How to Draw a Portrait

How to Draw a Portrait

Anatomy Lesson 6 – Part 5

In this video lesson, you will find out how to how to draw a portrait and avoid many amateur mistakes.

Portrait Drawing step-by-step

Many portrait artists might find that when drawing a portrait, connecting the head to the body in a natural manner can be challenging. This video will show you how to draw a portrait skilfully.

The first pair of ribs indicates the base of the neck and is an important landmark in a portrait drawing.

The outline of the shoulders travels above this shape, while the pit of the neck is located at its bottom edge.

Remember, the front portions of neck muscles begin from the pit of the neck in an upward direction and connect to the skull behind the ears. This pair of neck muscles is easily detectable and resembles a “V” shape.

The length of the neck muscle is equal to the length of the collarbone. Its top point indicates the bottom edge of the ear because this neck muscle inserts into the skull just behind the ear.

The base of the nose lies on the same level as the bottom edge of the ear.

The distance from the base of the nose to the bottom edge of the chin is the same as to the eyebrows line.

When considering how to draw a portrait, remember that the eye line divides the height of the head in half.

The distances between the bottom edge of the chin, the base of the nose, and the eyebrows line are equal to each other and also equal to the distance from the eyebrows line to the hair roots.

The ear is located just between the eyebrows line and the line of the nose base.

The central line is another important virtual line of the head.

The width of the nose wing is the same as the distance between the eyes. A vertical line can be drawn to help you depict this proportion correctly.

In the previous section of the video, you saw how to how to draw a portrait starting from the head’s proportions and then developing your drawing, moving to the neck and the shoulders. Such a method is very useful when you draw a portrait and concentrate more on the face and head rather than on the body.

However, when you are more concerned about the appearance of body proportions, you might begin drawing the body and continue to proceed until you reach the head.

In such a case, there is a danger of misplacing the head. It might look out of place, with too long or too short of a neck. To avoid such mistakes, you can use the constructive drawing method described in this video part.

[ The full lesson is avaibale to Anatomy Master Class members ]