How to Draw Lorde

Artist: catlucker / November 17, 2013

6 votes

Step 1.

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

Step 2.

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

Step 3.

The strange crescent shape on the oval is just a reminder that her 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

Step 4.

FIRST PICTURE: Draw in the basic lines for her hair, eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth, neck, and shoulder line. SECOND 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

Step 5.

You've erased the guidelines and other distracting lines. Your picture won't look exactly like this, but remember my picture is only a guide... that's it. Now we are going to start with shading.

Step 6.

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.

Step 7.

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. M

Step 8.

We are back to shading the picture from Step 6. Shade more under the eyebrows. Do this lightly. Also sketch in more shading around her temple and nose. I have not blended yet. I'm just adding more lines and make sure your pencil stays sharpened as yo

Step 9.

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. Notice how the shading has progressed down

Step 10.

Here we are starting with the mouth. The basic image is there and tweaking, erasing hasn't happened yet. Just shade lightly at a diagonal slant. Her cheek lines & lips are defined by this process. Also add a dark shadow under her lower lip.

Step 11.

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.

Step 12.

FIRST PICTURE: I am showing the basic guidelines of her eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth, and facial outline. Notice her actual face outline, on the right facing you, doesn't exactly line up. Also her eyes have a slightly different shape. What you're doin

Step 13.

Add curls to her hair. Notice how everything starts out real simple then I build up on the picture. Always look at the reference, draw from it, and observe the placement of your shapes. If you get confused, cover up your ref. picture & drawing leavin

Step 14.

Progress down her neck by shading. Those detailed outlines for shadows on her neck & T-shirt really helps. Draw them lightly so you can easily blend in the lines.

Step 15.

Here, lightly go over her skin to give it tone. Don't worry about going over the shaded areas.

Step 16.

Long hair can take longer to create than a face. So I consider hair to be important to capture as well as the subject's personality. The small curved lines represent the direction of the hair strands & help to keep focus on drawing the hair. Yes, thi

Step 17.

Here is the shading progression for the lips. In picture 4, you can use the 9B graphite pencil to add darkness to where the lips meet. Picture 7 is the end result of blend and highlight/darkening details.

Step 18.

Click on this picture to see the different types of hair that appears on Lorde. The RED arrows show the direction of the strokes. The BLUE arrows in the last picture show the shape of the hair. These technique improves upon the realism of a picture.

Step 19.

Here is the beginning of shading the hair. The strokes are curved and go along with the basic shape of the hair groups.

Step 20.

When you start darkening the hair, you'll notice doing it in layers gives a realistic look. Darken as you go along, looking at your reference. TIP: When you start a stroke with your pencil, the beginning pressure is harder and ends up thicker at the

Step 21.

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 shade in her T-shirt shadows.

Step 22.

Sketch lightly over her T-shirt with your No.2 pencil. Do diagonal strokes or small circles. You can add horizontal lines on the shirt to show texture. Also add those tiny lines on her crew neck. Make sure your pencil is sharp.

Step 23.

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

Step 24.

Here I've added the background only. Get as close to the hair as you can. The 9B graphite pencil does wonder in adding that darkened look.

Step 25.

I've darkened the side of her face and hair more. Make sure you take your kneaded eraser and leave some highlights in her hair and at the edge of her face. Adding the background darker, filling in the white areas makes Lorde pop out more. I hope you'

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Details

Artist: catlucker
Date Added: November 17, 2013
Steps: 25
Favorited: 7 (view)
Views: 0 in last hour, 3 in last day, 3 in last week, 25717 total
Comments: 0
Tags: draw famous people, draw music, draw real people, how to draw real people, how to draw people, how to draw celebrities
Description: Ella Maria Lani Yelich-O'Connor is known by her stage name Lorde. She is a New Zealand Singer-songwriter. Her first EP, The Love Club, was released on 22 November 2012, and her first single "Royals", debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2013, making her the first New Zealand solo artist to have a number one song in the United States. 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.