---
title: Portrait Drawing
description: Portrait drawing focuses on capturing the human face, head structure, and facial features accurately. You will study cranial anatomy, facial proportions, and techniques for rendering realistic expressions and likenesses from life or reference.
category: arts-design
subcategory: drawing
difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced
url: /subject/portrait-drawing
---

# Portrait Drawing

Portrait drawing focuses on capturing the human face, head structure, and facial features accurately. You will study cranial anatomy, facial proportions, and techniques for rendering realistic expressions and likenesses from life or reference.

## Available Resources

1 Videos • 1 Books • 3 Courses • 2 Websites

## Courses

### 1. Composition Library

Master advanced composition techniques with Matt Kohr's Composition Library! Learn to create compelling art through proven visual principles.

**Difficulty:** Advanced | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://www.ctrlpaint.com/library/#composition

**Tags:** composition, digital-painting, visual-design, value

### 2. How to Draw Portraits

Learn portrait drawing fundamentals with Proko's comprehensive course! Master realistic portraits and capture likeness.

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://www.proko.com/course/portrait-drawing-fundamentals/overview

**Tags:** portrait-drawing, facial-proportions, head-construction, likeness, shading

### 3. Portrait Drawing Fundamentals

Learn portrait drawing fundamentals with Proko's free course! Master facial proportions, structure, and shading for realistic portraits.

**Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR2KBLDDnZz0pHBiiyrqlOB3FU-W5XX1k

**Tags:** portrait-drawing, facial-proportions, head-construction, facial-features, shading

## Videos

### 1. How to Draw the Head from Any Angle

Stan Prokopenko demonstrates a ball-and-plane construction for the human head, showing how the cranial mass, jaw, and features rotate together as the viewpoint changes. Viewers finish able to draw a believable head from imagination at any angle.

**Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EPNYWeEf1U

**Tags:** head drawing, portrait, construction, figure drawing, proko

## Books

### 1. Drawing the Head and Figure

**Author:** Jack Hamm

Instructional drawing book built from hundreds of step-by-step illustrations showing how to construct heads, facial features, expressions, hands, and the full human figure from simple shapes and proportional guidelines. Readers learn practical construction methods for sketching people convincingly.

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid

**Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0399507914?tag=edmonddante07-20

**Tags:** books, arts-design, drawing

## Websites

### 1. drawabox.com

Drawabox is a structured drawing fundamentals resource offering free lessons, drills, and assignments that teach basic sketching from lines and shapes, covering construction, perspective, and form. It provides instructional videos and written guides to practice shading and improve accuracy.

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://drawabox.com

**Tags:** websites, arts-design, drawing

### 2. line-of-action.com

Line of Action is a free drawing-practice site that provides a pose generator and photo references to help you practice gesture drawing. It offers timed sessions with customizable content—from human figures and hands to faces and animals—so you can build speed and accuracy.

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://line-of-action.com

**Tags:** websites, arts-design, drawing

---

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