How To Draw Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez is In The House! Her new single “Dancing On The Floor” is hitting high on the charts. She’s done it all-dancing, acting, producing, fashion designing, winning awards, and judging. Speaking about judging, J.Lo. is now on American Idol‘s judge panel with over 70 million votes smashing their all-time high as the number one TV show.
As in my introduction picture, Jennifer sits on her throne as a queen and voted Most Beautiful Woman for this year by a popular magazine. I’m so happy for her success-and there’s plenty more room for more! I enjoyed drawing her and those remarkable ostrich feathers. I hope you’ll “dance on the floor” once you take a try at my tutorial. Let me know the results. Thanks for stopping by.
Here is a short study of the head and where to place the features for your portrait drawing. This outline to place the eyes, which is in the center between the top of the head (don’t include the hair) and the chin. Novices tend to draw the eyes to high on the head.
Notice the “Top of Head” line. Looking at a live subject, normally the top of the head is an inch higher than the hairline. LITTLE TIP: And when you draw the hair, it is normally an inch higher or more than the top of the head. So cool! The features are divided into thirds. From HAIRLINE to EYEBROWS & TOP OF EARS. The center 1/3rd is from EYEBROWS & TOP OF EARS to BOTTOM OF NOSE & EAR LOBES.
The last 1/3rd is from BOTTOM OF NOSE & EAR LOBES to CHIN. Look at the lines and notice how these features are level to their respective lines. Artists and friends, this practice makes perfect. However, some individual faces may vary slightly, but not that much.
If you notice any slight similarity to Jennifer, you’re right. Her hair is flowing as in “Dance On The Floor” video. Sorry for digressing. To continue, you can further divide the bottom area of the face into thirds: BOTTOM OF NOSE & EARS LOBES to the CHIN. From the BOTTOM OF NOSE & EAR to the center of MOUTH is the first one-third. The second one-third section is from the center of MOUTH to Above Chin. The third one-third (tongue-tied!) section is from Above Chin to CHIN.
The face in the picture is divided into 5 parts, horizontally. That’s by the width of the person’s eye. You can start the eye width in the middle of the face from tear duct to tear duct—but check out how the tear duct lines up with the outside nostril of the nose. Then the normal eye on each side of the face. Notice that dotted line? The outside of the mouth normally lines up near the pupil/iris.
The last two eyes represented on both sides of the face is from the outer eye to the outer side of the head (not ears… the ears are nested on the side of the head, but protrudes out further). These faces are Stock or Standard. Practice drawing them to give you a general measurement pattern to go by. The next step we’ll start with the actual drawing.
Draw the outline lightly. Use your No. 2HB or plain No.2 pencil.
Simply divide this in half. A straight edge or ruler is a great tool.
Looks like a bandana! Seriously, it does! The frame around this picture helps with the head and shoulder placements. Now draw the crescent shapes for the top of her head and hairline.
The four red lines on this figure are placements for facial features. The first long curving line is for Jennifer’s eyebrow placement. The second line is for her eyes. The third is for the bottom of her nose and fourth is for her mouth. Don’t forget to draw in her neck and upper shoulders.
The thrown like the curve is a placement for her ostrich feathers.
Draw in Jennifer’s eyebrow placement and eyes.
Now lightly sketch in her nose and lips.
This is heavier with details. Watch closely how the feathers form, how their movement is parallel to the curved guideline. You don’t have to draw in every feather exactly. You can actually use quick strokes to give motion. Don’t forget the feather stems and ruffles. Also draw more detail around her eyes, along with adding the bun on her head.
Those of you who would like to continue, I’d like to introduce the next helpful steps for realistic drawing. Click on the picture to see how highlights can be done.
Click on the picture for helpful hints on tone, shading, texture & reflective light.
From this point, you can erase the sketch lines and see how your drawing looks. Here’s the sketched outline without the guidelines show.
You can make straight lines to shade. This picture is darkened for you to see the lines. Don’t be shy in making a dark background behind the ostrich feathers.
Here is the finished sketch with added details.
This is the beginning of blending. It jump-starts your picture into looking more realistic. Also when you blend, especially with a tissue, it’s easier to make highlights or erase errors. Oh, notice how her bun at the top is slanting like the Tower of Pizza? Well, I had to fix that. Just a few adjustments made it look straighter.
All the background blending is complete. Now the feathers need to POP out!
That is where the trusty kneaded rubber eraser comes in. To correct messes like Jennifer’s bun and add those wonderful highlights. I hope you were able to glean from “How To Draw Jennifer Lopez.” Fav, vote, or comment, please. I really appreciate it!
Learn also: How to Draw Jessie J Easy Tutorial, 11 Steps.
