Get started right now and learn at your own pace with a master artist with these affordable pay-as-you-go drawing lessons. If you are a beginner, we recommend you start at the beginning with Lesson 1 and proceed to the next lesson when you are ready. Or if you are an intermediate or advanced artist you can just choose the lessons that you need. You can purchase one at a time, in batches or the entire series.

But don't miss out as this is a limited time offer.

Or you can get all of these lessons as a FREE bonus on CDrom with our Portrait Drawing Mastery and Art School Revolution DVD Collections. See the DVD Workshops page for details on our premium value Collections.

All of these lessons are in PDF e-book format. Adobe Reader is required.

Portrait Drawing Lessons

Lesson 1: The Arabesque: A Dynamic Correspondence
This lesson is one of the most important to master of your fundamental drawing lessons. In drawing, the arabesque is the entire positive shape, the gestalt (whole) of an object, in this case the human head. The arabesque incorporates the proportion (height/width ratio), the shape and the symmetry. Thus within the arabesque is communicated the likeness and emotion of the portrait. Regularly $8.97 On sale $4.47 (6 pages)

Lesson 2: About Looking - A Portrait Drawing Exercise
When we look at a photograph we experience its immediate fact - its frozen moment as a real, concrete truth. Looking at a photograph engages the limbic, the emotional right-side, of our hemispheric brain. However,when we look at a realist drawing we first quickly analyze it with our brain’s left hemisphere to assure ourselves that it meets a standard of plausibility before becoming emotionally engaged. In this drawing exercise we take the first steps in learning how to dis-engage from what we "know" and learn to draw what we see. This is a skill that must be mastered in order to draw realistically.
Regularly $8.97 On sale $4.47 (6 pages)

Lesson 3: Plasticity: Form & Value
The third element of drawing, in addition to shape and proportion, is Tone. A better term for tone, or shading, is plasticity. What I mean by plasticity is the visual push and pull of lights and darks which, when presented in a cohesive whole, define the 3-dimensionality of the portrait. In other words, plasticity is giving form. Perhaps the biggest problem beginners and even more advanced artists face that I see constantly, is seeing and drawing the full stretch of tone. Without this fundamental skill your drawings will never achieve the life-like qualities, or emotional tone you seek.
Regularly $8.97 On sale $4.47 (6 pages)

Lesson 4: The Value of Tone
Tone is generally thought of as shadow. Beginners always first draw an outline then fill in the shadows bit-by-bit, usually starting with an eye and then growing out the shadows. Inevitably the result is a flat mish-mash of incohesive darks and lights. Understanding Values which are the degrees of light or shade in a tone will help you to create the illusions of form in all your drawings.
Regularly $8.97. On sale $4.47 (6 pages)

Lesson 5: Understanding Planes: Achieving 3-Dimensionality in your Portrait Drawing
A solid and convincing portrait drawing has six requisite elements: shape, proportion, value, anatomy, texture and planes. Shape is the arabesque – the entire head and each feature and component within; proportion is the sizing and placements; value, the relative light/dark patterns; anatomy, the underlying structures of bone and muscle; texture – flesh, hair, clothing; and, last, the planes that define the sculptural dimensions of drawing. This rare lesson will help you master the ability to see and understand the importance of plane changes which are the framework of realist drawing.
Regularly $8.97 On sale $4.47 (7 pages)

Lesson 6: Drawing the Profile View
For beginners the profile can easily proffer a semblance of the sitter; for the advanced artist the challenge lay in struggling to effect a 3-dimensional sculptured quality. This step-by-step lesson will untangle the mystery of drawing effective profile portraits. One of the most rewarding studies of human form.
Regularly $8.97. On sale $4.47 (6 pages)

Lesson 7: Drawing with a Sculptural Sensibility
Beginning and intermediate artists often fail to go for the full tonal stretch. Quite often the reason for this is the fear of ruining their drawing and also because they have read or have been told not to overwork the drawing. Achieving a full-range of light and dark in your drawings is what separates the masters from the average artist and is a major key for achieving the illusion of three-dimensional form on a two-dimensional surface. If you want to be a realist artist you must master this lesson. Regularly $8.97. On sale $4.47 (6 pages)

Lesson 8: Drawing the Tilted Head
To create interesting fluid portraits that breathe life you must understand the effect of the spine on the head and shoulders. To realize a relaxed feeling in your portraits quite often you will need to draw the head tilted. Most people when they are at ease will pose with their head slightly tilted. In this tutorial I will point out what to look for and how to tackle the tilted head. Quite often artists start off correctly with the tilt of the overall gesture but things quickly go awry when trying to place the features. It requires some discipline and training to pull this off so this lesson is recommended to be repeated often. Regularly $6.97. On sale $3.47 (4 pages)

Lesson 9: Rendering Hair
Rendering hair is dictated by several factors: the type of hair, its color, texture, quantity; the arrangement and styling of the hair; the personality and mood of the sitter; and the light effect upon the hair. For this lesson I have chosen the profile view as it lends itself to a more direct understanding of hair rather than the frontal pose where one is confronted with the issue of foreshortening and perspective. In this very popular lesson I will demonstrate how to achieve this beautiful complex hairstyle so that you be able to tackle any hairstyle and will never again draw a portrait with what I call the "bad wig effect".
Regularly $8.97 On sale $4.47 (7 pages)

Lesson 10: Drawing Children
To address the facial proportions of children in a general sense is mute. Consider that for a child six months might as well be a decade and a year an eternity. Their facial proportions change dramatically with a short span of time. Not only will you face the unique challenges of drawing a child but you will reproduce one of the most sublime Ruben's portraits and in classical sanguine conte. Nothing but nothing will improve your drawing quite like studying and copying the masters. Three lessons in one.
Regularly $8.97. On sale $4.47 (7 pages)

Lesson 11: Shadow Dancing - Working with Tone
As discussed above, tone is one of the most vexing and troublesome elements of portraiture. Most artists are very tentative about tone and don’t push the darks far enough. This is often because 1) their eyes are not yet trained to see the subtle gradations and 2) the fear of losing a drawing. Novices can see big lights and big darks and mid-tone easily enough but it takes a while to train the eye to see finer variations in tone. In this lesson we once again face-off with the challenges on tone with a portrait of a child and we play with the patterns of natural light to create interesting edges and bring a portrait to life.
Regularly $8.97 On sale $4.47 (8 pages)

Lesson 12: Drawing the Portrait with a Large Hat
Posing your subject in props can add much more interest, dimension and appeal to a portrait and goes a long way to describing your sitter. It can also e an important element in the color and composition of a piece. Drawing the portrait with a large hat requires particular attention paid to the Construct which is a more complex Arabesque. Quite often the beginning artist will be tempted to approach a prop as a separate element or after thought so that rather than complimenting and blending with the figure in a supporting role it looks contrived and overwhelms the sitter or is incorrectly sized and drawn. In this lesson you will learn a professional's approach to drawing a supporting element that frames the center of interest even with a prop that is bigger than the face.
Regularly $8.97 On sale $4.47 (5 pages)

Lesson 13: The Construct - A Compleat Arabesque
This pose presents a number of challenges: first, the head is reclined and partially hidden by the arm; the forearm recedes significantly; and then there are those foreshortened fingers. And finally, the cheek and eye is pressed into the hand pushing up the flesh and slightly ‘distorting’ it. Lots of places for the inexperienced artist to get into trouble. When we learn portraiture in a classroom situation, most often we only get to practice the standard frontal or profile view. But when you want to take portraiture to the artistic level or add them to your figure drawings you will be faced with challenges such as these.
Regularly $8.97. On sale $4.47 (6 pages)

Lesson 14: Incorporating a Hand in Your Portrait Drawing
Including a hand in your portraits add a signficant measure of drama and can quickly ruin an otherwise fine portrait if done badly. The agenda, is to incorporate the hand so that it is not only proportionally and gesturally correct, but is congruous in personality with the expression of the head. In short, a pleasant facial expression juxtaposed with a clenched fist may not proffer your intended effect (although it may speak volumes of avarice and irony).
Regularly $8.97 On sale $4.47 (5 pages)

Lesson 15: Elements of Facial Expression - Part 1
The most difficult aspect of portrait drawing is the capturing of fleeting facial expressions and their emotions. In this two part tutorial I will cover a selection of the major expressions of which there are six. These are happiness, melancholy, surprise, fear (anxiety), anger and disgust (contempt). Of these six expressions there are innumerable degrees. Happiness, for example, can be expressed subtly with a gentle, delicate smile or a loopy hilarity. In order to be a competent, well-rounded portrait artist and tackle any challenge you need to master these.
Regularly $8.97 On sale $4.47 (7 pages)

Lesson 16: Elements of Facial Expression - Part 2
Expression is found in both the gesture and muscle action. Facial expression is often a sympathetic reaction to a gestural action. An example is when we thread a needle we tend to purse our lips as if that will somehow aid in the accuracy of putting the thread through the needle’s eye. Or when we lift something heavy we tend to wince. This is sympathetic facial expression.
Regularly $8.97 On sale $4.47 (8 pages)

Lesson 17: Toil & Trouble - The Foreshortened, Reclined Head
Whenever I am presented with the prospect of drawing a foreshortened, reclining head Shakespeare’s opening scene in MacBeth immediately springs to mind. Toil and trouble. The trouble usually begins with failing to establish the underlying architecture and proportions. The toil quickly follows. And the failure to set things up correctly in the first place generally leads to frustration coming to a boil. Master this and you are well on your way to Portrait Mastery.
Regularly $8.97 On sale $4.47 (5 pages)

NEW SERIES!! Drawing into Painting
Using sanguine conte and focusing on the portrait and figure I will introduce a new lesson at the beginning of each month. The first lesson is now available.

Chapter 1: A Sanguine Portrait

The urge to leap directly into painting is universal. Painting is the show. The problem, however, is that jumping into painting before understanding how to relate and carve out form is that things will quickly get bogged down. If one cannot handle form in drawing then the myriad challenges of working with pigment, color, temperature, relative values, etc. will completely overwhelm. In this lesson I will show you a working method that bridges the gap between drawing and painting – a tonal approach to the portrait. Regularly $8.97 On sale $4.47 (7 pages)

Chapter 2: The Sanguine Construct

The pose in this lesson, A Sanguine Construct, is complex – it involves a tilted head leaning into a hand supported by an arm. The construct is a more complex arabesque. It incorporates not only the entire outside shape but also the gesture inclusive of the hand and arm. Although the hand is inside the parameter of the hair and head it still must be sensed.

I prefer the terms arabesque and construct because they imply gesture and rhythm whereas contour connotes a more one-dimensional feel. Regularly $10.97 On sale $5.47 (12 pages)

Portrait Drawing Anatomy Lessons - The Facial Features

Portrait Anatomy Lesson 1: Drawing Expressive Eyes
Convincingly rendering the human eye in one’s portrait drawing is an immensely satisfying endeavor. Of all the features of the human head, it is the eyes that draw and hold the viewers attention. However, when drawing the eyes, symbolic preconceptions manifest quickly resulting in eyes that are unconvincing and lacking in emotional resonance. Regularly $7.97 On sale $3.97 (5 pages)

Portrait Anatomy Lesson 2: Setting the Eyes
Here’s the method: first the eyebrow must be established accurately. Now you will have to ‘feel’ your way down (this is called the ‘tactile sensibility’) to the crease of the upper eyelid and then ‘feel’ the size of the upper eyelids. Remember everything must be relation to everything else.This is why learning to strike the arabesque is so important. Once you havethat skill, this ‘feeling’ part is actually quite easy. Regularly $8.97 On sale $4.47 (6 pages)

Portrait Anatomy Lesson 3: Understanding the Nose
The nose is a particularly troublesome feature, its forms are complex and subtle. The nose does not present the drama of glistening lights, darks and emotions that the eyes does, nor does it carry the delicate, serpentine gestures of the mouth. The nose is the largest feature of the face and is the fulcrum upon which all of the other features are placed and proportioned. This lesson includes a composition lesson. Regularly $8.97 On sale $4.47 (8 pages)

Portrait Anatomy Lesson 4: Anatomy of a Smile
Capturing the subtle, fleeting expressions of human emotions in portrait drawing is a challenge for every artist. Charles Darwin wrote in his book, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, that there are six primary emotions: happiness, sadness, surprise, fear, anger and disgust. The expressions of these primary emotions are instinctual, the muscle interactions and movements are involuntary. Unlike animals, human beings can express counterfeit emotions such as a fake smile to mask anger or deceit. Regularly $8.97 On sale $4.47 (8 pages)

Portrait Anatomy Lesson 5: The Ear - 5 Easy Pieces
Of all the features to be wrestled with in a portrait drawing, the ear is probably the easiest to master, yet surprisingly far too many artists fumble with the ear’s architecture and end up with ‘cauliflower ears’. Unlike the nose or mouth, whose subtleties of form can radically alter the expression and likeness of the model, the ear has an easily seen and definable anatomy. Regularly $8.97 On sale $4.47 (6 pages)

Drawing Drapery Workshop

Drawing drapery requires a skill-set as distinct as portrait drawing is distinct from drawing the still-life. Although there are similarities in rendering plastic form in portraiture, still-life, etc., draped cloth requires an understanding of the various structures of the different types of folds.

There are seven basic folds: the pipe fold, the 2-point fold (also known as the ‘diaper’ fold), the zigzag fold, the drop fold, the half-lock, the spiral and the inert. A draped cloth often contains numerous fold structures, i.e., pipe, zigzag, and half-lock folds. Most artists while drawing or painting drapery quickly become lost in the forest of myriad folds and creases.

Drapery cannot be approached the same way you would tackle a still-life. Instead you need to learn the characteristics and be able to interpret the rhythms and stresses of each type of fold. Regularly $47.00 On sale $19.97 (46 pages)