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Thursday, April 21, 2011

How to Draw the Blind Beggar an Exercise For The Young Artist

How To Draw the Blind Beggar

This is a fun picture to draw. It is inspired by the blind man in the Bible who was healed by a miracle.  If you have problems drawing eyes, this is for you; since he is blind, you draw a bandage over his eyes. And if you mess up on something, everyone is looking at the bandage and the beggar's sign around his neck so they won't notice.


Start with the basic shape of the face. Place the face a little high on the paper since you want to leave room for the tunic and the placard that he wears around his neck to beg. I like to use a circle and add a jaw like a large letter "U".  I lightly draw some lines to be a reference to keep the face balanced and in proportion.  One line up and down for the center of the face and one across, it almost turns the face into an "+," halfway below that draw another line for the placement of the nose and halfway again below that draw a line for the mouth. Now put down your pencil and look at it and ask yourself if it needs any changes, now is the time. If everything looks in about the right place, start the larger details. The nose is large on this guy, started with a circle and two smaller ones on each side. Then shadow the features. The mouth is thin- I didn't even draw the upper lip, but it can be suggested with a shadow. The lower lip is just shadowed underneath. The ears are drawn between the two lines of the middle and nose.  Give the bandage some folds. Use shadow technique to give the face wrinkles and avoid heavy lines.  The hair is dirty and stringy, so it is just a few lines; make some of the lines heavy and others light; this will give him an unkempt homeless look. Make his tunic look raggy and draw the placard around his neck.



(c)Adron Dozat