About Faith
Graphite Pencil, Charcoal Pencil and Pastels Artist
Hello! My name is Faith Te. When I was 16, a great desire to capture nature and the people around me started my passion for drawing. I began to look at drawing not just as a hobby but something which I wanted to do all my life.
I practiced every day and for many hours since. I taught myself to draw by experimenting with different techniques and materials and through helpful tips and advice from other artists.
Initially, charcoal and graphite pencils were the only mediums I used. When I began working in color, I used pastels, and more recently, oils. My main subjects are portraits but I also enjoy doing many other subjects including still life, landscapes and flowers, especially orchids.
I devote many hours and lots of attention to detail into each and every one of my drawings or paintings. My ultimate goal is not only to achieve detail and realism but also to capture the life and character of my subjects.
Thank you for your interest in my artwork. I sincerely hope you enjoy your stay here on our web site. Please visit again soon!
Please take a moment to visit Faith’s Website and Blog to learn more about her and her products and services.
Her Website: http://www.artisticrealism.com/
Her Blog: http://www.artisticrealism.com/artstudio/
Graphite Pencil Drawing Tutorial: Female Eye by Faith Te
Here is the first tutorial from Art Studio — a female eye. My method in graphite pencil drawing aims to render subjects as realistically as I can. The following is a step-by-step demonstration of how I draw eyes. While I very much hope that it helps you in drawing realistic eyes, do experiment and develop your own way of drawing. I myself sometimes do not follow some of the steps exactly as I like to experiment and try to find better ways of achieving a specific texture or effect. Before I begin, many thanks to Toni-Marie Hudson for the use of her picture. Toni-Marie does animal paintings in mixed media. Visit her web site to view her extremely realistic paintings.
Step 1:
The outline on Canson Grain. Since the outline was very light and will likely be smudged off when I start rendering or shading, I have carefully and lightly retraced the lines with a soft pencil. In this case, a Faber-Castell 0.5 mm 2B mechanical pencil.
Step 2:
Using a soft brush dipped in small amounts of graphite powder, I cover the outline with two or three layers of tone. Any brush can be used as long as it produces a very smooth effect and fills in the tooth of the paper. I try to avoid getting tone on the highlight of the iris. If I do get any graphite there, I tap the area with a clean kneaded eraser.
Step 3:
Using a smaller version of the brush I used in the previous step, I begin forming the shapes of the eye by defining the darker areas.
Step 4:
With a kneaded eraser, I cleaned up the highlights.
Step 5:
I used a Dong-A 0.5 mm 2B mechanical pencil to draw the darkest areas like the pupil, shadow on the upper part of the iris and the crease of the upper eyelid.
Step 6:
Concentrating on the iris for now, I use a hard pencil (5H Staedtler) and fairly hard pressure to draw spokes originating from the pupil. This will keep the paper from absorbing a lot of graphite in the next stage.
Step 7:
Having used a 5H on the previous stage, I can now draw darker shades on the iris using a dark pencil (2B mechanical pencil). The reason why I use 2B is because it spreads more easily. The 5H is also to keep the tones very smooth when darker tones are added.
Step 8:
I further worked on the iris erasing and adding graphite as much as needed to create varied tones. Moving on to the white of the eye, it was also covered with a layer of 5H to create a smooth effect. Then I used a 2B mechanical pencil on the shadow areas to form the eyeball.
Step 9:
Here I began working on the skin. Using a 0.5 mm HB mechanical pencil and a light circular motion, I added tones to the upper eyelid and the surrounding skin — starting first on an area which will receive more graphite (in this case, the skin around the crease) and moving towards lighter areas. I used a shop towel and a brush to smoothen out rough spots.
Step 10:
Continued with the lower part of the skin.
Step 11:
Still continuing with the HB mechanical pencil. I’ve now added shadows to the skin. The 5H Staedtler pencil was also used on the thickness of the lower eyelid. 2B mechanical pencil was used for its darker areas.
Step 12:
To create the wrinkles on the skin, I lightly drew lines with the HB mechanical pencil and then used a kneaded eraser to create fine highlights beside each line. A paper stump and a brush were used to soften and blend the lines. The same method used on the white of the eye was also used on the tear duct. The HB was used for the eyebrow — starting with the root of each hair and lessening pressure towards the tip.
Step 13:
I always try to keep from drawing the eyelashes until the skin underneath is finished. Since the upper eyelashes will be darker than the lower eyelashes or the eyebrow, I used a Dong-A 2B mechanical pencil which is much darker than a Faber-Castell of the same grade. Again, following the direction of growth and starting from the root, lessening pressure as I come to the tip. Reflections of the eyelashes were also drawn on the highlight of the iris.
Step 14:
The lower eyelashes were drawn with the Faber-Castell 2B mechanical pencil.
Step 15:
The final eye. Finishing touches were made and some of the highlights on the lower eyelid were dulled a little. I hope you find these steps and images informative and helpful.
FREE ebook, "Inside The Artist's Studio" - includes step by step art demonstrations by professional artists! To receive this FREE ebook right away delivered to your email, simply fill in the form below. By filling in your name and email below, you will also be subscribed to our free monthly newsletter.
Les Melhuish on Wed, 22nd Apr 2009 8:09 pm
Faith’s demo simply awesome, is it possible to have more?
regards
Les
Mara Mattia on Wed, 22nd Apr 2009 8:11 pm
Very nice, Faith!
Mara Mattia’s last blog post..Lesson #25 Painting and Scraping Wateer
rserpe on Thu, 23rd Apr 2009 12:13 am
Hi Les,
I will do my best to provide you with more demo’s like this one.
Thanks for your comments!
- Ralph
Gianna on Thu, 23rd Apr 2009 3:19 am
The best demo I’ve seen. Wonderful detail in the instructions and the art. Great step by step pictures and instructons not to mention how beautiful it turned out.
Aileen McLeod on Thu, 23rd Apr 2009 4:57 am
You are very gifted.
Shirish Deshpande on Thu, 23rd Apr 2009 5:08 am
Wow Faith, You have demonstrated the method of pencil shading in a superbly systematic way. Your confidence and judgement of getting the desired tonal strength is really very good. Thanks to you and Ralph for sharing such a wonderful demo. Look forward ro having more..
maria stevens on Thu, 23rd Apr 2009 7:54 am
Wonderful! What patience apart from talent. I hope to follow these steps but have a funny feeling they will not be as fantastically realistic as yours Faith. Thanks so much for sharing your info. Looking forward to checking out more of your work.
Chris on Thu, 23rd Apr 2009 10:49 am
Faith, That was great. As I scrolled down and admired each image, in the last frame, I was jolted into reality when my face did not appear in the reflection! I hope to learn more from you. Chris
Bee Owens on Fri, 24th Apr 2009 2:23 am
thank you thank you thank you and thank you again you have been very helpful . i will be lookin for your next demo. i sure will use this .Thanks Bee
Faith Te on Sat, 25th Apr 2009 5:02 am
Thank you for all your kind and inspiring words and compliments, everyone! They are very greatly appreciated. I am happy to know that you like this tutorial. I will try my best to create more.
All the best and happy drawing!
Faith
Jane Parker on Sat, 25th Apr 2009 9:16 pm
This is one of the best demos I have ever seen! Love the use of graphite powder – I bought some a year ago and have not used it, but I will now!
Thank you so much!!!!!!!!
Sana Almimar on Sun, 26th Apr 2009 7:37 pm
Faith
That is not only great ,it is amazing,you are a real artist,hope to see more of your work
Faith Te on Mon, 27th Apr 2009 4:35 am
Jane and Sana, thank you for your comments. I do hope you find the demo helpful!
Peter on Mon, 27th Apr 2009 11:35 am
Thank you for an excellent demo. I love the way you have absorbed the original line drawing into the finished work. Brilliant!
Faith Te on Wed, 29th Apr 2009 7:02 am
Hi Peter! Thank you so much for your comment. Glad you like it!
karen on Tue, 5th May 2009 4:46 pm
GREAT!
Ann Christmas on Thu, 14th May 2009 12:23 pm
Very inspiring demonstration.
Thank you. From a beginner looking for all inspiration possible on refining drawing and sketching.
Faith Te on Mon, 18th May 2009 5:20 am
Thanks so much for your comments, Karen and Ann!
Glenn Howell on Wed, 20th May 2009 1:17 am
Brilliant drawing of the eye Faith,you are extremely talented.
Faith Te on Fri, 22nd May 2009 5:12 am
Thanks so much for your kind words, Glenn!
Miranda on Thu, 4th Jun 2009 11:02 pm
Using the 5H to draw the lines in the iris is a great idea, thanks for the tip!
Miranda’s last blog post..Tips to Improve your Drawing: How to See
Denise on Fri, 17th Jul 2009 6:15 pm
You are super fantastic. I’ll be teaching a 7th grade art class starting in August and I’m so glad I found a site for the talented students to gain inspiration. I’ll look forward to more.
Denise
Faith Te on Sat, 18th Jul 2009 6:45 am
Thanks for your comments, Denise!
Faith Te´s last blog ..Red Onion
priyanka on Sun, 19th Jul 2009 1:12 pm
you are suparb i believe you have imense blessings of god in form of art.
Faith Te on Mon, 20th Jul 2009 5:20 am
Thank you for the kind words, Priyanka!
Faith Te´s last blog ..Lemons
Hanan Abdullah on Thu, 30th Jul 2009 5:58 pm
very nice
thank you so much
Teresa on Sun, 2nd Aug 2009 7:54 pm
Your drawings are amazing! Thank you for sharing with this tutorial.
I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to create the detail that you do, and boy is the knead eraser harder to work with than I originally thought. I don’t know the technique for all those thin lines.
Faith Te on Wed, 5th Aug 2009 8:01 am
Hanan — Glad you like the demonstration!
Teresa — Thank you for your comment! As for the kneaded eraser, I first roll it into a log shape then use my index finger and thumb to pinch it to make a thin tip. Then I lightly drag that across my drawing to create the fine highlights. You’ll need to repeat the same procedure after one or two uses though so that you’ll have a clean new tip to work with. Also, I find that used kneaded erasers are much better for this purpose because new ones are still too tacky.
You may also experiment with stick erasers to create those fine highlights. Try the sharp edge of a new stick eraser or use a knife to create a chisel tip. Perhaps you’ll find that easier to use. Hope that helps!
Faith Te´s last blog ..Paradise in Blue Bottle
Matt Bryan on Wed, 19th Aug 2009 5:26 am
Truly astonishing work. Beautiful. Well done.
Matt Bryan´s last blog ..MIMA
Joshua on Fri, 28th Aug 2009 3:23 am
Absolutely love it! This tutorial is amazing. I can’t believe my ‘eye’. Sorry! had to throw a pun in there. But seriously, it’s amazing. Can’t wait to put it to practice.
Melanie Schulenberg on Sat, 29th Aug 2009 2:23 pm
WOW! What a great tutorial! Thanks for putting it together.
Melissa on Tue, 1st Sep 2009 6:38 am
Wow… This tutorial is awesome. I am very much a beginner, but I was still able to follow these instructions and come up with something I’m proud of. Thank you so, so much.
Bob Whiting on Sat, 5th Sep 2009 12:02 am
I’m very,very impressed the eye is so realistic I feel if I put a finger on it it would blink and shed a tear.
As 68yr old pensioner with time between gardening I have just started on pencil drawing, as you can imagine my attempts at portriat drawings would show this. I am taking tips and tricks from other artists like yourself on how it should be done and hopefully achieve a better standard of drawing. I think I can say for all, thank you for sharing how it is done. It’s brilliant.
Bob Whiting U.K
Bob Whiting
Krysta on Thu, 17th Sep 2009 6:55 am
You are an extremely talented artist, and this is coming from someone who considers herself an artist as well. However, something didn’t look right to me..and I realized…the eyebrow is backwards. The hairs are going the wrong direction and the eyebrow is shaped backwards completely…I showed it to my fiance and he agrees that it is. I can understand that perhaps you did draw the hairs in the right direction but that it simply -looks- backwards but regardless it definitely seems off because of it. Other than that you are a very talented person and this is a beautiful drawing and good explanation of your technique.
Regards,
Krysta
samantha on Sat, 19th Sep 2009 7:06 am
beautiful
georgia on Sun, 20th Sep 2009 5:59 am
omg i tried this
didnt turn out so well
you are such a good drawer!
PVRao on Sun, 20th Sep 2009 1:31 pm
Great work !! Good..
owen on Mon, 21st Sep 2009 5:55 pm
the eye is really well done. very detailed and realistic. great job.
mysketch on Tue, 22nd Sep 2009 10:01 am
perfect mastery of objects and a very good technique, also the pencil strokes smooth and neat, impressive picture of the living
Ana on Thu, 24th Sep 2009 4:32 pm
believe me.. this is the best tutorial i’ve ever met
i tried this too and it had awsome results
thanks:D
Sweetbearies on Sun, 11th Oct 2009 11:33 pm
Really cool tutorial, and thanks for sharing!
Sweetbearies´s last blog ..Comment by SweetiePie
Jenia on Sun, 1st Nov 2009 1:09 am
OMG! i’ve tried it, couldnt wait to try, but didnt have right pencils, so i did with just one hard pencil and it turned out well! i will try with the right ones soon, im sure i’ll do it as realistic as you! thank you so much for tutorial! eyes and hands are the most difficult to draw!
Sanjeev Handa on Tue, 1st Dec 2009 2:01 am
“Really very nicely done. Intricate details of all the shades of the eye are taken care of quite well. I consider myself also an artist but am amased with the kind of detailing you have done.” Sanjeev Handa
Brenda on Fri, 11th Dec 2009 9:17 am
Wow! Thank you. This is a great tutorial.
canvas paintings on Tue, 15th Dec 2009 1:14 pm
Wow that is truly unbelievable. I’ve tried drawing eyes before but only on manga style but this is awesome. The shading and depth and life like skin tone are superb. A great tutorial many thanks for sharing.
Alexandra:-) on Thu, 11th Mar 2010 5:01 pm
wow! I can`t believe how Faith Te made it I have tried five times to draw that eye and I still don`t get it right and I am on the first step
Pam on Fri, 12th Mar 2010 7:53 pm
Extraordinarily realistic eye! Great work.
Ole-Thomas Bechensten on Fri, 19th Mar 2010 6:37 pm
Professional performance.This is a tutorial by a pro. I`m stunned! ( if your not professional, go for it! )
Jaime Antunez on Mon, 22nd Mar 2010 2:45 pm
Wow! I scrolled through the steps and when I got to the end I couldn’t help but have a smile on my face. Thank you for your work. I learned something today.
Steph on Tue, 30th Mar 2010 9:12 pm
What a great tutorial! Its helped me a lot with my drawing with your clear diagrams and instructions. Hugs!
hifza on Wed, 31st Mar 2010 3:01 pm
realy very nice !!!!!!!!realyyyy
Kevin on Thu, 1st Apr 2010 2:25 pm
Great!!! I followed your tutorial and made a very nice eye!! (yours is better of course!) Thank you!!!
Bob Whiting on Mon, 19th Apr 2010 8:06 pm
I leave, I return,then leave again, then return and see the mess I’ve produced in comparison to your artistic ablility and will never give in and will keep returning until I get things near right. [and left a comment] being in awe of your ablitiy and art media range.
I can only say ‘Have I got a steep hill to climb’ looking at your art it is astounding such beauty I need to practice more but don’t worry I doubt if I would reach your standard.
I have two questions which feel free to ignore, What type of brush do you use for shading with graphite powder.
Would I be better using graphite powder than the current graphite I am using from sanded down HB mechanical pencil lead/graphite for economy until getting used to shading.
Many thanks for the demo’s and showing of your art.
Your art is a blessing to see.
Jessica on Mon, 26th Apr 2010 1:52 pm
can you do a tutorial on hair!! your drawings a great.
stacie on Tue, 11th May 2010 10:36 am
That is.. incredible. I must admit, for the first couple of pictures I thought it all looked a bit basic but as the drawing built up it just got so amazing. You must have a lot of patience to take the time to really build your art like that, great job. I hope you do more of these!
Adam Carson on Sun, 16th May 2010 4:04 pm
very very impressive. Thank you very much.
bee on Fri, 21st May 2010 1:16 am
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
vinay on Fri, 9th Jul 2010 4:15 am
awsome !!
christy on Wed, 21st Jul 2010 7:25 pm
this is beautiful, I definitely learned a lot reading over this & comparing to my art. I will definitely start using more than one pencil!
nasir on Tue, 24th Aug 2010 1:49 am
very very nice.how real it looks