Introduction to Portrait Drawing
A course by Alonso Palomino , Illustrator and Graphic Designer
Learn the basic principles of portraiture and draw every detail of a face from a photograph
Every face is unique: some show tenderness, others show strength, vitality, or an air of spontaneity. Illustrator and graphic designer Alonso Palomino is an expert at capturing all of these emotions in stunning portraits. In this course, he teaches you the basic principles of this art form.
Learn how to draw unique portraits using a photograph as a reference and discover how to capture detailed facial features and convey personality by working with light and shadows. Grab your pencil and immortalize a moment in time with portrait art.
What will you learn in this online course?
20 lessons & 11 downloads
- 97% positive reviews (123)
- 3,756 students
- 20 lessons (2h 30m)
- 11 additional resources (3 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: Spanish, English, French, Indonesian, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Turkish
- Spanish · English · Portuguese · German · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch · Turkish · Romanian · Indonesian
- Level: Beginner
- Unlimited access forever
What is this course's project?
Draw a portrait from a photograph using a variety of techniques to give it a realistic look.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
Anyone interested in drawing who wants to learn how to create portraits.
Requirements and materials
No previous knowledge is needed to take this course, just the inspiration to learn or perfect your drawing technique.
The materials include pencils, charcoal, ink, an eraser, a fixative, and paper or cardstock of varying weight.
Reviews
Alonso Palomino
A course by Alonso Palomino
Alonso Palomino is a graphic designer by trade, but an artist at heart. His first contact with art was the small woman who watched him from the frame on his great grandfather's bedside table; he felt so entranced by her gaze that the image stuck with him. Years later, he found out that it had been Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa who had been watching him.
Alonso's passion for portraying life through faces is reflected in his art, which focuses on portraits and the human figure. He currently works as an illustrator, designer, and independent artist.
Content
-
U1
Introduction
-
About Me
-
Influences
-
What Will We Do in This Course?
-
-
U2
Basic Principles
-
Drawing as an Essential Art
-
Presentation of Materials
-
Thinking in 3D
-
Light and Shadow
-
-
U3
Building the Human Head and Face
-
Ideal Lighting for Portraiture
-
Main Bones and Muscles of the Human Head
-
General Proportions of the Human Head
-
Splitting Into Blocks
-
Building Parts of the Face 1
-
Building Parts of the Face 2
-
-
U4
Drawing a Portrait
-
Choosing a Photograph
-
Sketching and Fitting
-
Defining Facial Features
-
Highlights, Midtones and Shadows 1
-
Highlights, Midtones and Shadows 2
-
-
U5
Exhibition and Conservation of Your Work
-
Bonus: Using Ink as a Portrait Technique
-
Conservation of Your Portrait
-
-
FP
Final project
-
Introduction to Portrait Drawing
-
What to expect from a Domestika course
-
Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
-
Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
-
Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
-
Certificates
PlusIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
-
Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
-
Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
-
Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
-
Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
What are Domestika's online courses?
Domestika courses are online classes that allow you to learn new skills and create incredible projects. All our courses include the opportunity to share your work with other students and/or teachers, creating an active learning community. We offer different formats:
Original Courses: Complete classes that combine videos, texts, and educational materials to complete a specific project from start to finish.
Basics Courses: Specialized training where you master specific software tools step by step.
Specialization Courses: Learning paths with various expert teachers on the same topic, perfect for becoming a specialist by learning from different approaches.
Guided Courses: Practical experiences ideal for directly acquiring specific skills.
Intensive Courses (Deep Dives): New creative processes based on artificial intelligence tools in an accessible format for in-depth and dynamic understanding.
When do the courses start and when do they finish?
All courses are 100% online, so once they're published, courses start and finish whenever you want. You set the pace of the class. You can go back to review what interests you most and skip what you already know, ask questions, answer questions, share your projects, and more.
What do Domestika's courses include?
The courses are divided into different units. Each one includes lessons, informational text, tasks, and practice exercises to help you carry out your project step by step, with additional complementary resources and downloads. You'll also have access to an exclusive forum where you can interact with the teacher and with other students, as well as share your work and your course project, creating a community around the course.
Have you been given a course?
You can redeem the course you received by accessing the redeeming page and entering your gift code.
Excellent course for drawing fundamentals to get you started. Shows the building blocks of all drawing is shapes, how to see what's in light and shadow by blocking out your face, how to shade with pencil and more. Very informative. I do wish the dubbed english had been a bit better timed but that's a very minor point. Overall I highly reccomend it.
me gusta demasiado el curso esta fenomenal, muy bien explicado las herramientas que ofrece son bastante útiles. me gusta mucho en mi caso que casi todas las clases son en español se me hace mucho mas fluido la manera de entender los términos y conceptos
increible curso lo recomiendo super bien explicado
Muy buena explicación, me ayudo muchísimo a entender temas que antes no podía, tiene buena metodología para enseñar y buenos argumentos que explican puntos que te da, me encantó.
Me ha gustado mucho. Un profesor de 10. Y para mí una nueva manera de enfocar el retrato, muy recomendable. Me encantaría ser su alumna otra vez.