How to Draw Curtis Axel
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This tutorial is completely in PENCIL! Let's start with the tools. I'm in love with the Monolith 9B graphite pencil sticks. It's nice, black, smooth on the surface and makes such great dark lines. And a No.2 pencil isn't bad either--great for details
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The picture that goes with this step shows two different ways to hold your pencil to acquire certain effects. OVERHAND: Holding a sharpened pencil in normal writing form with fingers in the middle or near the lead gives you great control and thin/det
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The strange crescent shape on the oval is just a reminder that his hair will be there. Also in bisecting line (down the middle of the face) and parallel lines in the next picture are to help with eyebrows, eyes, nose and mouth placement. Right now, d
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FIRST PICTURE: If you are doing a professional picture and need accuracy, this has helped me tremendously. This is MY TIP of the day and it is LONG! Skip it if you want to. Those crazy lines help with placement too. Don't get me wrong, I mess up majo
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Start shading with a pencil, even a No. 2 pencil will do well. Shade diagonally around the eyes. Also fill in the pupils, leaving some catchlights. Stroke the eyebrows in, giving a hairy appearance. You can give sketch lines on his forehead for wrink
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Now let's add more detail to the nose. Those pyramid type of lines help to place the shading. The side of his nose is darkened for shadow definition. The eyes and eyebrows need darkening.
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Go ahead and lightly shade with diagonal strokes. Now using a .7mm HB or even 2B lead in the mechanical pencil is great. It doesn't wear down, you don't have to sharpen it, and it's quality remains the same.
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You can see closely how the shading progresses. 1. Simple eyebrows and eyes. 2. Shading and shaping begins. 3. More lines and looking at the reference. 4. Darkening the eyebrows, eyes, and adding more shadow & shading to skin to match reference. 5. B
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Here we are detailing his mouth and mustache. Just shade lightly at a diagonal slant. His cheek lines & lips are defined by this process. Start to add hair and beard strokes.
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Sketch in strands to his hair and beard. Draw in straighter lines for his "bangs" to look dripping wet. Shade lightly his face to add tone to his skin. Leav the sides of his forehead blank. Shade down to his neck & add that darker shadow. Notice how
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Beards and hair can take just as long to create as the face. So I consider hair to be important to capture as well as the subject's personality. The straight & small curved lines represent the direction of the hair strands & help to keep focus on dra
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Here you can more easily capture the shading progression of the nose. If you need to, lighten the outline of the nose with your (kneaded) eraser.
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Here is the beginning of shading of his mustache & beard. The strokes are curved and go along with the basic shape of the hair groups.
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Keep adding those hair strokes in the direction of the curls. It helps to keep looking at the reference and not assuming where the lines flow. Also darken shadows around his eyes and nose. This is a good time to shade his shoulder area for muscle def
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Here is the beginning of shading his sweaty hair. The strokes are mostly straight and some curved. Stroke along with the basic shape of the hair groups. Actually, this is much like filling in lines in a coloring book. Still you need to start your pen
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When you follow the arrows as you fill in his hair, it adds realism. Why? A realistic texture is added to your hair using this technique. The hair shouldn't appear flat. TIP: When you start a stroke with your pencil, the beginning pressure is harder
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Observe the right side of his face (facing you). There is a line making that side of his face (beard) smaller. This is an adjustment as I continue to draw from the reference pic. Sketch lightly over upper shoulder area with your No.2 pencil. Do diago
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Here is a nice closeup of the detailed progression of his ear. As you can see in the 4th picture, his hair has been darkened and skin tone added. You also get a rich shadow area with the 9B Graphite pencil. The 6th picture is the completed process, w
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Always look at your reference to add layers of shadows or highlights. Here I'm aiming at the top of his head and the right side of his beard for darkening. Also I continue to darken that blatant shadow on his shoulder. Keep you pencil sharpened to ge
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Notice how the crease between his brow is darkened, along with his upper cheek area. I looked at the ref. pic. & noticed his neck still needed more shading. You can make his beard darker by taking a tortillon & blending in for a mid gray.
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The blending stump can work miracles for your picture. Use the skinny, tiny one for small areas, like around the eyes, in the nose and mouth. The larger stump can blend larger areas, even the cheek areas and skin tone area. Now if you want a really s
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Here is the shading progression for the lips. In picture 3, you can use the 9B graphite pencil to add darkness to where the lips meet. Picture 6 is the end result of blend and highlight/darkening details.
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I want to show you how my backgrounds can look at the beginning. For this one, five a dark outline around his head & shoulders so you will not lose the outline of your drawing. I used a 9B graphite pencil for dark areas. I lightly sketched using the
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This is background only. I smoothed it with soft tissue paper. While sketching, I wanted to give that camera lighting in the background in the lighter spots.
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I've darkened of his face and hair more. Make sure you take your kneaded eraser and leave some highlights in his beard. Add the background darker. Take your kneaded eraser and make a round flat bottom to dab in those round headlights. It is easy & ma
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November 30, 2013
Description: Joseph Curtis "Joe" Hennig is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, w here he wrestles under the ring name Curtis Axel. He debuted in WWE in 2010, joining the Nexus under the ring name Michael McGillicutty. This tutorial is strictly done in pencil, background & all, with blending stumps and a kneaded eraser. I hope you enjoy this tutorial. And please fav, comment, or even click on Like. Thank you.
