Traditional-Drawing Tutorial: Drawing A Likeness of Young Love By Norman Rockwell

Norman Rockwell was a famous illustrator, many of his art work appeared on covers of magazines. You can read a bit about him here and see some of his work here.

The image we will be drawing is called 'Young Love'. It appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post on July 11, 1936. This tutorial provides drawing practice for various shading techniques, good visual skills and proportion judgment. Level of this tutorial would be placed at medium to expert. You can view the original painting on the net, although this original tutorial was made before computers were used and adapted for the internet.

Note: Making a drawing tutorial can be very hard and time consuming, it's impossible to scan every line you draw in and to explain every pencil stroke you make.
It is mainly visual and the person doing the tutorial needs to study each accompanying image very carefully. It's not like making a photoshop tutorial, we can't give exact step by step, nor can we promise your finished image will be identical to the one in the tutorial. We all have our own style of drawing and it impacts our results in our finished image.

End result:

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Practice tutorial

Tags:normanrockwell

Step 1

Materials:

#H Graphite Pencil
Ruler
Kneaded Eraser
Circle Template - Small
Paper (3 sheets)
Light Table or Sunny Window

Step 1
The most important part is to practice shading techniques, please practice the ones shown here. Allowing your hand to get used to the different motions and flows each one requires.

Step 2

Step 2
The first thing to do is to print out the finished image for reference and NO, you are not allowed to trace the image! (I'll sic my attack cat one you, the deadly Sparta. She will drool on you. =p ) I freely admit that I am better at showing someone how to draw then I am at explaining it with words. Drawing is visual, not so easy to put into words.

Block in your young couple, using lines and small circles.

Step 3

Step 3
Roughly over your stick figures, draw in some of guide lines on where the hair is, the shape of the head, legs, hat and stone will be.

Don't worry if its not perfect, its just our guide for our drawing.

Step 4

Step 4
Okay, study the finished drawing. Using the guide we just drew, place a new sheet of paper over it. You can use a light table, a sunny window or have a bright light shinning on the paper with white under the guide. I'm expecting more from you this time, I expect you to draw in her entire head with face and hair in one step.

Step 5

Step 5
With the side larger image to guide us, we now draw in the guys head. (Remember, we can use finished drawing to guide us if needed and fix any areas needed before we finish the picture. Its always good to go over an image at the end to see if you missed something or if something is to dark or to light.)

Step 6

Step 6
Using the larger image at the bottom as guide, draw in the top of her dress. Just the outline for now. Include the top part of her arms.

Step 7

Step 7
Now we are going to start drawing in the ruffles on the left shoulder.
Larger image will guide you.

Step 8

Step 8
Now draw in the ruffles on the right shoulder, his neck with shading and his shirt collar. Use lower image to guide you.

Step 9

Step 9
Draw in his shoulder and the beginning of his arm. Some more detail to the collar area of his shirt near the neck.

Step 10

Step 10
Okay, now draw in more of her arms, from elbows to wrists, then draw in the waist of her gown. Bottom image will guide you.

Step 11

Step 11
Now we draw in some detail of the waist of her gown and the skirt of her gown between her arms. Lower image will guide you.

Step 12

Step 12
Now we draw in his hand resting on left side of her waist and her left hand, then start of the right hand. Use larger image to guide you.

Step 13

Step 13
Start drawing in his right arm, the shirt detail on the right side of his body. Folds in the fabric.

Step 14

Step 14
We are going to be doing a bit in this step. Draw in the fingers of her right hand, the left outer part of her hat and the left upper art of her skirt. Make sure to do the folds of the material in the skirt as you draw.

Step 15

Step 15
Draw in the right side of her hat, his legs. don't forget to make folds in his pants and start adding a bit of shading as you go, don't forget the right side of her gown. Lower image will guide you.

Step 16

Step 16
Now we are going to draw in the shading to his trousers, with creases in the front. Use lower image to guide you.

Step 17

Step 17
Draw in the inner part of the hat and start circling it will flowers on the left side, use lower image as your guide.

Step 18

Step 18
We will finish some more detail on the hat, finish drawing the flowers, add detail separating the crown from the brim, start the bow and trailing ribbons and add some texture to the brim and a bit to the crown. Close up will guide you.

Step 19

Step 19
With soft lines, draw in the bottom of her skirt, include areas where her skirt would pleat up. Larger image will guide you.

Step 20

Step 20
Add the sheer layer to her dress and hat, larger image will guide you.

Step 21

Step 21
Draw in the pleats lightly on the skirt under the sheer over skirt, this part of the drawing is going to take some playing with in later steps, so be warned.

Step 22

Step 22
Using larger image to guide you, draw in the rest of the detail to her skirt.

Step 23

Step 23
Using a smudge stick, start working on the edges and pleats of the of the sheer over skirt. Image on right will guide you.

Step 24

Step 24
Time to use your kneaded eraser, lightly go over the lines of the sheer over skirt. Lighten them and give them a soft look. (A scanner doesn't pick up ever line drawn, sorry and I have to keep mine dark for the scanner to pick them up for you to see. So, on this part you are going to have to trust your own judgment on when the over skirt looks just right.)

Step 25

Step 25
The shading on his trousers wasn't showing well, so I darkened them for you, draw in the right bottom cuff of his trousers and the edge to his right shirt sleeve. Image on right will guide you.

Step 26

Step 26
Time to play with your eraser again, lighten up some of the shading on his trousers.

Step 27

Step 27
Using the larger image on the right, draw in his right hand with shading, the top of the rock and the outline of his shoes.

Step 28

Start drawing in some texture to the top of the rock, using larger image to guide you.

Step 29

We go back to the sheer over skirt and add some texture to it, let close up guide you.

Step 30

Lightly go over the texture with your kneaded eraser to lighten the texture, giving it a soft look.

Step 31

Draw in the shading and detail to his shoes, let image on right guide you.

Step 32

Draw more detail in for the rock.

Step 33

Finnish the hat ribbons and add some texture to the ground before her.
Lighten the shading on his shoes.

Step 34

Add more texture to the rock, larger image on right will guide you.

Step 35

Use your blending stump and go over the texture for the rock and ground, soften it.

Step 36

Image is almost done, go over it carefully, darkening or lightening lines as needed. Check for any thing you might want to change or forgot to draw in. You have just drawn a likeness of Norman Rockwell's 'Young Love', well done you!

You now know a kneaded eraser is another blending tool, I have one for erasing and one for blending. thank you for taking the time to read through my tutorial, have a nice day!

4 Comments:

hereisanoop says:

excellent.........

(2 years and 359 days ago)

Guest says:

fabulous !

(2 years and 313 days ago)

Guest says:

excellent work

(2 years and 133 days ago)

söve says:

Very very nice thank u for posting.
by söve

(2 years and 40 days ago)

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