Learn to Draw a Simple Portrait of Your Friend or Family
Discover how to draw portraits with guidance from Melbourne-based illustrator Ashley Ronning. This guide provides practical tips for beginners, encouraging creativity and practice.
Access practice sheets from in-store classes or download them from the Officeworks website to follow along with these simple techniques.
Tips for Creating Portraits
- Experiment with different shapes and expressions during the sketching phase. If a mistake occurs, try again, but avoid sketching too heavily as it can be difficult to erase.
- Pay close attention to facial proportions. Observe how features like eyes, nose, and mouth are spaced relative to each other to make your portrait more lifelike.
- Capture the subject's personality. Consider their typical expressions, style of dress, or even their uniform to add character to your drawing.
- Use a fineliner pen for a neat, professional outline. Experiment with different tip widths to find what suits your style.
- Allow fineliner ink to dry for a minute before erasing any underlying pencil marks to prevent smudging.
- As your confidence grows, try drawing subjects from various angles, noting how poses affect shapes and proportions.
- Explore different paper types (thick, thin, smooth, textured, white, or coloured) to see how they affect your chosen media, such as coloured pencils.
- Remember that practice leads to improvement. Don't be discouraged by initial results; focus on enjoying the process and making your portrait as simple or detailed as you wish.
Find Everything You Need to Get Started
Officeworks offers a range of art supplies to help you begin your portrait drawing journey.
- A. Faber-Castell Graphite Sketch Set (Model: FA1811400)
A comprehensive set for graphite sketching.
- B. Derwent Academy 24 Pack Coloured Pencils (Model: AC2301938)
A selection of 24 coloured pencils for adding vibrancy to your artwork.
- C. Staedtler 10 Pack Triplus Fineliners (Model: ST334SB10)
A set of 10 fineliner pens in various colours for outlining and detail work.
- D. Canson 25 Sheet 220gsm A4 Drawing Pad (Model: CA10683284)
High-quality white paper suitable for various drawing media.
- E. Staedtler Triplus 0.3mm Fineliners (Model: ST3349BK)
Fine-tipped fineliners for precise drawing and detailing.
About the Illustrator
Ashley Ronning is a Melbourne-based illustrator who transitioned into freelance design, set dressing, and prop making after studying graphic design. She currently works from her studio, focusing on illustration and risograph printing.
Get Creative
Shop the full range of art supplies online or discover more creative ideas at officeworks.com.au/lovetolearn.
