Realistic drawing can be intimidating, especially when you try to draw an entire face all at once. A smart way to approach realism is by focusing on one feature at a time. This helped me more than anything else in my journey to improving portraits.
👁️ Start with Just One Feature
Instead of drawing the whole face, pick one part — an eye, a mouth, or an ear. Practice drawing open eyes, closed eyes, smiling lips, or hair strands on separate pages.
This helped me study light, shape, and detail without feeling overwhelmed.
✍️ Practice, Then Combine
Once you’re comfortable drawing individual features like eyes, noses, and lips, start combining them into a full face. This will help you build confidence, improve proportions, and bring all your practice together into one complete portrait.
📏 Why This Method Works
It trains your eye to see detail
You learn shading one section at a time
Mistakes are easier to fix and learn from
🔁 Repeat and Grow
Keep drawing those parts over and over. Eventually, you’ll feel ready to tackle an entire portrait — and it won’t feel nearly as scary.
