Freehand drawing of "Woli Arole" (An ever cheerful personality)

This man taught me to smile! I don't just draw any celebrity, I draw those who have a positive effect on me and add value to my life. Woli Arole is one of them! I've learnt from him from a distance to always wear a huge smile no matter what I'm going through. This right here is his signature look, those who know know. Cheerful people are even scientifically proven to live healthier and longer. You may want to emulate that today.

Who is Woli Arole?

Yes, you probably don't know if you're not from Nigeria. Woli Arole is a creative comedian and event MC, he now specializes in hilarious skits he posts on his instagram where he commands a fan base of almost 700,000.

The Process

Like I also like to do, I'll share the progress shots here and try my best to explain how I did it. Enjoy.

Freehand sketch, you should practice how to freehand regularly, it's a big plus. I use grids when I have to expand the drawing to a much bigger scale.

I used charcoal for the hair and eyes for more darkness and realism.

I drew the skin with graphite pencils and highlighted skin pores with a rubber eraser

Quick tip- to make hair look realistic, you shouldn't just paint it pure black, you need to leave highlights and draw little white hairs too to show the reflection of light.

While drawing the beard, I firstly drew textures with a light graphite pencil. I then drew the hairs individually and left out some white spaces as seen in the reference photo. I used a brush to lightly cover those spaces with charcoal then highlighted white hairs with eraser and white charcoal.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=LLYxdXoOQ1_YbVZYvYL3eiLg&v=BmR5b4j82q4
A little clip showing the final touches and signature. Music: Ire by Adekunle Gold

That's me acting like my teacher

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Thanks for reading, stay updated for more. My video tutorials are hitting #Dtube soon!!!