5 Common Mistakes Beginners Make in Portrait Drawing

Discover these 5 hacks to improve your portrait drawing skills. Award-winning artist Matt Smith gives you a free tutorial on how to boost your sketching abilities.

To learn how to draw a striking portrait, you need three things: a pencil, a good teacher, and some practice. In this blog post, we’ll help you with the last two on the list. If you're just starting out with portrait drawing, you might be making some common mistakes that are hindering your progress. In this tutorial, award-winning artist Matt Smith goes over some of those common issues and how to fix them.

If you enjoy this tutorial, be sure to check out Matt’s online course Fundamentals of Portrait Drawing with Pencil, in which he takes you through the process of illustrating the human face in detail. Learn to draw from scratch by exploring a variety of sketching techniques and bring it to life using basic shapes, tones, shadows, and line work

Mistake 1: Starting with the eye. Instead, start with the head shape.

The first common mistake that beginners often make when drawing a head is starting with an eye. While it might be tempting to jump right into the details, it's important to focus on the overall head shape first. Start by drawing in a circle and then add the jaw and the chin. Once you have the basic head shape, get the center line, and you'll end up with a much more accurate drawing with better proportions.

Mistake 2: Focusing on the hair’s detail. Instead, focus on the overall shape.

Another common mistake people make when drawing hair is that they focus too much on the details instead of seeing its overall shape. Simplify the hair and look for the large corners that you see. Don't worry about every strand or the way it gets bumpy. Instead, look for the basic, simple corners. Any details can be added later.

Mistake 3: Drawing the eyes too high. Instead, make sure they are in the center.

Beginners often draw the eyes too high, but they actually sit at the center of the head. Once you have your head construction done, come in and place the eye and make sure it sits in the center. If it is not, you can readjust it. Remember, the top third is generally about where the eyebrow sits. On some people, it might come straight across, while on others, it might arc up. The hairline in the middle is simply the brow line, and the bottom of the nose is the bottom of the head.

Mistake 4: Starting the nose with too much detail. Instead, focus on the basic construction.

Instead of getting caught up in the intricacies of the nose, it's important to focus on the basic construction first. Matt recommends looking for the bridge of the nose and the bottom plane of it as a starting point. This basic construction helps establish the perspective and creates a more three-dimensional representation of the front, side, and bottom planes of the nose. While the overall construction of the nose may be more complicated, it's important to simplify it initially and focus on the basic shapes and planes before adding in more details.

Mistake 5: Getting the lip shape wrong. Instead, draw a V shape down the center.

The final and simplest correction when portrait drawing is ensuring you get the V shape just right. In the tutorial above, Matt teaches you how to draw that realistic lip shape while also adding perspective. As he elaborates on the lip sketch, it appears as if the portrait is turning to the left thanks to the depth and linework he adds.

At the end of the day, portrait drawing takes practice, and mistakes are made to be learned from. The takeaway from this tutorial is to help you avoid these common mistakes in your future projects, so you can achieve more accurate and proportional drawings. Remember, start with the overall head shape, focus on the overall shape of the hair, and make sure the eyes are placed correctly. With practice and patience, you can become a master of portrait drawing.

Additional Drawing Resources

1. Discover this popular portrait sketchbooking course to learn the fundamentals of drawing.

2. Don't miss this free tutorial on how to draw the human body.

3. Explore movement when illustrating your portraits with this other free tutorial.