Learn portrait drawing in easy steps - part 1: always starts from composition:

In this video, you will discover the step-by-step process for drawing a head in profile, of a man, woman and child.

students often ask me how to draw a portrait so that it looks realistic. I also regularly receive portrait drawings for critique that have common errors such as misplaced facial features, incorrect proportions, poor perspective, etc. Such errors occur because of:

Not knowing or not following the principles of constructive design
Ignoring the proportions of the human head
Gaps in knowledge of human anatomy.
The biggest challenge in portrait drawing comes from a misconception about how art is created: students do not draw what they know, but copy what they see. This leads to inevitable errors.

To explain why the principle “Draw what you know, not what you see” is important, I’ll give you an example. When drawing from life, art students strive to represent the eyes, nose, and mouth as they see them on a model, forgetting, however, the overall construction of the head. It's like decorating walls before building a house.

To “build” a head by drawing a portrait requires much more than simply copying what you see. And the necessary know-how only comes with crucial knowledge. You simply won't see the accuracy of the proportions if you don't know what those proportions are.

So, in this video series on this channel, I will share with you the in-depth, step-by-step know-how of portrait drawing as it is taught in one of the best art institutions in the world –