Head and portrait
The construction of the skull, how the head sits, the features of the face and a long portrait. From the first proportions to a head that stands in space and looks like a particular person.
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Lessons in “Head and portrait”
subscribers only2:39:52Week four assignment stream recording. Drawing the lady’s figure in graphics
Hi! Here’s the recording of yesterday’s lecture on the fourth marathon assignment ✨ The amount of beautiful stuff in the comments is heading toward infinity — thank you, friends, for taking part so seriously and with so much involvement. It’ll pay you back in full; can you feel your skill growing from assignment to assignment? 🙂 Good luck! ✨
subscribers only9:07Timelapse for the marathon’s fourth assignment. the lady’s figure in line and hatching
As I already said, we’re moving from drawing the lady’s portrait to drawing her figure. We’ll start with a graphic treatment. In this drawing the emphasis is on the graphic side (the hatching) and on the structural nodes: the portrait, the hand, the ribcage, and the pelvis. You don’t need to work the value relationships hard in this assignment — a good silhouette and expressive linework are enough.
subscribers only2:49:49Stream recording for the week two assignment. Drawing a lady’s portrait in value
Hi everyone! Yesterday I ran the second stream of our excellent lady drawing marathon. It was great to see everyone on the stream! For those who couldn’t make it, or who want to rewatch the lecture, here’s the recording. Enjoy!
subscribers only10:57Timelapse for the second marathon assignment. Portrait of a lady in value
upd. I’ve added the Nikko rull brush for those who asked 😉 For this assignment we’ll need three brushes: a 6B pencil (with the grain turned down), Ghibli, and the Nikko rull brush (also with less grain). Before starting the main portrait I’d recommend knocking out a few other heads to loosen up and get a feel for the material. You can start with whichever brush you like. Here’s how I work: I block everything in with the rough Ghibli brush, then refine with the 6B pencil, and cover the large areas with Nikko rull at a big size. It’s a tricky assignment, but a really interesting one! Good luck to everyone! 🙂
subscribers only2:40:10Week one assignment stream recording. Drawing a graphic portrait of a lady
Whew, friends! That was great! Thanks for drawing with me and setting the mood for this cozy stream! If you missed it, you can watch the recording here. I’m sure you’ll find plenty that’s useful. Enjoy
subscribers only3:02Timelapse for the marathon’s first assignment. Line portrait of a the lady. Textures and character
Hi again! Posting the timelapse for the marathon’s first assignment right away. Note that in this assignment it’s important to find an interesting compositional shape — or rather, compositional shapes. A piece of the shoulder will balance the elongated triangular composition and make it more harmonious. For the drawing I used the Nikko Rull brush, Pencil 6B, and one more great brush — attached to the post.
subscribers only24:31Female lips
Hi everyone! Since the marathon will give a lot of attention to the female portrait, let’s warm up now and try drawing full lips. In the video lesson I show and explain in detail how to do it.
subscribers only35:43Stylized heads
Hi, friends! I’ve recorded a fairly long video lesson for you on stylizing the head. The main thing when you’re learning to draw portraits is to understand which type a given head belongs to. One person’s head looks like a circle, another’s like a pumpkin, and someone else’s like a brick 🙂 And right at the start it’s important to find the characteristic shapes and push the distinctive features. Once you learn to pull out the most important thing in a face, to simplify and get rid of everything unnecessary, your drawing skills will improve a lot! Wishing you good practice! ✨
subscribers only3:49Timelapse. Female portrait
Hi! This month we’re practicing drawing people’s faces. In the last lesson we studied women’s lips, and today I’ve recorded a timelapse for you about the female portrait. Linear modeling is one of my favorite kinds of graphic work. With it you can create expressive, memorable images in an original visual language without spending very much time on it. Follow along with me, or draw portraits of ladies from your own references 😎
subscribers only1:32Timelapse. Drawing lips with the tongue
Hi! I always push people to practice more — that’s how you learn to draw well. Same with the portrait: the more different parts of the face in different positions you draw, the better your portraits get. Today I recorded a timelapse for you where I draw lips, and with the tongue too! Watch the form and volume of the tongue — you want to bring it out with hatching and line, accenting the places where the form turns and folds over. Good luck! And a small spoiler: for February–March I’m preparing an absolutely killer marathon for you. It’ll cover drawing, value work and painting. And besides all the classic things I always do in marathons, there’ll be a lot of talking and useful live streams. Are you in? 😎
subscribers only1:29Timelapse. Portrait of the stargazer
Hi everyone! In this timelapse I show my process on the Stargazer portrait. I’ve also attached the Procreate file, which makes it easier to see how the work is built up. There’s no complicated layer work here, so once you get the simple logic of it you’ll be able to repeat the process on portraits like this. I’ve attached the brush I used for the whole thing too. The first important step is priming the canvas. I prime it dark right away, with a big brush and sweeping, chaotic strokes, laying a bright pink layer underneath so it shows through here and there and adds extra interest. Then I block in the silhouette of the head and shoulders by eye and immediately try to make it more interesting — stretching it a little, chopping it in places, simplifying somewhere and, on the contrary, complicating it somewhere else. Once I have the overall silhouette of the head with the shoulders and hair, I create a layer with the silhouette of the face and start working on that alone. Working up the face has a pipeline of its own: first you find the general proportions (where the nose goes, the eyes, the lips, the beard), finding the color of neighboring planes as you go. And when enough of those planes have built up, with the anatomical and geometric structure of the face respected, the face is worked up enough. Once I’m happy with that, I switch back to the main silhouette and work it up. There are several important compositional points here: 1. The shapes have to break into at least three values — light, mid, dark. 2. The masses of those shapes have to break into at least three: large, medium, small. 3. There has to be a focal point, where the detail and the strokes are densest. 4. The scale of the brushwork has to vary: small strokes, medium ones, and large ones in the background — that way nothing turns mushy. 5. For a balanced color scheme, use close, muted colors and then add a small amount of bright accents. Next to a warm we put a cool (or a less warm) so that contrast appears. When you pick a new color to paint another plane with, don’t just change saturation and brightness — shift the hue a little too, because when the value changes the color has to change as well. Otherwise you can end up with a picture that’s sad in color. Good luck! ✨
subscribers only40:04Drawing the analytical head
Hi! Happy new school year to everyone it concerns! Let’s start it with a lesson on drawing the head — we’ll sort out the anatomy, the construction and the proportions. At this stage we’ll simplify rather than chase a lot of realism — that’s necessary in order to understand how the face is put together. The lesson is very detailed; I show the drawing process and talk through it. It turned into a full session, like one from a drawing course 😎
subscribers only2:10Timelapses. Portraits
Hi! And a bit more from the archive this month — timelapses of drawing various portraits. In September I’ll start filming new video lessons and timelapses. By the way, you can write in the comments which topics interest you right now 😎
subscribers only1:50Timelapse. A line drawing of the head
Hi! Today I’m sharing a short but dense timelapse on the line drawing of the head. A minimum of special effects; every stroke works to bring out the form and the breaks between the planes. When you copy it, try to get into the details — then you’ll understand much better how the head is built. Attached to the lesson is the Procreate brush I made this drawing with. Good luck! :)
subscribers only11:30Stylized portrait of a lady
Hi! This is the follow-up to the last video lesson, for everyone who enjoyed drawing the high-contrast lady. Today we’ll draw her stylized portrait while keeping the features of the face. I like a touch of light stylization — it’s more interesting and more fun! It’s great when you can bring an element of play into your work and actually enjoy it. Remember: without enjoyment nothing works :) I hope you’ll have a great time drawing the lady’s portrait too. And not just that one — may every drawing you make be made with real pleasure!
subscribers only15:37Stylized character portrait. Part 2
Hi again! We’re continuing the stylized character portrait, and now we’ll go through drawing hair in detail. I deliberately covered the lady’s face so it’s easier to concentrate. First we darken the mass of the hair — hatching by hand or using a fill. Then we lay out the anatomy of the hairstyle: where the locks go, the fringe, the volume. And after that… watch the video :) If questions come up as you work through the lesson, post them in the comments. Happy to help!
subscribers only23:38Stylized character portrait. Part 1
Hi everyone! The next portrait we’ll draw is a character portrait. Yes, a character — it’ll be a stylized, grotesque portrait. In the lesson I show a step-by-step scheme you can use to draw both realistic portraits and more interpreted ones. A reminder that the more we exaggerate the proportions, the more interesting the character’s look becomes.
subscribers only2:19Timelapse. Drawing a character’s head from imagination
Hi! A reminder that this month is all about portraits :) Today I’m sharing a timelapse of drawing a character’s head from imagination, from the quick sketch to a medium level of finish. Watch the video and follow along, or pick another reference to practice on.
subscribers only4:59Timelapse. Constructive portrait of a lady with light value work
Friends, hi! This month is all about drawing portraits. And the first video on the subject is a timelapse of a constructive portrait of a lady with light value work. The reference is attached to the post as a file! In female portraits it’s important to concentrate not on working out the anatomy of the skull but on the key nodes (nose, eyes, lips). The cheekbones, the nasolabial fold and the chin are better handled with minimal means — if you overdo it and show more anatomy than necessary, it ages the portrait a lot. I started the portrait with the general construction, placing all the parts of the face in perspective, checking against the reference as I went, refining the proportions, the distance between the eyes and the nose, the nose and the lips, the lips and the chin, working toward a likeness. At the end I geometrized the shape of the hairstyle a little for a stronger shape. And to add expression and put the accent on the main feature of the face, it helps to bring out the eyes, for instance, taking the lashes to a clear, readable mark. Draw and share your results on social media!
subscribers only6:50Timelapse. Portrait of an elderly gentleman
Hi! Today we’re drawing the head of an elderly man as a linear construction, from a photo reference (attached to the post). The process itself took me three hours. Working from the photo and the video, you can practice drawing the head as a form in space. Note that the value relationships in the drawing are conventional — we don’t copy them one to one, we work for volume and the big form. At the end you can add a light pass of color. Good luck!
subscribers only10:51Timelapse. Portrait of a man, front view
Hi everyone! Today I’m showing the process on one of the sketches — from a reference of a man’s portrait seen from the front (attached as a file). A front-view portrait should start with the center line and blocking in the main proportions of the facial module — how wide the eye sockets will be, where the brows sit relative to the eyes, the height of the nose, and where the lips sit relative to the bottom of the lower jaw. Then, once we have a light guide to hang onto, we move on to laying in value. Take a flat brush with no texture (on the iPad: Brushes – Flat brush) and cover the darkest shapes with it, thinking about light and form as you go: the cheekbones are lit more on top and darker underneath, since the light comes from the front and slightly above. After that, wipe out the main light with the eraser until volume appears. Once all the main masses are in with the wide brush, you can switch to the Pencil 6B brush, refining the form and moving from detail to detail. Drew the nose a little, moved to the cheekbone. Drew the cheekbone, moved to the lips, then to the chin, then to the eyes, and then back to the nose. Every node needs its share of time. Then the loop can repeat, depending on how much time you have for the drawing and the result you want. Keep an eye on proportions as you go, because in the process one part of the face or another can slide off without you noticing. I recommend drawing horizontals on a separate layer so you can keep the symmetry of the bone structure in check. Don’t be afraid to make the form a bit planar — it helps bring out volume and keeps the drawing from getting too licked-over. The hat has to separate in value from the overall shape of the head, so the two masses don’t merge. And as a final chord you can add a shape in the background. For the final version I chose the sketch with the big black background shape on the left. You get this lovely contrast between the two background shapes, left and right, and the hat: on the left it’s light against dark, on the right it’s dark against light, and that makes the piece a bit more complex and interesting.
subscribers only7:19Timelapse. Drawing the skull
Hi! Today we’re drawing the skull. The reference and the finished piece are attached to the post as files. Watch the symmetry. I recommend driving the horizontals right through, so the structure holds together. It’s also not worth working every part of the skull up equally — break them into planes and give more attention to the nearest one. In the front view the accents are the brow ridges, the upper outer corner where the eye socket breaks, the projecting part of the nasal bone, the cheekbones and the protruding part of the upper jaw. Go for it! :)
subscribers only2:03Timelapse. A detailed study of the frontal bone
Hi! Friends, how are you? Are you managing to draw anything right now? When the storm is this heavy, it matters to carry some light, for example through the work you love. Get into your drawing if you can, at least to take your mind off what’s happening around you for a while and let your head reset. I’m sharing a timelapse of a detailed study of the frontal bone with you. To understand how a person’s face is built, you need to understand their skull. The form of a person’s forehead is essentially the form of their frontal bone, smoothed over by the frontalis and the other muscles. Ask questions in the comments, draw, share your work on social media. Remember that an artist is someone who creates their own beautiful worlds. And take care of yourselves.
subscribers only8:16Timelapse. A painterly portrait of a girl in a headscarf
Hi! Making a painterly piece is an interesting subject. You can go about it in different ways: from the mass, from the drawing, from one section, or by working everything up gradually at once. In this piece a quick sketch was made first, and then one "section" was picked — the head. I laid in its general value, and then put strokes over that value which helped sculpt the form and corrected the drawing at the same time. At the early stage the drawing served as a compositional idea more than it claimed any realism, which I went after a bit later. Once the head was opened up, I took on the whole format, working the form of the body and the hands up stage by stage and coming back to the head. Painted hands are a story of their own. When you draw them, it’s important to catch an expressive shape from life. The folds of the clothing are rhythms and structures. Since they change every 45 minutes, they have to be resolved together and all at once, picking a good arrangement from one of the sessions. After that you have to look at how the elements of the picture relate to each other: next to a very detailed head it’s important to simplify everything a little to create more contrast. Every corner of the composition should be filled differently, and either light or dark should dominate, so that nothing ends up equal. Thanks for the support!
About “Head and portrait”
The section is built around a single question: how to draw a face so that it belongs to a head with volume and not to a flat sheet of paper. There are 52 classes here. Long lessons of an hour and a half to two hours, where the head is built from the skull and carried through to value; separate lessons on the features; short timelapses that show only the sequence of moves; recordings of the teaching streams from the marathon on drawing women. The subjects vary: a plaster Venus and the head of Gattamelata in profile and in three-quarter view, a woman’s portrait head-on, a child’s portrait, the face of an older person.
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After these classes a portrait no longer starts with an eye. First you lay in the cranium and the facial mass, set the axis of tilt and the turn, check where the back of the skull has gone, and only then look for where the eye sockets sit. Portrait drawing stops depending on whether the first contour happened to land well: when construction holds the proportions, you can redo any detail twenty times and the head will not drift.
It usually breaks in the same places. The skull gets drawn small: the facial mask takes up almost the whole oval, a strip is left for the cranium, and the head ends up looking like a mask on a stick. Then comes the eye, drawn as an almond-shaped sign instead of a ball that sits in the socket and is covered by a lid of noticeable thickness. In the lessons on drawing eyes this is worked out through the ball and the set of the lid; the nose is built through three planes and the base instead of tracing the wings of the nostrils; the ear is placed by level between the brow line and the base of the nose, at an angle that repeats the ramus of the jaw. In three-quarter view there is a separate check that the far half of the face has foreshortened rather than stayed a mirror copy of the near one.
If you have come here for the first time, the order goes like this. “How to draw the head in construction”, then “A woman’s portrait head-on for beginners”, then the separate lessons on the eyes and the nose. After that it is worth taking on a plaster head: it has no expression and no living skin, so every miss in the step-by-step construction of the head comes out into the open and you see it without being told. Watch the timelapses later, as a way of glimpsing somebody else’s order of work rather than as a lesson.
What is not here. There will be no schemes along the lines of “draw an oval and divide it into three parts”, and no anime stylization. Nobody promises you a likeness on the first attempt. Likeness appears when the proportions and the character of the form are right, and that takes months of regular work. Access to the lessons comes with a subscription, and references are attached so that you draw the same setup instead of hunting for a similar photo in a search engine.
FAQ
Where do I start if I have never drawn a portrait?
Take “How to draw the head in construction” and do not move on until you have drawn the construction at least ten times from different angles. Then “A woman’s portrait head-on for beginners”, filmed as exactly that, a first portrait. The features come third, separately from the head as a whole.
Do I need to know the anatomy of the skull to draw portraits?
You need the artistic part of it: where the skull comes up under the skin and sets the form. The zygomatic arches, the brow ridge, the angles of the lower jaw, the temporal hollows. The section has classes on the skull and on the muscles of the face. Nobody memorizes Latin there, you look at what is visible on a living head.
Can I work from a photograph rather than from life?
Yes, most of the lessons are done from a reference, and it is attached to the lesson. A photograph distorts perspective and eats the halftone, so the classes point out separately what you should not take from a reference. The plaster heads in this section are there precisely so that your eye does not get used to photographic form alone.
Do the lessons work for a graphics tablet?
Yes, construction and proportion do not depend on the material. Some classes are filmed digitally, some in pencil and soft media. There is also digital painting of the portrait separately, if that is the technique you are after.
How long is one class?
The long lessons run from 90 to 170 minutes, the short lessons on individual features from 12 to 40, and the timelapses from one to twelve minutes. The long ones assume that you are drawing along with the video, not watching it straight through.
Head and portrait — how Azat draws it
Works by Azat Nurgaleev on the subject of this category: not an illustration to a lesson, but what the lessons lead to.
Portrait on blue 
Gentleman in a bowler hat 
Young woman in white 
Young woman in a shawl 
Portrait on yellow 
Young woman in gray