Learn to Trust Your Eye While Drawing Eyes Closed with Alex Cooper

Learning to see a face as a dynamic landscape of light and shadow rather than a set of defined features is one of the most freeing steps you can take as an artist.

In this lesson (70 mins), artist Alex Cooper guides you step-by-step through drawing a portrait of a fascinating subject whose closed eyes and slightly tilted-back pose challenge you to abandon rigid formulas and trust your observational skills.

Alex demonstrates how to approach the drawing as an ongoing conversation of adjustments, starting by mapping out fundamental spatial relationships using loose plum lines and soft lead pencils (such as 2B and 3B).

From there, you'll learn to create structure by carving out shadow: using light cross-hatching to define major light-and-dark shapes, measuring distances relative to existing marks, and building up deep values with a 5B pencil to give the facial contours real weight and presence.

Key Takeaways

• Embrace the Process: Drawing is a series of corrections. Soft lead allows you to map out initial guidelines freely and adjust proportion without fear of damaging your paper.
• Measure Everything: Use features as reference points—such as aligning the corners of the mouth with the center of the eyes or measuring nostril width against tear ducts—to navigate unconventional angles.
• Shadow Builds Form: Define complex features like the nose and chin through surrounding shadow blocks and hatching rather than stark outlines.

Grab your softest pencil and embrace the rhythm of observing, shading, and adjusting. Let's get started!