How to Draw a Portrait

Co-authored by Claire Wentzel

Last Updated: June 28, 2022

Realistic human portraits are a favorite of artists as each artist portrays with his hands and with his skills unique drawings or renderings of the human form. They try to make it real as possible. Almost everybody would like to posses good artistic skills. Few actually do, but with the help of this article, and a little practice, anyone can become a better artist. Let's begin!

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

A Realistic Female Human Portrait

1
Draw a circle for the head.
2
Draw two lines from the left and right sides, which meet and form an open triangle.

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3
Draw a curve line connecting the ends from the circle to the tip below.
4
Draw a vertical line which divides the figures to halves. Draw two sets of parallel lines at the lower part of the circle.
5
Using the lines as guide, draw details for the eyes, eyebrows, nose, and mouth at their appropriate positions.
6
Trace the border lines.
7
Draw details for the woman's hair, neck, and shoulders – use curve lines.
8
Trace with a pen and erase unnecessary lines.
9
Color to your liking!

Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

A Realistic Male Human Portrait

1
Draw a circle for the head.
2
Draw a vertical lines in the middle which extends outside the circle. Draw a horizontal line inside the circle at the lower part. Draw two parallel lines of different lengths below the circle.
3
Draw a triangle using the ends from the sides of the circle and the tip of the middle line as vertices.
4
Draw curve lines which connect the circle to the tip of the triangle. the circle.
5
Draw a small triangle in the middle and draw the ears using curve lines.
6
Using the lines as guide, draw details for the eyes, eyebrows, and mouth at their appropriate positions.
7
Refine the small triangle to resemble a nose and add details.
8
Trace with a pencil and erase unnecessary lines. Draw details for the hair and neck.
9
Erase unnecessary lines.
10
Color to your liking!

Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

A Cartoon-like Human Female Portrait

1
Draw a big vertical oval.
2
Bisect it with a vertical line and join a horizontal line across the the vertical line touching the edges of the oval for the guides to the eyes and nose.
3
Place a couple of short lines for the nose and mouth.
4
Add a small horizontal oval each on either side of the head for the ears.
5
Put in symmetrical lines for the eyebrows.
6
Create leaf-like shapes each on either side for the eye-shapes.
7
Make lip-guides by joining a triangle on top with three lines at the bottom.
8
Create eye-balls within the eye-shapes.
9
Draw the hair shape-outline.
10
On the basis of the guides, draw details of the portrait.
11
Erase all sketchy guide lines.
12
Color the pretty portrait.

Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

A Cartoon-like Human Male Portrait

1
Make an oval.
2
Bisect it with a vertical line stretching out of the circle. Draw another horizontal line off–center touching the edges of the left and right edges of the oval.
3
Put two more horizontal lines at the bottom, one smaller than the other for the jaw and chin.
4
Join the jaw and chin guides with straight lines.
5
Make two symmetrical lines for the eyebrows.
6
Then make a triangle for the nose.
7
Join an inverted triangle at the bottom of it.
8
Create a short horizontal line just below the nose for the mouth.
9
Make the lips with straight lines.
10
Draw the eyes' guide areas.
11
Make guides to the ears by making a horizontal oval each on either side.
12
Add lines dropping down from the jaw for the neck.
13
Draw the details of the male portrait. Follow it with making a guide for the hair.
14
On the basis of the hair-guide, draw every detail of the hair.
15
Erase all sketchy guide lines.
16
Color the portrait with appropriate shades.

Expert Q&A

Question

How can you get better at drawing faces?

Claire Wentzel
Award-Winning Artist and Strategic Creative Consultant
Claire Wentzel is an award-winning Artist and Strategic Creative Consultant. Her business, Red Rose Studios, is based in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she also serves on the Clark County Public Art Committee. With over 20 years of experience, she specializes in mixed media participatory art, brand messaging, and building organizational culture. She earned her BA in Fine Art with Distinction from the University of Colorado-Boulder and completed a painting residency at the International School of Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture. Her chalk mural work has been featured in EdHat and I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival advertising.

Claire Wentzel

Award-Winning Artist and Strategic Creative Consultant

Expert Answer

Look at them. My favorite technique that I learned for drawing anything, but especially as a good technique to draw portraits, is blind contour drawing. This is an exercise where you look at your subject and you cannot look at your paper or lift up your pencil while you draw. You are training your eye to talk to your hand. This is a fundamental skill that really helps with drawing portraiture in particular.
Question

How do I draw from a photo?

Community Answer

Begin with a light pencil outline of basic shapes to get the dimensions of the objects right. You can eyeball it or use a ruler. Then work on sketching concrete shapes, like circles and rectangles, still in pencil. Then continue to add more detail. Shading and small details should be last. Don't be afraid to mess up- proportions are key.
Question

How do I copy a portrait?

Elena Himmerich

Community Answer

If you have a hard copy, you can trace the portrait on tracing paper with a pencil, use pencil to transfer it onto another sheet of paper, and color it in. If not, try to observe the portrait's style and try to use similar values, colors, and shapes.