Portrait Sketchbooking – Explore the Human Face by Gabriela Niko

Discover the fundamentals of portraiture by learning to draw facial features and tracking your progress in a sketchbook
Portrait drawing can seem like a challenging skill to learn, since every face is unique and filled with detail. However, developing your ability by practicing on a sketchbook is the ideal way to improve, since you can track your artistic progress. Artist Gabriela Niko believes that portraiture is a fascinating form of self-expression and has a natural power to attract the viewer’s attention.

In this course, Gabriela takes you through the basics of drawing portraits down to the finer details. Learn about proportion, structure, and how to draw facial features by drawing three different types of portraits. Express your artistic vision by capturing the essence of each unique face you draw.

What will you learn in this online course?
Begin by getting to know Gabriela Niko. She shares her artistic journey that led her from clothing design to drawing traditional and digital portraits. Hear about her projects, her influences, and her sources of inspiration.

Delve into the fundamentals of portrait drawing by learning about shading and hatching. Learn the essentials of proportion when drawing a human head by exploring concepts like the central line and other measurements to consider. Gabriela then teaches you the best practices when drawing the eyes, the nose, and the lips.

Gabriela teaches you how to draw portraits from three angles: profile, three fourths, and frontal. First, begin with the profile sketch by applying everything learned in the previous unit. Then move on to the more detailed three fourths sketch by drawing the central line from an angle. Finally, Gabriela guides you through drawing the third, and most detailed, frontal portrait.

Discover Gabriela’s creative process when photographing her work. She shares with you some photography tips and tricks, before showing you how to edit your illustrations using the Snapseed App. Wrap up the course by sharing your work on social media.

What is this course’s project?
Draw three portrait illustrations (profile, three fourths, and frontal) by learning the principles of portrait drawing.

Who is this online course for?
This course is for anyone interested in learning how to draw portraits or who wants to improve their drawing abilities.

Requirements and materials
No previous experience is necessary.

To take this course, all you need is a pencil, a sketchbook and access to the Snapseed App (or a similar editing app) if you want to edit your illustrations digitally.