Drawing Randy Jackson American Idol Judge

It's fun to draw someone that almost anyone can recognize. I found this photo and decided to use it for my reference photo. Randy Jackson is one of the American Idol Judges and a household name.

As in all of my drawing tutorials, I begin with an outline sketch of the drawing. I have my gummy eraser handy for mistakes as they come up. Even the best of artists will make mistakes so invest in a good eraser. The gummy kind is best because it doesn't leave any residue and will remove the pencil marks easily.

Along with my eraser, the other tools I use every time is a good mechanical pencil and an assortment of tortillions. The mechanical pencil to me is the best choice because you don't have to constantly sharpen your pencil and the mess factor is diminished almost completely. The tortillions are my favorite tool. If you look at my finished drawing or even the steps in between, you can see how the drawing appears to come to life. The tortillion to me is like a paint brush. It is a firmly rolled up piece of paper that resembles a pencil. It has a sharp point on both ends. You hold it just like a pencil and just blend the pencil marks to get the right amount of shadowing.

The best way I can answer this question, is to say, just start somewhere!

I like to use a tripod to sketch. I sit in a comfortable chair making sure I have plenty of light. Once I get situated, I sketch the outline. There are all kinds of different tricks that you can use to get a good likeness. You want to make absolutely certain that you get the eyes, nose and mouth in the proper locations and shaped like the reference photo. You can do a wonderful job on the shading, but if your proportions are off, even just a little the drawing might not look like the person.

If you are just beginning, try using a grid. A grid is a pattern of squares of equal size that you lay on top of the photo. You then sketch lightly the same grid on your drawing paper. If you draw the lines too dark, you will not be able to erase them completely. So sketch it very lightly.

Once you get the outline, you can erase your grid lines. If you want to try some other methods, you might consider using a series of circles. Look at your photo and imagine a circle on the top part of Randy's head. Look and see where the eyes and nose might be located in the circle and then just sketch a circle very lightly on your drawing paper and put the eyes and nose in place. Compare them back and forth and make your adjustments.

You can also try this. Lay your photo right on top of your drawing paper and place a piece of tape at the top to hold them together. Once you do that, just raise the photo up and down very quickly. You will begin to see the image on the paper even though it isn't there. It works like a cartoon. The main thing is to get the placement of the features of your reference photo right, this is critical!

Assuming that you have everything laid out on your paper the way you want it, you can now begin shading the drawing, or as they say, add "different values." It is the shadowing that will make your drawing come to life. Just look at some of the examples, showing the eye before I began to shade it. Then look after I have the shadowing completed and you will see what I mean.

I always start my shading on one side. Since I am right handed, I begin on the left side. I do this so that I don't smear the drawing with my hand, as I lay it on the paper. Here's my secret! I look at the dark areas and then I begin shading in those areas. That's it! In this drawing, I started to shade in the hair on the left side of the page. Then I moved to the cheek area. If it appears to be dark, then start making it dark. Remember this however, don't make it too dark at first, you can always go back and add darker values. That is so much easier than trying to erase the marks.

Once you get most of the shadowy area on the paper, pick up one of your tortillions and begin to blend it together. This is a process that takes some practice. Once you get used to using a tortillon, you will love it! I have to be honest here; I use the tortillion for most of my work. The pencil just puts some marks on the paper. It's the tortillion that turns it into the finished product.

When you invest in tortillions, make sure you get a nice selection of them. Normally they come in a package of all different sizes. Get a bunch of different sizes so that you can pick and choose. I find sometimes that some of the tortillions, work better than other ones of the same size. I never figured out why, but don't be afraid to pick up a different one, if you aren't feeling that love!

The Eyes

Eyes are the windows into our souls, so you must make sure you get everything about them right. You might want to do a Google search and learn the different parts of the eyes. This will make a good lesson so you can get your eyes correct. For me, the first step in getting the eyes right is to outline the eyelids. Once you get the eyelids outlined, and then sketch in the outline of the iris. Do this lightly at first, as you can always go back and darken it up. If you do this correctly and get the values right, people will be able to guess what color that eyes actually are by your drawing that's in black and white! Once you get the iris sketched out, add the pupil, but be careful, there is almost always a highlight reflection on the reference photo. I usually draw a small circle around the highlight area. I then add shading up to the highlight. The highlight will bring your eyes to life, so make sure you have it right. Once you get all the parts of the eyes on your paper, get out the trusty tortillion and blend it till it is correct. You can go back and add darker areas, or even use the eraser if needed.

So many people get all of the facial features right, but leave out the detail of the clothes and jewelry. I like to make the clothes look just like the picture. You can use the same techniques on the clothes and it helps if you run your pencil marks the same direction as it is on the photo.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and I look forward to any comments.

By the way I have a drawing website for those that want me to sketch a family member or loved one. I do pets too! Here's the site http://www.soulreflectionsbyjeff.com/