[Learn to draw by Tissa Hewavitharana]

In the past lessons we dealt with animals, still life, flowers and feathered friends in colour. It is time we got to know how to paint the human form in colour. These exercises do not go into much detail about using colours as we start with beginners. Perhaps some expect instant results and are surprised to find it is not so. The ability to produce human figures and faces can only come with constant practice and knowledge.

We will start with simple objects such as eyes, ears, nose and lips.

Figure 1 - eyes

Drawing eyes and painting them need not be as difficult as some think. A thin coat of paint is applied according to your skin colour. I have used light red with colour and light red with black.

Figure 2 gives examples taken from life painting the nose. Notice how, while, the overall shape of each nose varies from person to person. The nostrils are almost the same. They mainly differ according to the angle from which they are viewed.

Figure 3, a bit of a lip. There are different mouth shapes and this feature changes with age. Notice the illustrations of lips which reveal the way lips are creased by small lines which follow the curve of the flesh. Usually the colour of the lip is light red, rose colour and it varies according to the person whether it is a male or female.

At times it can be dark lips, today's exercise ends with the ears.

Figure 4

The ears are interesting to paint because each person has a unique pair. They come in many sizes with variations of basic shapes. Note the illustrations given on Figure 4 - a selection of ears.

See how they have been painted with a dull colour and the finished outline is given in a complete drawing. Most beginners tend to try instead, to put down every line. They end up in a mess. The best suggestion is to draw and colour with a few lines as possible. This makes for less work and an easier life which is something we all aim for.