Drawing the Portrait: Step-by-Step Lessons for Mastering Classic Techniques for Beginners

This is hands down the best book/tutorial for beginners, intermediate and advanced for drawing faces. Branden breaks every feature down, shows you how to draw and shade and then puts it all together in a very simple way. I like drawing everything and don’t really want to spend tons of time on one subject matter, so I’m grateful for this awesome book. Braden also teaches classes on skillshare and he teaches filling his book, so that’s a great resource too.

The QR codes work so that’s helpful. The book is extremely helpful for me, I’m working through the exercises as he instructs and I’m getting better. It takes practice and a good instructor. Both are here

I’m so glad I pre ordered this book. It came yesterday and already I am learning so much. I love the links to the instructional videos. I am so glad Mr. Messer decided to write this book. He gives you so much. If you are a novice, self taught artist like myself, this book is essential to your library. My confidence is growing already!

Good for beginners and overall all-round knowledge. I always focused on drawing eyes and never got the neck, ear, hair etc to look realistic..I would say this helped in that aspect especially with shading

This was easy to follow by looking at the pictures of the steps.

I’ve chugged through every Loomis head video on YouTube, and skimmed the Asaro head videos. And as I made progress with the Loomis method, all of my faces kept turning out the same. And then, drawing the features was a pain. My eyes always looked stamped on or cartoony. And no matter how many portraits I drew, I couldn’t get my features to connect. A day before I discovered Braden’s YouTube channel, I prayed to God and asked Him to please help me figure it out. Being able to draw a decent portrait was limited to following along the tutorial. Left to my own devices, same face syndrome struck again. Well, He showed me this visual of the eyes connecting to the rest of the face. Like an “M” and I could see it but wasn’t sure what it was. I searched all day on YouTube and almost had a mental breakdown. My husband will tell you. I could cry at the drop of a hat. But, I found Messer’s creation, and lo and behold, he blended both the Loomis and Asaro, and that’s the eureka moment that made the difference. I studied every single video he had on it, drew along until I got the hang of it, and finally took a stab at a reference by myself. Oh my God!!! What a breakthrough that was! And while the YouTube channel sufficed, I wanted to support Braden for being the vessel. And the book was not a disappointment. I love that I can always reference it now without going through a bunch of videos. This is not a read-it-once book. It truly is a reference that you’ll come back to however many times you need. Thank you Braden. And thank you Jesus!!!

OK book for beginners. If you know how to draw a human face, you won’t learn anything. I’m going to give my copy to my public library.

It is very nice, very informative. It helps by guiding you through the steps to create beautiful portraits.