Hi and welcome to yartista! Today I am going to show you my way of drawing female portraits. Let’s get started!

Drawing portraits can be overwhelming, especially if you’re a beginner, but no worries! With this technique you should get there in no time. The key to drawing people’s faces is getting the proportions right and adding enough depth to the face, so it doesn’t appear like flat paper anymore. Most importantly you should have fun and try to practice as often as possible, because that’s how you improve your drawing skills.

1. basic shapes & proportions

Grab a coffee mug or anything round in the size of the portrait you want to make and draw a circle. For these first few steps it is best if you draw with a hard pencil (anything from 6H to H). Add a line next to your circle, in the same height as the diameter of the circle. You will divide this line by two and then divide the resulting lines again by thirds. Transfer the lines to the circle as shown in the photo.

2. face shape

Since peoples heads aren’t circles you will have to define the width of the face. Connect the lines on your circle in the form of a spindle. You should end up with something like this:

Now you can erase the original line of the circle, after you defined the width of the face. Next is the form of the chin. You will extend the line you’ve drawn initially by a third as shown in the picture. Connect it to the circle in the shape you like best.

Typical female features are a narrow chin, full lips and high cheekbones – but this is all up to you, so get creative!

3. details

The three remaining lines on the face you’ve drawn are guidelines for the details of the face.

• hairline
• eyebrows
• nose
• lips

I hope this drawing guide helps you to get the proportions of your portrait right!

For more tutorials/drawing guides go check out my blog!