Brenda Hoddinott

X-02 ADVANCED: FANTASY & FUN

This project explores the process of drawing a caricature from

a photo, by utilizing a complex grid. The average drawing time
on this type of project generally runs between 20 to 40 hours.
To give you an idea of the time I spent on each aspect, I
included a brief drawing journal.
This lesson is divided into the following six sections:
™ SKETCHING WITH HELP FROM A GRID: You lightly sketch the outline of the subject
by utilizing a complex grid to establish the placements of various components.
™ OUTLINING AND SHADING STRANDS OF CARTOON HAIR: You outline the
subject’s hair with thin lines, and then add shading according to a dominant light source from
the upper right.
™ FOREHEAD, EYEBROWS AND EYES: Crosshatching and hatching are used for shading
the upper sections of the face.
™ NOSE, MOUTH AND EARS: You complete the shading of the ears and the center section
of the face with crosshatching graduations.
™ CHIN, GOATEE AND NECK: A full range of values is used to complete the lower section
of the face, and the goatee and neck.
™ FINAL TOUCHES: After shading the shirt, you are encouraged to check over your drawing
and make adjustments to sections you’re not completely happy with.
This project is recommended for artists with strong drawing skills, who have a well-trained eye
for details and an incredible amount of patience. Curriculum is designed for advanced students of
home schooling, academic and recreational fine art educators. By the way, this entire project is
rendered with 0.3mm and 0.5mm mechanical pencils, from 4H to 2B.

16 PAGES – 23 ILLUSTRATIONS
Published by Hoddinott Fine Art Publishers, Halifax, NS, Canada – March, 2006
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SKETCHING WITH HELP FROM A GRID

Many of my caricatures are rendered from life or memory; however, this particular project is
done from a photo. A complex grid is used to properly place the facial features, and then, once I
know where the features belong, I modify and/or exaggerate each as I want. To give you an idea
of the time I spent on each phase of this drawing, I include my drawing diary. By the way, this
entire project is rendered with 0.3mm and 0.5mm mechanical pencils, from 4H to 2B.
This particular caricature has been waiting for conception ever since I first saw Lord Algernon
dressed in his medieval garb. His wonderfully animated face is an artist’s delight, and lends itself
perfectly to pretty much all media.

ILLUSTRATION 02-01
™ Sunday 3 to 4 pm (1 hour total): I take
photos with a digital camera, and
download them to my computer.

Compare the photo to the completed

caricature. I exaggerated the size of his
head, by drawing a disproportionately tiny
neck and upper body. His eyes are
rendered in greater detail than the rest of
the drawing, and are drawn even larger
than they are in the photo. I also modified
his hair and goatee; some facial features,
forms, and spaces; and added a fancy
medieval shirt, instead of a t-shirt.

ILLUSTRATION 02-02
The text instructions in this project guide you through
the process of drawing a caricature from a photo. You
can either follow along with me and draw Lord
Algernon, or create an original caricature by drawing
someone else. If you work from a photo, make sure
you choose one in which the facial features are clear
and in focus.

1. Draw a grid on your photo.

Following are my two favorite methods for adding a
grid to a photo.
¾ Use the lines of graph paper as guidelines to draw
the horizontal and vertical grid lines with a fine
tip ballpoint pen.
¾ If your photo is in digital format, draw a grid
directly on the file in a photo imaging program (I
use Adobe Photoshop). Then print the photo.

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com
 3

Don’t forget to mark letters and numbers around the perimeter of the photo so you can identify
each vertical and horizontal row.

™ Sunday 5 to 7 pm (3 hours total): I add a grid to the photo in Photoshop, and then print the file
and mark numbers and letters on its top and sides.

ILLUSTRATION 02-03

2. Press gently
on your
pencil to
draw a grid
on your
paper.
My drawing is
one and a half
times the size
of the photo.
Hence, I have
one-quarter
inch squares
on the photo,
and three-
eighth inch
squares on the
drawing paper.
If you don’t
like measuring
to draw the
grid squares,
you can tape
the corners of
your paper to
a large sheet
of graph
paper. Then,
use a ruler to
connect the
grid lines on
opposite sides.
Only the weight of the pencil itself created the very faint lines of both my grid and sketch.
Needless to say, this illustration has been scanned much darker, so you can see it! Also, don’t
forget to add letters and numbers to your drawing paper to correspond with those on the photo so
you can identify each square as you work. Also, refer to Illustration 02-04.

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com
 4

™ Sunday 8 to 11 pm (6 hours total): I draw a grid on the drawing paper, add numbers and letters,
and then lightly sketch the face and hair.

ILLUSTRATION 02-04
3. Use the grid squares to
draw your subject.
Also refer to Illustrations
02-03 and 02-05.
When I work with a grid, I
prefer to begin in the upper
left and then work
downward toward the right
(I’m right handed).
I use an HB pencil, and
work on one square at a
time, while constantly
referring to my photo to
make sure that I’m working
in the correct squares.
Drawing the contents of
one grid square at a time is
much simpler than trying to
tackle a whole section at
once.
By the way, grids do not
hinder artistic growth;
rather, they serve as tools to
make the learning process
more pleasurable by
helping with such
challenges as rendering
believable proportions and
correct perspective.

The most important component of

learning to draw is maintaining the
enthusiasm.
Aspiring artists should feel comfortable in
using whatever tools are available to them,
such as viewfinder frames and grids, so as to
create drawings that make them happy and
subsequently motivated to continue onward.

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com
 5

ILLUSTRATION 02-05

™ Monday 1 to 2 pm (7 hours total):

lightly sketch the upper section of the
shirt, and check over the drawing.

The shirt is very roughly

sketched at this point; more
adjustments and additional
details will be added in the
final stages of the project.
An ideal disproportionate
width for the upper body on a
caricature is approximately
the width of the head.
To accentuate his most
distinctive feature, his eyes,
I plan an overall tightly
cropped composition.

Strong drawing skills

and a good knowledge of facial
anatomy are important aspects of
drawing caricatures and cartoons
of people. In other words, when
you know the rules, you know
how to break them successfully!

OUTLINING AND
SHADING STRANDS
OF CARTOON HAIR
A well done preliminary
drawing makes the shading
phase of a project much
simpler. Hence, you first
outline all sections of the
subject’s hair with thin lines,
and then add shading
according to a dominant light
source from the upper right.

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com
 6

ILLUSTRATION 02-06
™ Monday 6 to 9 pm: I
outline the intricate details
of the hair (10 hours total)

4. Use an HB pencil to
outline each strand of
hair.
You now know why this
project is in the advanced
section! You need an
incredible amount of
patience.

ILLUSTRATION 02-07

Remember to erase the grid lines in each section

before you add the outlines. I used a 0.3mm
mechanical pencil. If you’re using a regular
pencil, keep it nice and sharp.
As I outline the hair, I find it very helpful to
follow each strand of hair from its origin to its
ending, over, under, and behind other strands.
Even though all the individual strands of hair
are curved, many are thicker than others. They
overlap and intertwine throughout the hair.

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com
 7

ILLUSTRATION 02-08

5. Use a kneaded eraser to pat the hair until the

outlines are very light in value.
I’m into my third day of working on this project and
can’t wait to start the shading. By the way, the
hours spent working on this drawing, exclude the
time I spent writing this text and making scans of
the drawing in progress.

™ Tuesday 4 to 8 pm (14 hours total): I complete the

final outlines and shading of the hair.

ILLUSTRATION 02-09

6. Add shading to
each section of
hair.
Remember, this
drawing has a
LOT of hair, so, if
you don’t have an
extraordinary
attention span,
choose a less
tedious style of
drawing.
Experiment with
different
techniques to find
a comfortable
style for shading
the hair before
you begin.
Rely on the light
source from the
upper right front, to
tell you where to
draw the light and
dark values.
In some of the
shadow sections
on the left, the
values are very
dark.

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com
 8

7. Add dark outlines to the shadow sections of hair, and faint outlines to lighter sections.
The shading is lighter on the right, with lots of the white paper showing through. I have
also added a darker outline around the entire perimeter of the hair.

ILLUSTRATION 02-10

The images in the next four sections of this tutorial are fairly self-explanatory, so you’ll
find very little text from this point onward. Remember to erase the grid lines from each section
before you begin adding shading. Then, pat that section with a kneaded eraser to lighten the sketch
lines, and remove any remaining eraser crumbs.

FOREHEAD, EYEBROWS, AND EYES

In this section you use crosshatching graduations to add shading to the forehead and eyes, and
hatching lines to complete the eyebrows.

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com
 9

8. Refer to the following four illustrations to draw the forehead, eyebrows, and eyes.
Begin by shading the upper section of the forehead along the hairline, and slowly progress
down the face toward the eyebrows. The shading that defines the forms of the forehead,
eyes, and eye sockets is slightly darker on the left. Use a 2H pencil for the light areas, and
an HB for the darker shadow areas.
All the crosshatching lines used for the delicate facial shading are diagonal rather than
horizontal and vertical. This is a matter of personal preference and style.

™ Wednesday 5 to 6 pm (15 hours total): I add shading to the forehead and around the upper
sections of the eyes, and draw the eyebrows.

ILLUSTRATION 02-11

For the eyebrows, use a shading style similar to that of the hair. The shading directly below
the eyebrows, is relatively dark in value, especially on the left. Remember to keep your
pencil point very sharp.

ILLUSTRATION 02-12

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com
 10

Outline the pupils, irises, and highlights, and add shading to the upper eyelids and the forms
surrounding the eyes. Keep in mind that the shading on the left is darker than on the right.
Draw tiny oval-shapes (rendered in much the same way as the hair and eyebrows) as eyelashes.
The irises are shaded with an HB pencil, and the pupils with a 4B. The irises are darker on the
right, the side where the highlight is drawn.

™ Wednesday 7 to 9 pm (17 hours total): I added shading to the eyes and the forms surrounding
the eyes.

ILLUSTRATION 02-13

ILLUSTRATION 02-14

NOSE, MOUTH, AND EARS

In this section, you complete the shading on the face with crosshatching graduations. Remember
to leave the highlight of the nose white, and to leave a light area along the shadow edge of the
nose to represent reflected light. The values on the right side of the face are very light. Also, take
note that the ear on the right is much lighter in value than the other.

9. Refer to the following seven illustrations, and complete the shading of the center
sections of the face.

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com
 11

ILLUSTRATION 02-15 ILLUSTRATION 02-16

™ Thursday 6
to 8 pm (19
hours
total): I add
shading to
the
shadow
sections of
the face on
the left,
and
complete
the
shading of
the nose.

ILLUSTRATION 02-17

™ Friday 1 to 2:00 pm
(20 hours total): I
add shading to the
section of the face
directly below the
eye on the right.

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com
 12

ILLUSTRATION 02-18

™ Friday 3 to 5:00 pm (22 hours total): I add

shading to the cheekbone section of the face
(on the right), and finish the mouth and the
other ear.

ILLUSTRATION 02-19

ILLUSTRATION 02-20

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com
 13

CHIN, GOATEE, AND NECK

In this section you use crosshatching graduations for the chin and neck. The goatee is rendered in
the same way as the hair and eyebrows.

ILLUSTRATION 02-21

10. Refer to the following two

illustrations, and complete
the shading of the face,
goatee, and neck.

ILLUSTRATION 02-22

™ Friday 6 to 7 pm (23 hours

total): I add dark values to the
neck, a broad range of values
to the chin and jaw sections
(on the right), and finish the
goatee.

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com
 14

ILLUSTRATION 02-23
FINAL TOUCHES
In this section, you complete
the shirt with loosely rendered
crosshatching, and touch up
any sections with which you’re
not totally happy.

11. Complete your

drawing!
Add shading to the shirt to
define the shadows on the
left, and give the illusion of
depth to the collar.
Shading has now been added
to the entire drawing. The
final goal is to enhance the
overall contrast.
Use a kneaded eraser to pull
out the lightest values on the
sections on the right. The
strong highlights of his eyes,
hair, nose, chin, and cheeks are
the white of the paper.
With freshly sharpened 2B and 4B
pencils, darken some sections of
shading, especially in the shadow
areas on the left side of his face,
hair, and neck.

™ Monday 5 to 7 pm (25 hours

total): I add shading to the shirt
and touch up the shading.

By the way, the total

preparation time (including the
25 hours drawing) to bring this
project to the website was over
40 hours.

Sign your name and

put today’s date on
the back of your
drawing.

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com
 15

BRENDA HODDINOTT - BIOGRAPHY

As a self-educated teacher, visual artist, portraitist, forensic artist, and illustrator, Brenda
Hoddinott utilizes diverse art media including graphite, technical pen, colored pencil, chalk
pastel, charcoal, conté crayon, and oil paints.

My philosophy on teaching art is to focus primarily on the

enjoyment aspects while gently introducing the technical and
academic. Hence, in creating a passion for the subject matter,
the quest for knowledge also becomes enjoyable.
>Brenda Hoddinott<

Born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Brenda grew up in the small town of Corner Brook. She
developed strong technical competencies with a personal commitment to self directed learning,
and the aid of assorted “Learn to Draw” books. During Brenda’s twenty-five year career as a
self-educated civilian forensic artist, numerous criminal investigation departments have
employed Brenda’s skills, including Royal Canadian Mounted Police and municipal police
departments. In 1992, Brenda was honored with a commendation from the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police, and in 1994, she was awarded a Certificate of Membership from “Forensic
Artists International”.
Her home-based art career included graphic design, and teaching recreational drawing and
painting classes. As supervisor of her community’s recreational art department, Brenda hired and
trained teachers, and designed curriculum for several children’s art programs. In 1998, Brenda
chose to end her eighteen-year career as an art educator in order to devote more time to writing,
drawing, painting, and developing her websites.
Drawspace http://www.drawspace.com incorporates her unique style and innovative approach to
curriculum development. This site offers downloadable and printable drawing classes for
students of all abilities from the age of eight through adult. Students of all ages, levels and
abilities have praised the simple step-by-step instructional approach. These sites are respected as
a resource for fine art educators, home schooling programs, and educational facilities throughout
the world.

LEARN-TO-DRAW BOOKS BY BRENDA HODDINOTT

Drawing for Dummies: Wiley Publishing, Inc., New, York, NY, this 336 page book is available
on various websites and in major bookstores internationally.
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Drawing People: Winner of the Alpha-Penguin Book of the
Year Award 2004, Alpha - Pearson Education – Macmillan, Indianapolis, IN, this 360 page book
is available on various websites and in major bookstores internationally.

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com