The likeness depends mostly on two things. In the eyes’ area and at the edges of the mouth. These two are the most expressive parts of any face while the rest, depending the angle of view of the observer ( in our case artist) might look different.

So it is very important to practice, either by making plenty of sketches, or always draw your model, either from life or from a photo.

Draw not copy because if you copy you will never be able to understand the proportions of the face features and how you can put them down on your paper.

The upside down method helps because in this case you draw shapes and not something that you understand as a face or an object, but this method doesn’t help at all to understand how to draw from life. It is better to use this method for checking any differences after finishing drawing normally. In drawing from life there is no chance to have a model standing upside down , so learning how to draw what you see is something that it would be in your benefit in the long run.

The good news. It is not so difficult as it seems. As all other things this can be learned by getting any kind of paper and start drawing eyes and mouths from various photos or persons in various expressions or angles.
If you do that for a week you ‘ll see how easier will become for you to understand the basic parts of a face.

The colour application is the easy part if you overcome the drawing/likeness barrier as a portrait can be made from some simple washes that indicate where is the light or the dark areas, up to the super realistic painting of countless washes.

It doesn’t matter because the colour on a portrait is a personal choice and if the drawing is accurate the portrait will look like the person either way.
Focus on the aim. The aim in a portrait is the likeness so it is all about the drawing.

@all. Don’t try to cut road with grids and other such methods. These methods might give decent some decent results but don’t allow you to learn how to draw a face because you will draw squares and not facial features.

@Marialena – agree completely there is no “cutting road” here (i.e. taking a shortcut). But I rediscovered an old video tutorial I had put in my class library at Craftsy (a freebie in case anyone is interested), by Gary Faigin on (of all things), drawing better portraits and capturing a likeness. I have started watching it again and he says what you say – proportion and placement are the ways to get a likeness.

Here’s the link: [URL]https://www.craftsy.com/drawing/classes/draw-better-portraits/35153[/URL]

I am rewatching it now. (I feel like I went shopping in my own closet!)

Make your life easy. Start by practicing how to draw individual face features.
We all see these features everyday but we don’t pay the proper attention on how they are structured. If you practice on making -let’s say – eyes for a week or so, you’ll realize how little attention you have paid on eyes as features.
When you’ll figure out how individual face features are structured it will be easier for you to be able to draw them all together at the right place in order to make a realistic portrait because you will know what it has to be there.
It is all about understanding the structure of a face and on which certain points you have to be very accurate. The hair or the ears are not so important for achieving likeness. The nose is less important than the eyes because the nose changes shape if you see a 3/4 profile for instance. The eye area and the area around the mouth are unmistakable. All the expressions are there.

I would suggest tracing at first, you just won’t be able to see the subject otherwise. A grid or precise measuring, or just holding upside down is helpful, frankly it’s just a more labor intensive version of tracing.

Those who do portraits for a living by and large do this, with a few exceptions. This will also show you the bar your portraits have to meet. If you decide to do the picture freehand, then later on take that picture and superimpose your drawing on it, it should be nearly exactly the same, the tiny details being off will make it not look like the person.

To freehand a drawing and catch a realistic portrait means you are beyond good, this is why some artists go to an atelier and practice for years, with instructors correcting even the most minor flaws in their work. Usually if you succeed requires some luck, and there is always a subject which is hard to capture ( or who has features you are not used to capturing ). The reality is this can be quite embarrassing as most people aren’t very kind about this.

The alternative is to do a caricature, which requires less skill, but at the same time you have to develop a real talent at this. You are in a way gaming the system we use to recognize other people, or you just pick out something ( like I always wear the same hat, or that Trump has funny hair ), so you can kind of sidestep the issues of capturing their specific features.

I am engaged in at least a daily practice, where I do at least one, often 5 to 6 portraits of random people I see around me. I am doing this for a couple of reasons, one I want to be good enough to catch a likeness without tracing, and second, I am pretty sure I am face blind, I am hoping to rewire my brain so I can figure out who people are. At the moment what I draw is recognizable to others even though I can’t, which still surprises me. I am pretty sure it’s going to take me another 5-6 years before I get to the point where I can do it every time, it’s still a struggle, and I will trace if I need to.

As human beings we are able to see minute differences in the appearances, using a specific portion of our brain. We intuitively recognize people. We don’t see this as something we are doing, because we take it for granted, in fact we are not even seeing people, but the brain generated idea of that person. We literally think what we see more than we see others. I personally can’t even tell if I’ve caught a likeness since that system is broken. The devil is in the details, and I can’t intuit that I got it close, I got to get the details all right, its kind of like I am always seeing upside down.

But the problem is that others looking at your picture can see those flaws even if you can’t, they have a brain designed to recognize people they know. They won’t know why it’s off, but they will instantly notice that.

Further we tend to exaggerate minute differences, I have learned that the basic proportions are almost never violated – a persons eyes are almost always where those rules say they are, but I see everyone as an exception, he has big ears, or eyes are really wide, or this or that, and it’s an illusion which I think is there to help us note what people look like. Learn the proportions, and if you think the person is different, measure it out carefully, 99% of the time you will find that their features are exactly where the proportions predict. ( Watch the Steve Huston Video to see what those proportions are, the actual ones are a little bit different than what you see in most books )

Also people tend to be slightly asymmetrical, one of my eyes is lower than the other, but this is really subtle and it makes people look worse. We don’t register this. Again if you think you see this, measure it out, its usually very very subtle, usually not enough to even be worth noting in your drawing. It is usually better to just ignore this and make them look nicer.

As you get better at drawing, the idea is to start with a gesture, then work that up into structure. That is akin to working big to small, but the problem is that you will have a lot of trouble not getting lost without the little landmarks. I would suggest assuming every detail is important, assume it’s photo-realism, than as you practice doing portraits you will naturally simplify your subjects into what is in effect, your own style. This is something I have noticed with every series I’ve done, I start being very true to life, but as I go on I learn a short hand which says the same things.

In other words you kind of have to start with the trees before you can handle the forest.

After you get really good, then you start adjusting and distorting the face and figure to make it more interesting. This has to do with “energetic lines” and composition. You can also kind of start to see a persons face in 3d, and rotate their features as you need to. I’ve heard taking some time to learn sculpting can also help a great deal.

None of this deals with watercolor, which adds a whole other level to this. I think the best Advice I can give is when you do a wash, you are dropping in color and value, remember that a dry brush can lift up this paint you just dropped in, thus letting you control precise shapes and also soften the edges.

Funny you should be asking about portraits and likenesses. I did a portrait in art class in a looser style than I’m comfortable with, but it challenged me to practice and attempt more on my own. At the same time I watched a YouTube video by Janet Rogers. One of her statements that resonated with me was not to show the subjects their portraits–the resemblance may not be apparent. I have drawn and painted several of my grandkids, and boy, did I learn a lot. I think Marialena’s suggestion about practicing eyes is spot on–for me, not the shape, but what direction they are looking. Thanks for this thread, Janine, as well as the many suggestions. Always something to be learned and mastered (if ever!)