How to Draw a Portrait Step by Step - 6 Very Common Mistakes!

You might think that the reason your drawings may be turning out terribly is because you just..."lack talent"
I can tell you with certainty that it's most likely just because you don't realize what the mistakes you're doing...everyone learning to draw photorealistic portraits makes them. What separates the wannabe's from the artists is those people who try to find out what those mistakes are, and how to correct them.
Yep, that's you. so maybe you don't really know how to draw a portrait step by step yet...but you've taken a very good first step. You're already way ahead of many people who just give up, thinking they have no talent, or were "never meant" to be an artist.
Having said that...you came here to find out what mistakes you might be making with your drawing...so here are the more common ones that are made. Recognize any of them in your drawings?

• Drawing from a photo taken with flash photography
• The pencil is too hard. Try to use 2B, 4B or softer drawing pencils
• Incorrect proportions. Lightly drawing a grid over both the photo, and the paper you're drawing on, can really help out with getting the sizes and proportions right
• Shadows are not dark enough. Don't be afraid of very dark shadows, or even totally black areas. What can help here is drawing from a black and white photograph...that way its much easier to tell the dark areas apart from the light areas.
• the wrong paper. Make sure you get proper sketching paper, even if its still cheap. Other paper does not "grab" the particles from the pencil, and will make your portrait look strange
• Wirey, flat hair. This is...difficult to explain how to correct in a short FAQ like this...At the very least, don't try drawing every strand individually. You'll have to use shading to get the different light levels across the hair

Obviously, I don't know how much you've already tried drawing...but take a nice look at those points...see if you can tell where you might be going wrong.
With the grid? Try drawing on 1 inch by 1 inch squares, and then drawing only what you see in each square at a time. It'll force you to look at what is in the photo, rather than what you expect to see.
Believe it or not...but simply by drawing what we expect to see, rather than what we do see, is a much more common problem than you think. And it's difficult to just..know, if that's what you're doing wrong.

Of course, you may not have made any of these mistakes...
...But even if you haven't, its still the best place to start in learning how to draw pencil portraits step by step!
And if you've agreed with anything I've said in this article, I believe you'd do well to give http://www.DrawingPencilPortraits.net a quick visit and discover every other step in drawing realistic pencil portraits!

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