8 TIPS - DRAW A BETTER PORTRAIT (Realistic Face From Life)

This drawing tutorial gives you 8 helpful tips to improve your drawing and to learn how to draw a better realistic portrait and realistic face from life. It's a complete art lesson on how to draw a portrait from life. And then how to finish that live portrait in your studio, working from a photo.

You'll find that these 8 tips are foundational to drawing a realistic face using any drawing medium, including charcoal or graphite pencil. And these art tips cover every step of the portraiture drawing process.

Yes! You can absolutely follow along as I work from live model Corrie and use sighting to determine the height-to-width ratio of her face, indicate placement of her features, block in the basic shapes of her face, establish the shadow and light shapes, and then refine everything to bring Corrie's portrait to a realistic finish.

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ABOUT ARTISTCHRONICLE:
Dedicated to teaching you the skills needed to draw and paint successfully.

Hey! I'm Don Stewart. You'll notice that I produced a lot of the videos here on the ArtistChronicle channel in 2009 to 2013. Where have I been? Well, in 2013 my priority became getting better at teaching offline. But now, in 2020, I'm online again! With renewed zeal and dedication to providing quality how to draw and how to paint video lessons!

This video is one of the latest and more with this new format are coming soon. But, whether you watch the latest or videos from a decade ago, I genuinely hope you find them all to be informative — and any kookiness to be entertaining. Hey, learning should be fun! You remember more :)

CREDITS:
Model - Corrie
Intro Music - Don Stewart
Music Used with Permission
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[feshgogulululu]

Okay but can we talk about that epic editing?

[kickthemik]

this video was so easy to understand and kept me engaged the entire time. i was surprised bc usually watching tutorial videos is pretty boring for me and most of the time I feel like I sort of already know most of the stuff they're saying. but this video was actually really helpful and entertaining! totally underrated tho :(

[varlyte]

Thats actually really helpful, thank you! AND funny too!

[jungkookstattoo]

THIS VIDEO HELPED ME SOO MUCH I CAN'T EXPRESS IT! I REALLY HAD PROBLEMS WITH DRAWING A FACE AND NOW THE TIPS OF MEASURING THE FACE MADE MY DRAWING SO INCREDIBLY PERFECT!!!YOUR TIPS ARE SO AMAZING I LOVE THIS CHANNEL AND WILL ALWAYS SUPPORT IT!!!

[binu]

This video and channel deserves more recognition..

[ger]

When you see a person who takes the pencil just like that, you know the drawing is going to be so

[courtneylirette]

This was very helpful.. I draw just as a hobby but have only taken a art class way back in elementary school. I usually just stick to what is easy for me (mostly plants) but I have wanted to learn how to draw people to challenge myself and (hopefully) improve my skills in the process.. turning the image upside down just helped me see so much that I wasn't seeing before... so awesome

[icwilson]

This is one of the best tutorials you've offered. Thanks!

[woowee]

i find this actually very informative, i never thought of thinking of everything of something i draw as a shape therefore limiting me from drawing much of a face since i can never pin it down, and the other aspect of scaling that you demonstrated is what finally helped me understand how to effectively check the scale of a person or thing’s face/size, also love your humor! keep up the good work too!

[ariannebantolio]

this was a really entertaining and helpful, i learned a lot

[bridgetmartin]

This video is not JUST helpful, but very enjoyable to watch. Don has an admirable sense of humor that is very engaging! Love it

[onestoplocation]

This man deserves a best art teacher award on an international level.

[Thatkid]

I’m a young artist doing portraits, I’ve been doing art basically my whole life. And this Video helps a lot, thanks!

[VercilJuan]

this video is so helpful. damn, its so underrated

[diclepolat]

i just discovered your channel and realized you’re telling every tip that i couldn’t find in any other channel and found out on my own (like the order of the stages, revealing the shape of the shadows at first, turning everything upside down etc.) you’re my favorite now 🔥

[slayeractual]

Corrie was great as your live model. I don't know if she's done that type of work before, but one thing I found out long ago when working with some models is that getting them to relax can be the toughest part of the session. Some models get nervous because the artist is just "staring" at them or they get anxious because they don't know what to do, or just making eye contact with them for long periods can be uncomfortable if they are not used to that.

So what I do is just talk to them about anything but the modeling. Small talk while I take the major measurements, or establish the layout does not require them to be perfectly still and they can loosen up a bit and get comfortable. I also like to take photos so I can reference them later to fill in the fine details that take the most time without the model having to even be there. Photos are also great to keep the light source the same depending on where you are sitting the model and the light source(s) available.

I enjoyed your instructions, but to be honest with you what really got me to watch this video was your thumbnail. It showed Corrie and she looks like a twin sister to a model I am currently using and have drawn many times over the past year. When I asked her to pose almost a year ago, she was always nervous, laughed a lot, couldn't hold a pose, got embarrassed and all those things new models tend to do. Now she is very relaxed, goes straight into the poses, follows instructions perfectly - "look there, look here, up, down, smile, serious, turn..." It's a blessing to have such a great model and it looks as if you found one in Corrie as well.

[sanmarino]

Great job, Don! Thanks for teaching us from your experience. The tips are invaluable! Bravo.

[easyvwj]

This helps me so much. Measuring, and not identifying eyes as eyes amd just as shapes, and blocking out the shadows. Very helpful, thanks!

[jettractor]

great tutorial! Being able to see shapes and darkness while ignoring the subject makes everything so much more fun to draw too.

[carljohnquitan]

I love how you point things out, it's clear and straight to the point. The visuals also helps to point out the details on the instruction. I find it fun to watch and at the same time I'm getting knowledge from your video. Thanks for the informations!😁