Once again - I challenged myself to draw from imagination, my childhood fantasy mermaid character. But once again, she did not turn out the way I wanted her to, especially the hair and the facial expressions I always dreamed up. But at the very least, this one was a little better than yesterday. So, I decided to share it. So, when it comes to drawing from imagination, I'm still not there, just yet. But I will get there soon. I welcome all criticism, just please keep it positive. Thank you very much.

I followed the demo as best as I could. I did challenge myself a little earlier to draw a portrait from my imagination, but I hated every minute of it. It did not turn out the way I imagined the character to be. So, I am not ready to draw from imagination just yet, only from a reference. But I will get there real soon. I welcome all criticism, just please keep it positive. Thank you very much.

Oof, this one was a STRUGGLE. I think the biggest issue I had was failing to notice many of the proportional errors during the lay-in (same with the Nicolai demo) which cascaded down throughout the rest of the process. I definitely didn't capture the likeness and she ended up a lil cross-eyed, plus I think I over-corrected the sizing for the eyes (my Nicolai had enormous eyes, these seem a bit small). That said, our failures are always instructive and help us recognize what specific areas we need to focus on. I just need more practice is all. A huge thank you to Stan for this course - even if I'm not able to capture a likeness quite yet, I feel like this course gave me enough of a framework to puzzle through my own portrait studies and continue the practice on my own, and I'm confident that I'll eventually get there. Excellent stuff. For anyone on the fence about getting this course, it's well worth it.

Well I've gone through this course again! If you guys got recommendations in terms of further portrait / head focused courses i'd love to hear them. Particularly focusing on the face muscles and emotions would be nice, as i feel like that got sidelined here in favor of other projects.

Comment, I realize that this is a pretty old course and may not have the pedagogical attention of some of the newer courses, but I think it would be helpful if it ended with one or two assignment lessons (not just demos) about pulling the whole portrait together, with assignments for feedback on student final work. We go from drawing features to just seeing two complete demos, but there's no real guidance on composition or opportunity for feedback on finished (basic) portraits. I think a couple of additional lessons could round this out.

Another complete portrait exercise (from online reference). I'm getting more familiar with some techniques including lay-in, features, hair. A big challenge for me is still making a clear separation of shadows and mid-tones, my shadows never seem to stay dark enough.

I'll call this my final for this little course, though I feel my portrait journey is just beginning. Portrait of Emma Stone from this reference photo: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/451274825184337551/ Graphite in my sketchbook. I think I spent about 4 hours on it, including 45 minutes on the lay-in and I *still* had some big mistakes to fix later! (Mouth originally too small, mouth and bottom of nose both originally too low). It's closer now if not perfect, but all of the steps laid out in the course helped me get to this point.

2025/7/3. Good morning everybody. Here's a new portrait I just finished a couple a weeks ago. Thanks for any comment or advice. Have a good day. "Emilie" (pencils on Kent paper 21 x 29.7cm).

Tried to draw american ended up as asian

Another attempt at a render. I feel like I was able to capture the likeness better on this one. This one was done mostly by just eyeballing proportions and feature relationships to one another. Critique is always welcome.

This course helped improve my art so much. Much appreciated! Especially glad to be able to do a portrait since they can be hard to get right.

My first attempt at a full render of a portrait drawing. I've been bouncing between this course and Michael Hampton's course trying to figure out a method that works for me. This one certainly took me quite some time, probably like 7 hours over a couple days. Any critique is always welcome.

In the first attempt I only got 30mins into the demo and got frustrated and rushed it. The second I used a different charcoal pencil which helped me lay down tone. I focused on trying to properly use charcoal as a medium but the proportions suffered. Overall I feel I improved in some aspect. I tried working on a larger scale which was challenging and made all of my weaknesses more obvious. Overall I found it a fun process and find it easier to find what I need to improve on by drawing larger.

Loved the demo! Any critique on eye placement or general proportion would be appreciated. I couldn’t tell if something was off.

This is my progress from 2024-2025 drawing my self-portrait. Much of my practice came from Proko. Thank you!

Final portrait study. I feel like hair is definitely my biggest weakness, but I gave it my best shot.

2025/1/8. Good morning everybody. Here's my second oil painting that closes my 2024 artistic production: "La Pucelle d'Orleans" (oil on canvas F6). Thanks for any comment or critique. Have a good day!

What a great course. Have never done portraiture before this. Feeling good for first time ever doing this.

2024/9/6. Good evening everybody. Here's my latest portraiture. Pencil on Kent paper (29.7 x 42 cm). Thanks for any comment or critique. Good night.