How to Draw a Portrait in Photoshop
Jan 6th in Drawing by Constantin Potorac
Here is a new tutorial for all the drawing lovers. In this tutorial, we will make a quick sketch, scan the sketch, and convert it into Photoshop. Then the fun will begin. Drawing a portrait is not very simple, but with some knowledge you can achieve a lot. The end result may not look exactly like the person you are trying to draw, but the important thing is to do the best you can and make the eyes, mouth, or nose look similar to your subject.
The end result in this tutorial looks more like me, but to tell you the truth this is just a coincidence. Also, I would like to thank Necula Cezar for throwing a helpful hand in this... I am working hard to produce great quality tutorials for you and help is a must.
I am a freelance designer living in Romania. I discovered the beauty of design a few years ago. Since then I have dedicated my time to becoming a great designer (work in progress)!
Final Image Preview
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Step 1
First of all you need to make a rough sketch, scan the image and import it into Photoshop.
Step 2
Next, create a new transparent layer over the sketch (name it "sketch"). Then using a small brush, draw the sketch again, but this time make it more accurate.
Step 3
Create a new layer and place it below the "sketch" layer and name it "color." Using a soft brush draw the color over the face, using this code: #e9b68b.
Step 4
According to the light source angle (which is in the top-left), draw some shading using a soft Brush (B). This time use the same color but give it a slightly darker touch.
Step 5
Reduce the brush opacity and continue to darken the shadows some more.
Step 6
Mix the color and the shadow with the Smudge Tool (R), which results in a nice transition between the face color and shadow.
Step 7
It's time to add the hair color. Use the same brush that you did for the face, but this time use color #3c210f.
Step 8
It is time to add some details to the hair. Draw thin lines, each in different directions. Use a darker (#9f815d ) and a lighter color (#1e0d05) for this. With the help of the Smudge Tool (R) and the Opacity set to 20, smudge the thin hair you just created. This will help you make the hair more realistic.
Step 9
You need to draw thin lines along all the head part until you get something similar to the image below.
Step 10
For this step you need to start adding the light on the face. Select a soft brush and also lower the Opacity of the brush. This will help you create the light effect gradually. After you are set with the brush, start adding some light using the color #ffdebb.
Step 11
It is time to work on the eyes now. Color the iris of the eye and the white side with these colors: #edddb9 and #797866.
Step 12
Add some more color and details to the eyes.
Step 13
Make the eyes shiny by placing some light on them. Also, create some shadow over them. You need to create the thickness of the eyelid by drawing some shadow on the lower side of the eyelids.
Step 14
Slowly erase the sketch and add some more light on the eyes.
Step 15
Next, work on the mouth.
Step 16
For the lips I used this color #d58b6a.
Step 17
The upper lip is darker then the lower one because the upper lip is where you need to draw the shadow. The color used is: #8f6048
Step 18
To bring more realism to the lips you need to draw some darker lines over the upper lip using a small brush. Also you need to smudge the lines.
Step 19
Same as you did with the upper lip you need to do with the lower lip, but this time use lighter colors to make the lip shiny. Also, you need to make a selection around the upper lip and use the Burn Tool (O) to add some more details.
Step 20
Repeat the burning process over the lower lip. Also, draw some more lines and make the textured lip detail and gradually erase the sketch.
Step 21
Refine the eye wrinkles and eyebrows with a low opacity Burn Tool (O), then smudge them as we did with the hair.
Step 22
Add a little red to the cheeks (#e6986e), to make it more human and some grey for the beard. Start drawing the beard with a soft brush set to a low opacity and then use the Smudge tool to mix the colors. The color for the grey is #908478. Also, as you can see, I have added some more shadow on the face.
Step 23
These last steps are the finalizing steps. Erase the sketch and Smudge the tips of the hair to create some volume.
Step 24
Smudge the skin and the eyebrows.
Step 25
Smudge the forehead skin color over the hair to create the hair roots.
Step 26
Add some light on the nose and the area under the nose. This will make them shine.
Conclusion
You are finished with the face. Place a nice background or maybe fuse your portrait into one of your illustrations. You can view the final image below or view a larger version here.
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User Comments
( ADD YOURS )Tom Daguanno January 6th
Great!
( )Christian Tobler January 6th
Burn Tool used as depth… AWESOME. never thought to use on portrait
( )Great TUT!
Andreaz January 6th
FREAKING AWESOME!
( )Flomo January 6th
Wow,
( )the Hair looks great!
Isis January 6th
Where’s the eyelashes?
But, that’s great! But I’m afraid of this tut just be completely useful for drawers…
( )Henry January 6th
Everything for everyone Isis.. So tight!
( )Isis October 23rd
Ok, You’re right! =D
( )This technique ca be used includding photo enhancing…=)
Base January 6th
Looks great, i especially like the lighting in his eye. though his bear could of used a little bit more work. I always get stuck when trying to create the hair, it always looks a bit jaggy and out of place. the lighting on the hair in this picture is also a bit odd since the light is coming from upper left, yet the right section has light hair and light ear tips.
I would love to have a little more comments on how you slowly removed the sketch?
( )James Duffell January 6th
Great tut, will come in handy
( )Alvaro January 6th
Awesome!!!
( )sova January 6th
This is great! Whoever wins the Poster Contest, can try it out with the tablet : D
( )hvdesigns January 6th
great artwork.
thank you for sharing
( )Kieran Innes January 6th
Very good tutorial.
( )Ben January 6th
fantastic !
( )Diego January 6th
Great tut, good job
( )arsonshatter January 6th
Wow, this is great!
( )DgTL January 6th
its nice, but u should give more detail about the brushes
( )Jeremy - Being Amateur Digital Artists January 6th
Amazing. Coloring has always been a weak spot for me, and this should help me a lot.
( )geir b nystad January 6th
that is so COOL man! always wanted to know the process on drawing faces in photoshop
( )boss January 6th
great tutorial, but this dude has no eye lashes
( )loswl January 6th
Awesome tut, I love your process!!
)
( )Nokadota January 6th
I’ve wondered how people paint in Photoshop. Thanks for this tutorial.
( )Mikhail January 6th
Finally, something I can use!!!
( )Thanks!
Lukas January 6th
Taking advantage of this tutorial,a equips of the site it could order a link where has the necessary brushes to do the painting….
I am needing a lot here those brushes among in the link and pass for me, e-mail:
http://clepweb.deviantart.com/art/Digital-Painting-go-Beginners-27802774
ronissom.web@hotmail.com
Beautiful tutorial
( )Zoomrix January 6th
Great tutorial!
I just wish there was more detail on the opacity of brushes used towards the beginning, that’s what I seem to usually struggle with (deciding on opacity and size).
Thank you!
( )Manuel Minino January 6th
AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
( )Manuel Minino January 6th
( )shivv January 6th
AWESOME!!
( )Mason Sklut January 6th
I liked the end result — but that was a lot of handwork versus digital work. That type of art is hard to do by hand. Nice job.
( )Mason Sklut January 6th
@Mason Sklut
( )Please ignore what I said in my previous comment. What I should’ve said is that it’s really hard to achieve that realistic look without knowing Shading techniques. On paper, you can use pastels and what not to achieve this effect, so it’s really surprising how well it turned out. Thanks!
Johan January 6th
Amazing! This is the kind of tutorial that is so hard to find. A beginners digital painting tutorial. This is just what i need! Thanks.
( )Rachelle January 6th
I really like this tutorial, you have a great process!
( )insic January 6th
wow! i was amazed by this one.
( )Torstein Takstein January 6th
Im sure this tutorial could also be of great use for those who only want to be able to paint faces. Great work!
( )Ariful Alam Khan January 6th
Except the eye lashes it is fantastic tut. Thanks..
( )Constantin Potorac January 6th
Yes you guys are right… it seems I missed the eye lashes. For those you can use the same technique used for the hair. Make a stroke all along the eye lids then using the Smudge Tool you can create a few eye lashes.
( )Paris Vega January 6th
Really impressed by this one, Constantin. Great work.
( )Tanaka13 - Créations du Net January 6th
really great work Constantin, thanks for sharing your knowledge.
( )macias January 6th
powerful tut !
( )inalgnu January 6th
great!!! thank you for this tut
( )himangshu January 6th
so amazing art …i will admire it 50 times
( )J January 6th
cool, but just to curiosity
( )works like that cant be follow in real life
kailoon January 6th
The result isn’t good enough but I did learn some techniques here
I always curious how to paint a Chinese Watercolor Painting. Can that be the next tutorial?
( )Moi January 6th
Good done!! lov it!!
( )ZaFaR January 6th
Awesome!
( )Chris Campbell January 7th
that’s ri-damn-diculous.
( )good job
NGP January 7th
I believe the Author SHOULD have included the eyelashes in this tutorial, but I also think that he gave enough information on how to create hair and blend it in with the image that you use those tools and make your own eyelashes… These tutorials are a medium of conveying tools to get results not a delivery of a final result. Learn to adapt!
Thanks for a great tutorial!
( )KetBeoPhi January 7th
Oh no… very goood!!!!
( )Thanks….
afrix January 7th
great work…. I like his hair
( )btw i think that is the 1st DP on psdtuts.com : )
http://afrix99.deviantart.com/
gago January 7th
Great job man.
( )But, is it just me or ….he has a tooth ake.
crysfel January 7th
woaw!!! it is awesome!!
( )Stretix January 7th
Excellent tutorial! I’ve been waiting for this!
( )Rob January 7th
Very nice indeed!
( )Azeem January 8th
Oh man! Crazy tut…never knew so in depth possiblities in PSD….
( )John January 8th
Love the mullet! This is really useful, thank you for taking the time to put this together.
( )Rezt January 8th
ANjRit!!! (awesome)……
thx a lot, this is very useful and easier than other digital painting tutorials that i’ve ever seen.
You’re Anjrit dude!!!he2
( )NIPUN JAIN January 8th
THIS SHOWING THE DEPTH OF PHOTOSHOP
( )bhimsen January 8th
this is really woundful i love tut
( )Asmodeus Icq6666407 January 10th
Very bad. Dirty… where are ears? its not ears, its stumps xD
( )Eyes absolutely not live. The upper lip as though is pasted. Already under the sketch it is visible that the author is not able to draw)))))))
sry for my english).
mimwow January 10th
Excellent tut it seems so easy to draw, thanks
( )loiss January 11th
this was rubbish
( )Reader January 12th
This is cool. Good job on the drawing! You don’t see stuff like this done like photoshop too much, so it’s nice to see!
Anyone remember that board game called Guess Who? This kind of reminds me of one of those faces!
( )Stacey Bahr January 12th
I was thinking the exact same thing about Guess Who? Excellent job, I’ve always been a little afraid of processes such as this, but this tut lays it out beautifully.
( )eku January 13th
woooooowwwwww…
cool..
excelent..
( )i’ll try it..
eku January 13th
great!!
excelent job!!!
( )thanks for the tut..
Lawrence77 January 13th
Very cool…
but i’m very poor in drawing..
LawrencE 
( )Sandmania January 15th
Some of the guys making negative comments about this tut want to lighten up. Ever heard of artistic license. Personally I think its a nice tut with a terrific outcome. Extremely stylistic!
+1
( )Teela January 15th
Good tutorial. You have the basics nailed down well in here. One suggestion is to perhaps include information on texturing the face. When texture is brought in, it add a lot more realism to the image and looks more life like. Using a spackled brush set to a medium opacity, then painting at colours slightly darker and slightly lighter than the skintone can bring some dramatic and exceptional results. Keep up your good work though.
( )Fidel January 15th
woooooooouuuuuu very interesant
( )Sheri January 17th
Excellent ….
( )Lente January 17th
How to make a transparant layer (step 1)?
( )Oskar January 18th
that’s a nice work, I’m going to try it.
( )Constantin Potorac January 19th
ok lol
( )Willem January 19th
Nice tutorial!
It’s really great how realistic the result is, but sometimes I prefer drawings who look more sketchy so that you can tell that it isn’t a photograph.
greets
( )babavalibob January 21st
cool!
( )lookin forward to see more from you!
Kenwood January 21st
Great work!
( )Brock January 22nd
Damn!! And I actually PAINT my portraits…… LOL!
Great stuff!
( )Ishmael January 23rd
How to draw my portrait.
( )uzma January 25th
Great job
( )Angie January 25th
I’d really like to know what brushes were used to trace the original sketch because I am a newbie to Photoshop and I am using CS3 and all of my brushes are bad. There is no precision. In order to get smoother brushes, I have to transfer the work to Illustrator.
( )Boobface January 26th
HATE YOU!
( )YOU MADE ME WORK IN SCHOOL!!!!
-kills you-
j. January 27th
well done
( )alfieindesigns January 28th
nice
( )Eriol January 30th
MUy bueno, justo lo que necesitaba!
( )Real great! Just what I needed!
Conexion January 31st
Note to people who are asking about brushes: Just look at it. He’s using a standard circle brush, nothing special. It is amazing how some people think the key to a good painting/picture is in brushes. In most cases though, depending on other people’s brushes makes your art look like rubbish.
Nice tutorial, a good overview of the steps you take.
( )chawda hardik February 1st
really a fantastic tut…!!!
( )shantanu das gupta February 3rd
this is very nice &useful to new learner.
( )shantanu das gupta February 3rd
this is very nice &useful to new learner.much more i want to learn it.
( )zakkap February 5th
heres my finished version!
great tut
( )
jandro February 12th
omg! great!
( )waqas February 20th
very well man very well
( )Mako March 15th
That was awesome! =p~
( )CANDY March 16th
great but difficult
( )Hiva March 18th
fantastic !
( )rocket raja March 20th
super!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
( )Lauren March 21st
No offense but you rely on the smudge tool wayyyy too much. And it looks like he has blue smooshed all over his chin.
( )Twen April 3rd
Amazing Work Tutorial (y)
Thanks
( )Jelski April 10th
Smudgetool is for beginners in my opinion. Never used it, and its way overrated, it also lookes fake.
There are much better tutorials on painting portraits on deviantart so guys, give that site a look.
On the other hand, i like the portrait.
Tip: in real life paintings you dont have a burn, dogde or smudgetool, so if you want to paint digitally, you dont NEED that! Shadows that are created by the burntool are just not colors you want in a portrait.
Another tip for digital painters: Learn the colorscheme, Shadows and hihglights just dont look like this.
Other than that nice portrait.
( )jake July 14th
i agree…there are a lot of tuts on DA better than this , with better results
i realy like the burn and dodge tool so…:)
( )Grafix April 20th
check out my portraits
( )http://www.flickr.com/photos/don_grafixote/sets/72157607560311368/show/
Lheylis May 8th
Increíble!
( )Yasas Perera May 11th
I feel speechless..
( )Debabrata Roy May 14th
Unbelievable work , mind-blowing ,rooking work
( )peter May 16th
Awesome!
( )eva May 17th
very awesome! wow!
( )kuugla June 28th
Very nice work and good tutoral, btw.. where are the eyelashes?
( )Ghee Guills July 5th
well done work of art
( )Karadi July 12th
Great Work
( )Justo August 28th
Now i really want a tablet!!!
( )vikas November 11th
Its Ossom
( )