Hello! Welcome to this introductory tutorial on portraiture!

A portrait is a drawing or painting that represents someone or something with enough accuracy to make it possible to recognize the subject. I believe that nowadays, this concept applies to any style and to any being one wishes to represent (person, character, animal, fantastic creature, etc.)... therefore, let's take a look at the basic notions to keep in mind when we want to make a portrait.

 

Since the first thing that comes to mind when talking about portraits is the human portrait, let's start there.

 

Basic structure of the human head. Measurements and proportions.

Even if you are copying directly from a photo, knowing the structure within the face greatly helps when drawing it and when planning lights and shadows. Let's start by studying the basic measurements of a face from the front and in profile.

 

When drawing, always keep in mind the relationship of distance and size between features.

While there are some traditional rules (or canon) that more or less persist, each face has different proportions. These canonical rules are somewhat basic, but they help structure a face that is at rest and looking forward. Practice with different types of faces to test these rules before moving on to drawing more complex gestures:

 

1- The face can be divided vertically into two parts with a line used as an axis of symmetry. This axis is vital for initially understanding the direction of the face, where the gaze is directed, and which features are more visible. Furthermore, this axis must follow the shape, curvature, and inclination of the face.

 

2- The face can be divided horizontally into three equal parts: from the hairline to the brow, from the brow to the end of the nose, and from the end of the nose to the chin.

 

3- If we view the face in profile, the total width can be divided into three equal parts: from the back of the skull to the edge of the ear, from this edge to the corner of the eye, and from the corner of the eye to the tip of the nose.

 

3- The space between the end of the nose and the chin can be divided into three equal parts. From the end of the nose to the opening of the mouth, from the opening of the mouth to the cleft of the chin, and from this cleft to the chin.

 

 

4- The height of the ear's attachment point matches the height of the corner of the eye. The bottom of the ear aligns with the corner of the mouth.

 

5- If we view the face from the front and looking straight ahead, the corners of the mouth align with the middle of the eye.

 

6- The distance between one eye and the other is equal to the width of one eye.

 

A very important resource that helps with this is MEASURING. For this, choose a part of the face that doesn't vary too much in size and is easy to measure, to use it as a size reference for the other parts. In a whole human body, the size of the skull is used as a measurement. In a face, you can use the width of the eye, the height of the nose, the size of the ear... choose whichever is most comfortable. The point is to think, "How many times does this measurement fit into this other measurement?" to be able to construct each feature in relation to the others.

 

Although they serve as general rules for incorporating the relationship of size and location between one feature and another, these measurements originated in antiquity and have been used ever since to achieve very symmetrical faces. However, the faces of most people do not exactly comply with these very specific rules. Let's look at some examples with other faces:

 

As you can see, the guides vary quite a bit in size and general shape.

 

Keeping this data in mind, it's best to start with a basic skull outline and then incorporate the features. Generally, the simplest way is to start with a circle for the skull; then incorporate a shape similar to a cube, oval, or triangle to form the jaw; then add horizontal and vertical guides to place the eyebrows and the end of the nose; and finally add triangular shapes to form the nose, ovals for the ears, and circles to define the eye socket. Finally, within this scheme, we can incorporate the details of each feature.

 

There are different ways to schematically approach the face. It's good to try several until you find the one that is most comfortable for you, according to your drawing style. Here are a couple of examples:

 

These measurements are also useful for working on a partially profiled face, but the measurements between both halves of the face must be modified following the volumetric shape of the skull to show the perspective of the pose.

 

Structure and stylization of human features.

Depending on your drawing style, you can represent someone in different ways. In my case, I like to simplify the hair and enlarge the eyes, for example. This type of modification is called stylization because the model, or reality, is adapted to each individual's particular style. The further the drawing deviates from reality, the greater its stylization. Let's look at a couple of examples of stylization:

 

 

 

This process greatly depends on individual tastes and interests. However, I think it's important to study realism to then find the level of simplification we want to use. This is not strictly necessary, but it greatly helps to incorporate the basic notions of perspective and structure. Even if you have no interest in realism, consider that for practice it is the most accessible, as photos of many types of faces can be easily obtained. Furthermore, if you were to use stylized drawings by someone else as a model for practice, it would be difficult later to find your own style after having copied them.

 

To begin, I'll show you very simple ways to draw a basic structure for eyes, nose, and mouth from the front and profile.

 

To draw a partial profile, these rules and guides must be modified slightly. Considering which is the vertical half of the feature, the half that is further from the viewer will appear smaller. To draw this, simply reduce the measurement of the more distant half.

 

Once we have the basic structure and the skull axes, we can start placing the features. Depending on the level of realism being handled, each feature has different ways of being drawn.

 

To adapt human faces to different styles, measurements can be slightly modified. However, some of these guides are more useful than others even in different styles and should be considered. Use them at your convenience: for example, the circle for the skull and the jaw shape can be maintained in any style. However, I recommend trying different configurations using these three basic references:

 

1- Simple shapes that serve as a base for the skull.

 

2- Place the eye axis at different heights along the vertical axis. While when studying a more realistic structure, eyebrow height is more commonly used to locate the eyes; in the simplified structural version I like to use, I build the face from an axis that directly indicates the position of the eyes.

 

3- Combination of simple shapes to add variety to the skull and jaw.

 

Don't forget to place the axes that mark the vertical midline of the face to maintain proportions on both sides of the head.

 

Portraiture of animals and fantastic characters.

Since the term portrait refers to the format, and not the content of the image, let's also talk about portraits of non-human characters. Similar rules and structures to those we saw for humans can be used, modifying them slightly to adapt them to the being you want to create.

 

It's good to think about the general shape of the face you want to create, to use the shape that best suits you as the base for the skull. Take advantage of all the tools you need for constructing the basic outline: diagonal lines, rhombuses, crosses, stars, circles...

 

Let's explore examples of the basic types of guides we can use for some different types of animals, as references for them are easy to obtain for study and practice:

 

1- Line over the bridge of the nose to divide the head vertically into 2 and maintain symmetry

2- Circles as the base of the skull, divided vertically into 2 to place ears, eyes, horns....

3- Horizontal line connecting the snout, eye, and ear

4- Rectangular or cylindrical shapes for snouts and beaks.

5- Always remember to compare the distances and sizes between one feature and another!

 

Portrait Composition.

Whether you work with references or create your own character, consider the following aspects to achieve an interesting portrait that speaks of the subject's personality. (I love drawing animals, which is why most of the examples I'm going to use are with animal or anthropomorphic characters).

 

• Framing:

This refers to the amount of information we include within the canvas's boundaries. A portrait is usually represented as a head, bust, or mid-shot. A larger frame (i.e., with more information, for example, a shot that includes the whole body, or where the background is very large) would distract from the character's face and would no longer be considered a portrait. I think that frames like the following are the most efficient for portraits:

 

• Contrasting backgrounds:

At this point, we must think of the background as the frame or context of the figure (i.e., the face). In order to focus the viewer's attention on the character, the background must be consistent with the tones and complexity of the portrayed character. By this last point, I mean that it is convenient for the background and figure to have opposite characteristics; if the face is very smooth, perhaps a textured background would help highlight it; if the face is very pale, a medium-toned background will be sufficient to distinguish it; if the face is very dark, a lighter background will better help define the contours, etc. Furthermore, a very complex or very detailed background would distract from the face; generally, it is better to keep it simple.

 

• Direction of the face that highlights the gesture or characteristic you want to emphasize:

Depending on the attributes of the character we want to create, and according to the attribute you are most interested in highlighting, it is good to choose the direction or point of view that face will have. The most common views are front, profile, or partial profile. It is also good to consider less common viewpoints, such as high-angle or low-angle, to generate different effects.

 

• Direction of the subject's gaze:

The eyes are the most important point in a portrait; they reveal personality the most. Give your character attitude by considering where they look, in a way that helps identify their personality and also guides the viewer's eye. Having the character look in a different direction than their face is pointing adds dynamism to the composition.

 

• Directions within the image to guide the viewer to the character's face:

The position of the body, hair, clothing, and ornaments complement the figure. With such a small frame, it's important to make the most of the available elements to show the character and their attributes. Guide the viewer's gaze using hair, jewelry or ornaments, tattoos… without forgetting that the most important point in a portrait is usually the character's eyes. Keep in mind that combinations of different types of lines (curved, straight, etc.) and different directions are what give dynamism to the pose. In traditional art, this technique of structural axes with opposite directions is called Contrapposto, if you want to investigate further. It's especially useful in full-body figures!

 

Tips for beginners who want to draw Portraits with reference

• Choosing the reference

When it comes to correctly defining volumes, it's important that we can see them well. Using photos or a live model with strong lights and shadows will help a lot, especially in the sketching stage, and even more so if you are a beginner. This is even more important when you are trying to portray someone or something with a very smooth and wrinkle-free surface, where very clear or subtle lighting will make it look very flat and make it difficult to interpret the volume. The same happens when the reference is too dark, where the boundaries between elements are lost.

 

 

(What I just said is mostly useful for beginners, as a more trained person can probably see the structure in a face more easily even with very uniform lighting)

 

• Caricature and characteristic features

The most basic elements to use to achieve a likeness or an interesting character design are the characteristic features. Look for the most prominent features, whether they are small, large, close together, separate, wide, or thin. It is these basic characteristics that, when used and/or exaggerated, give the likeness to the model or personality to the character. Which of the following options is most similar to the model?

 

In each one, a different feature is exaggerated more. Probably number 1 is the most similar, since the most prominent feature in the reference is the nose.

This is why it is essential to identify the features and their importance within the face; to be able to balance their proportions according to each person's drawing style.

 

 

Gestures.

Also, when we think of a portrait, the first thing that comes to mind is a serious or serene face, but it doesn't have to be that way. Explore the expressions of the person or character you are portraying to better interpret their personality. It's very useful to explore the work of other people in this because emotions, even if very universal, are represented differently according to the artist, but they still manage to make us interpret them more or less in the same way. I highly recommend studying comedians, caricatures, comics, Japanese manga, and concept art from animated films.

This is especially useful when exploring character design.

 

 

The trick here is to "deform" the face you are drawing. Study the expression you want to create well to know which deformations to make (even in realism!). If we take the first gesture of the fox character as an example (the first one if we count from left to right), it has an expression of disgust that makes it frown, pull its ears back, twist its mouth to the side, and even wrinkle its snout a bit.

 

 

Shadows and volume: basic value structure.

Light and volume are very dependent on each other when it comes to constructing a figure. With volume in mind, you can illuminate the drawing with greater precision; with lighting in view, you can better interpret volume.

My advice is that, when studying these aspects, create a simplified model of volume using value planes (i.e., with grays: light grays to mark where there is light, dark grays to mark shadow). The advantage of this method is that it can be applied to different types of heads. This will then serve to establish a correct lighting structure. The basic drawing structure we have been seeing can be very useful in this step. Keep in mind that at this point, it is most useful to make this scheme with a maximum of 4 shades of gray, to keep things simple and easy.

 

When working with reference, it's a bit simpler. Use the light visible in the image as a guide to establish the structure. Here I show you different ways to achieve that shading, from a more complex vision to a simpler one. The last example incorporates the guide lines for the face structure, and you can see that the shape of the light and shadow areas coincide with key shapes and points of this structural guide.

 

Furthermore, to help capture lights and shadows, and taking advantage of the features of digital programs, in cases where you have a reference, it's useful to convert the image to grayscale so that color doesn't distract. This works for both simple and realistic works, because those shadows define the shapes and help us capture them better, especially if you're looking for a likeness to the model.

 

Even if you don't paint very realistically, it's very useful to make at least a small, quick grayscale light scheme. Lighting is the best indicator for knowing the volumetric shape of the face.

 

My portrait drawing process and a review of what we've seen so far.

I'm going to show you a step-by-step drawing process for the characters on the cover of this tutorial.

 

1- Quick sketch of the pose and basic structure.

 

2- Refine the sketch, adding volume and characteristics.

3- Further refinement, size correction, addition of details and features.

4- Definition of the final sketch

 

5- Final Lineart.

 

6- Base Color + Lights + Shadows + Details.

(I used the same base for both drawings, which is why they are so similar)

 

Acknowledgements and contact

I especially want to thank the support of family and friends who helped me with photos to analyze and who agreed to be immortalized on the internet through this medium!

 

Thank you for watching this tutorial. Do not hesitate to leave me suggestions in the comments for my next tutorials, or even for this one!

 

If you like my work, you can follow me on my drawing Instagram: @barbara_brutti_ilustraciones