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Learn how to draw and paint portrait

Learn how to draw face and paint portrait girl woman or female facial figure front view Video tutorial part 1. Learn how to from sketching, simple shape, face construction drawing to finish painted color illustration a character.


*This page and tutorial was written in 2007.  If you land on this page looking to learn how to draw and paint portrait, you are on the right path.  Though we would recommend the newer and fresher content up on the thumbnail selection on top of the blog.  Or look at the bottom tool bar and check out what is new.  A lot of portrait tutorials have been reworked to make it better and easier for you to learn in 2010 and 2011.  Though you can still watch the tutorial below, the first is time-lapse painting.  The second and third videos are actual digital painting , or more like shading, portrait tutorial demonstration with voice narration on them.  Thank you for visiting.  (update comment March, 2011)  There are also more of newer portraits drawing tutorial go watch How to draw face, How to draw female face, How to draw realistic face and How to draw man face for comics.

Here is another portrait drawing and shading:
How to draw pretty woman face

Watch the video tutorial How to draw and shade Portrait part 1 of 2


Portrait drawing part 2 of 2




Below are images for learning to draw portrait step by step to go along with the video.
learn to draw and paint portrait




Below are a quick portrait painting inspired by a movie so I used Natalie as a reference.
Natalie Portman is starring in "The Other Boleyn Girl" opposite Scarlett Johansson and Eric Bana.


The Other Boleyn Girl is a historical novel written by British author Philippa Gregory, based on the life of 16th-century aristocrat Mary Boleyn. Reviews were mixed; some said it was a brilliantly claustrophobic look at the palace life in Tudor England, while others weren't convinced.

Here is a final painting: (click to enlarge)
Learn how to draw and paint portrait


This one is SUPER FAST time-lapse digital painting.


See you guys soon, enjoy the tutorials.

Premium TUTORIALS: *Over  2 hours of video.
Face Constructed: How to draw faces
Face Constructed: How to paint portraits
-Draw and Paint Women Body Tutorial I
-Draw and Paint Women Body Tutorial II


FREE download over 30 minutes of video tutorialsFree Drawing Tutorial video download

Here are basic tutorial for human body:
-How to draw man body muscles
-How to draw body medium type version
-How to draw arm muscles side view
-Draw and sketch woman step by step
-How to draw woman body figure
-How to draw hands
-Drawing woman torso figure
-Drawing woman hip pelvis



Comments

Anonymous said…
wowsers! that was pretty dope, and the music was on point. who does that song?
idrawgirls said…
Thanks...I think the first one is Stereo Gimmick.
Anonymous said…
I like this site a lot. Thank you for sharing. I happened upon it looking for drawn pictures if funky cats to maybe help inspire me with the one I am trying to draw. I can see it in my head how I want it but when I try to focus on the image in my head it gets blurry and less detailed..... Anyway I was wondering do you ever draw peoples images for them?
Anonymous said…
wow! first i'm surfing and seraching about how ti draw manga, till i found this tutorial, thanks
amazing drawing, who is this Stereo Gimmick? Can't find anything about him/them online.
idrawgirls said…
Animefig>> Sorry for the late reply, thank you very much for your kind words. Glad I can help, Manga rules!

pablo smith>> Thanks, look on cnet or myspace.
Anonymous said…
I saw your painting of Natalie Portman on Metacafe and went right afterwards to your blog. I love your work. It's fantastic that you share this with us. Thank you!
idrawgirls said…
Thank you, glad I can be of service. Hope to see you back. :)
Mandeep Singh said…
Iam extremely happy that you shares this tutorial with us....And could you plz tell me how do u select the basic color for any painting.....can u plz upload something very basic of digital painting? itll be of great help...
idrawgirls said…
Maddyzz> All the info cannot be put into one reply, what I can tell you is keep watching the video every day and look for update. Bits and piece will eventually comes together. Good luck! Subscribe the blog and also twitter for little cool tips here and there.
Anonymous said…
OMG! That drawing program is amazing...I can't wait to purchase my own! Is it pretty easy to get the hang of? You're an amazing artist btw.
idrawgirls said…
Anonymous> You can try Gimp first, it's free. Just type in Gimp in Google you will find gimp.org. Thanks and goodluck
idrawgirls said…
Bone*Head*Studios> Thanks for the kind regards. But no, you don't want to be me cuz I suffer split/multiple personalities about nine times a day. XD Thanks for the comment.
Peace!
So nice... you inspire me to draw to. Sure that my drawing skills suck for the moment but if I practice... maybe? I have a question (sorry if it already asked) Do you inspire yourself of another picture when drawing something? And another (reject) question, do you have two facebook user?
idrawgirls said…
Vincent G.> Thanks brother :) Yes, I believe practice makes perfect, forget talent...there's no such things. When I walk around and see beautiful women, it gives me the urges to go talk to her...and want to draw and paint beautiful things. Cool art, design, and women inspire me. :) Yes, one for drinking friends and one for drawing friends. :)
Thank you for your answer. Well i'm curious so I have other questions. Later I want to work in art design, special effect (like ILM) or previsualisation (domain of the cinema) Can you tell me what studies you did to be concept 3d character artist? Do you only work on computer/electric tablet or sometimes with paper? What do you do when ArenaNet is not working on a project? And...how many drawing do you make a day?
Tomas said…
Dear Idrawgirls

I am writing because I would like to express my joy ,when I see your art work.
Your portraits are wonderful.
I paint in pastels ,but I would like to try with computer.
Would you please tell me how long does it take to do portrait with computer software?

You can see my art work here http://piknosa00.redbubble.com/
I would be thankful for your response.

Kind regards

Thomas

piknosa00@googlemail.com
idrawgirls said…
Vincent> Really sorry for the late reply brother. I would recommend go apply at Art Center College in California. It's the best at the moment. Yes, I do both digital and analog drawing. Free time? life drawing session, this blog, drawing, painting, drinking and chasing hot women. Hard life huh, but I love doing them all:)

Tomas> sorry for the late reply, thanks for your kind words. I do both in tradition form (Graphite, Oil, Water Color), but digital is the easiest and fastest for me...and it's required for work.
a few hours should do if you have reference.
Keep up the good work, good luck!
Klungsama said…
http://stephanie.posterous.com/thank-you-dj-muzzell

Here is a link to the music :) The song is originally a soundtrack from the movie Amelie. The artist that made the remix is called Dj Muzzle.


Enjoy!
idrawgirls said…
Klungsama> DJ Muzzle rules!
Klungsama said…
Right you are! My art teacher pointed me out to your site, as I want to be kickass in portrets by this christmas.

Got any pointers for a beginning art student? :)
idrawgirls said…
Klung> Thx. Pointers? :) Ready?
Beginner...life drawing class every week, draw from real life model. Draw then throw away then draw then throw away, keep a few good ones to compare what you will have in the next few months. Also watch as many video on this site as much as you can. Good luck, practice make perfect! :)
Anonymous said…
Hi XIA,

First of all, your work is really amazing, you got a realistic but so expressive treatment. Thanks too for this website almost daily updated and very usefull for many people.
I just wanted to ask you where i can find drawing brushes; not those "shapes" that we find on most sites(swirl, grunge etc...), but something more like charcoal, painting brush, to change the aspect of my drawing line.
Does it exists or i got to create my own stuff ?

Thanks, and keep the peach!
Anonymous said…
Yeah Xia,

I've been browsing around your site for a couple months now... It inspired me to acquire both a drawing tablet and Photoshop CS3 ( though I'm not going to explain to you how I got that ;) ).

Anyways, I was wondering if you could do a tutorial on pure rendering using the Photoshop software. I try it and it comes out like one solid color over another. I cant seem to make texture look like texture... Maybe do a few of them! I've been drawing for the better part of my life but mostly in Pencil/Pen. When I began using the Tablet w/ Photoshop it was like starting all over again. My rendering tone and value looks like something out of a coloring book and I can never seem to get the opacity correct.

Also I was wondering if you could suggest a brush that would resemble skin pigmentation???
idrawgirls said…
Anonymous> I know what you mean. It just the matter of practice and guiding to the right direction. Tips: Focus on values, study them and nail it down execution wise. As for skin, focus on the temperature of color, balancing of cool and warm. Then EDGES are really important in making your piece outstanding and painterly (not airbrushy). If you get those down, your painting will be stunning.
There are no such thing as brush that will resemble skin pigment. Im making a feature tutorial at the moment on portrait using just default round hard edge and soft edge...and they look great!
No such brush will make you a better artist, it's all about foundation. :)
Good luck
alexandrae_tco said…
Wow! great tutorial...i am just exploring digital painting just this 2011...and your blog is a great help!