadows. Learn the basics by practicing as much as possible from reference--you'll avoid learning bad habits. A good book on drawing anatomy will help you to understand guidelines of drawing a realistic face--they'll help you block out a figure even when drawing from life. I recommend Jack Hamm's Drawing the Head & Figure, but there are plenty more out there.

As for your pic, his hair is spiked on the sides and back, but is a buzz cut down the middle. I'd suggest blocking a solid area of black, then using white or a grayscale to indicate strands of hair that are highlighted by your light source. From this perspective (almost straight on, above the face looking downward), most of the visible features on his face will have horizontal, not vertical lines. For example, you wouldn't see the vertical line of his nose but you would see the horizontal line running from one nostril to the other; also the tip of his nose wouldn't dip so low and you'd see his right nostril. You wouldn't see the vertical line of his left cheekbone either, but you may see a crescent shadow below his cheekbone. Without reference, you're thinking of the nose only in the way you remember seeing one. If you draw from reference, you'll see common features from perspectives you may not have noticed before. Hope that helps.

[Swoop]

Yep all good points.
Best way to learn to draw from imagination is to first master drawing from reality :D
Basically you need to know how stuff looks in the real world before you can successfully draw it without reference...

Also i might suggest looking at www.portrait-artist.org for som tips on the human faces anatomy and shawing in general :D

[Tonik]

One book I'd highly recommend is "Drawing Human Anatomy" by Goivanni Civardi. It has some great details on how the musculature of the face is built up. I have loads of these kind of books and none of the others even compare to it. It's also pretty cheap so might be worth a look.

There's some info on it at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0289800897/ref=sib_dp_pt/002-4528997-9072803#reader-link

As the other's said reference pictures are very important when practising drawing. It makes your job a whole lot tougher to work it out from imagination.

Andrew Loomis's books on drawing might appear a bit dated at first but are also really helpful. There are some online versions of his books over at: http://www.fineart.sk/index.php?cat=1 ***Warning*** - nudity on site.

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