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In the premium lesson, Cesar Santos demonstrates his approach to values in portrait drawing using a simplified portrait of Stan. He starts by simplifying the drawing, identifying high and low points, and connecting them with straight lines to establish essential shapes.
Cesar shows how to unify shadow areas into one simple dark value, emphasizing the effectiveness of working with just two values. He introduces tools like Pan Pastel and modified synthetic brushes to smooth and flatten the shadows into a clean tone.
The lesson highlights the importance of smooth shadows and building up light areas by considering the head as a sphere. Cesar explains how light decreases as it moves down and to the sides, and how to model the form accordingly.
He discusses being wary of optical illusions that can trick our perception of values and demonstrates using the eraser as a drawing tool to refine lights. After establishing the big forms, Cesar models smaller forms like the nose, eye sockets, and mouth, and adds the darkest darks to enhance depth.
Throughout the demonstration, he emphasizes the process of going from big to small, focusing on values before details. This organized approach helps create a strong sense of form in portrait drawing.
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