Portrait Sketchbooking: Explore the Human Face
A course by Gaby Niko, Illustrator and Sketchbook Artist
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?
14 lessons & 44 downloads
What's included in this 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.
- 95% positive reviews (2.9K)
- 159,457 students
- 14 lessons (2h 23m)
- 44 additional resources (15 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: English, German, Spanish (Latam), French, Indonesian, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Turkish
- English · Spanish · Portuguese · German · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch · Turkish · Romanian · Indonesian
- Level: Intermediate
- Unlimited access forever
What is this course's project?
Draw three portrait illustrations (profile, three fourths, and frontal) by learning the principles of portrait drawing.
Projects by course students
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.
Reviews
Gaby Niko
A course by Gaby Niko
Gabriela Niko is a freelance artist based in Poland. Having grown up in a family of artists, her passion for drawing came at a very early age. She went on to study design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poland, and started her professional career in sports apparel design. After almost a decade of working in the clothing design industry, she decided to leave her position as a designer and pursue drawing full time in 2020.
Gabriela uses her social media platforms to share her work and has quickly gained recognition by amassing over 350K followers on Instagram. She is currently a brand ambassador for Paper Concept, a Polish art store, and has completed a number of commissioned works, including book illustrations, tattoos, and logo designs.
Content
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U1
Introduction
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About Me
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Influences
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U2
The Basics of Drawing a Face
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How to Use Your Materials: Shading and Hatching
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Structure of the Head and Proportions
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Drawing Eyes
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Drawing Noses
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Drawing Lips
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U3
Main Project
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Portrait Sketch: Profile 1
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Portrait Sketch: Profile 2
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Portrait Sketch: ¾
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Face from the Front
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U4
Documenting Your Work
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Photographing Your Sketches
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Editing with Snapseed
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Sharing Your Work on Social Media
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FP
Final project
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Portrait Sketchbooking: Explore the Human Face
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What to expect from a Domestika course
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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.
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Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
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Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
Yes, this course is designed for beginners and covers foundational techniques for sketching portraits, facial features, and characters step-by-step.
You’ll need a sketchbook, pencils (including mechanical and colored options), erasers (kneaded recommended), a ceramic palette for painting, and optional digital tools or photo editing apps like Snapseed.
You’ll learn sketchbook habits, head construction, facial feature drawing, shading techniques, digital and traditional portrait skills, and strategies for sharing your art online.
Yes, you’ll explore sketching animal characters and simplified versions of popular Disney characters as part of developing your style and portfolio.
You’ll learn to illustrate expressive emotions in both single and couple portraits through facial features, pose, and composition techniques.
You’ll practice crosshatching, parallel hatching, smooth gradation with pencils, contour breaking, and using guidelines for accurate proportions.
Yes, you’ll learn how to photograph your sketches, edit images for digital sharing, and build a visually appealing social media feed.
Estou adorando o curso, o jeito simples das explicações enquanto ela mesma faz os desenhos é bem intuitivo, as referencias e os matérias para auxilio são ótimos também, estou gostando bastante recomendo para quem quer começar nesse ponto e tem uma base inicial já.
L’insegnante è molto brava nel disegno, ma seppur ci siano lezioni dedicate alle parti del viso, non sono per nulla guidate nella costruzione; probabilmente è adatto a chi ha già delle basi nella costruzione del volto. Per me che sono principiante è disorientante e fatico a seguirlo e a mettere in pratica senza punti di riferimento. Ci sono molte risorse aggiuntive che però non aggiungono molte spiegazioni, quanto esempi o reference per allenarsi.
Estou gostando demais. Para algumas aulas, senti necessidade de completar dicas com vídeos do YouTube, pois achei que não ficou boa a proporção do meu desenho. Falta finalizar o curso, mas recomendo.
매우 기대가 되고 흥미를 느낍니다. 빨리 다음단계를 보고 싶어요
Hice este curso hace tiempo y me cautivó por completo
Consiguió que tomase gran interés y a día de hoy continuo poniendo en práctica lo aprendido
Voy a volver a realizarlo, para sacarle más partido aún haciendo un repaso.
Muy agradecido Gaby Niko