The 9 Best Portrait Drawing Books (2023 reviews)

The oliver sin portrait drawing book's material feels more premium than its price would suggest. This is an exceptional Head Drawing Techniques book that will satisfy readers in multiple levels. It is written, and the diversity of faces captured in the sketches. It is for those seeking some drawing guidance, especially in the art of portraiture, artist and instructor oliver sin has created a book to walk you through the process.

This book is definitely a great resource to have not just for charcoal drawing but for understanding the basics of art. It is written, and the book describes the materials and process of drawing the head but also explains why things the way they are and show details that the average person does not notice. There is a greatness to all these artists, but there is also a striking sameness.

The design, layout and quality of the printing are all superb.

Why We Like This:

High quality, slightly textured paper shows off the charcoal drawings
Important basics of portrait drawing techniques
Beautiful book with lots of good techniques
Reinforces techniques with good explanations and images

Best With Pencil: William Maughan Portrait Drawing Book

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The william maughan portrait drawing book's high-end materials makes sure that it ages well with use. If you are an artist looking for a REAL portrait drawing book, this is your best choice. It takes a very different approach to drawing. It is a figure drawing book but it also covers heads aswell. The explanations for light and shadow are straight forward and the art work is gorgeous. It really has a rather narrow focus.

The book is basically concerned with drawing from life or pictures and teaches how to translate what you see, the shadows, rather than what the various parts of the face and head are. It's great for those who like the more relaxed, natural looking sketching effect. It is well written, well laid out, and very understandable. This book will teach you to be truly sensitive to detail.

Why We Like This:

Pyrography (woodburning) – and beautiful for other “3d” art forms eg
Good tip and tools on drawing heads
Great explanations for shadow and blank space and how to use them correctly

Best For middle School Students: Debra Kauffman Yaun Portrait Drawing Book

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We would, of course, be remiss if we didn't mention debra kauffman yaun portrait drawing book for daily purpose. This is a beautiful book, and you will learn a lot from it. It gives you fresh ideas to try. It is easy to understand, not too complicated, yet covers all aspects of the face. It has some easier steps and tips for children, such as imagining a certain size oval for the head with specific placement for eyes, etc., and specific steps great for adults, such as how to draw details of human eyes and lips. This is a great simple book that helps you ease into the skill. It is ideal for anyone aspiring to reach a new level of expertise.

Why We Like This:

Easy to follow and perfect facial features
Lot of satisfied buyers

Best For achieving super realistic Drawings: Karen Hull Portrait Drawing Book

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The karen hull portrait drawing book's material feels more premium than its price would suggest. This is a very well done book on colored pencil portraits. It can be interchanged in a drawing or painting. The tutorials included in this book are easy to follow instructions and the step by step pictures are fantastic. It also gives the lightfastness rating for each color.

This is a nice book to add to your art library. It is good references for the kind of detail one needs to create a realistic portrait. The results may not be exact but the techniques used are more important for your future drawings than exactly colour matching. This book shows you where your dreams can take you with practice.

Why We Like This:

A must have expecially for those loving portraits
Very good instructions and step-by-step studies
Very good at giving techniques, etc

Best For information: Justin Maas Portrait Drawing Book

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This is a great book for information on drawing portraits. A truly masterful instruction on rendering portraits, this book is wonderful for those just starting out, as well as for those looking to improve their own techniques. It is a mix between grid and freehand and it is excellent. The instructions and demonstrations are easy to follow, inspiring a desire to spring to the drawing board to try them out.

One of the pluses of this book is that it teaches how to draw facial features, accessories and hair. The book is an easy read, great photos and full of information. It is well written with helpful illustrations. Justin has a great style and the book is perfect for all levels of artistry. This is a super book for anyone wanting to learn reliable ways to draw the human face, even if you have struggled with that for a long time.

Why We Like This:

Excellent book must have for beginners in drawing excellent tutorials for all levels
An additional slant on portrait drawing
Very useful for simply explained techniques to draw portraits
Excellent examples and lots of drawings

Best For person: Maukun Portrait Drawing Book

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This book will give you direction in advancing your observational skills and guide you in mastering vine or compressed charcoal or graphite. It is a strong proof of the credibility of the techniques that are taught in this book. It is a great guide to portrait drawing, and as mentioned in the book, practice makes perfect portraiture.

There are a large number of portraits at the end of the book that are ideal for practicing portraiture. It is not very step by step, but it does give very basic overviews of how to draw a portrait.

The book is also a father-daughter labor of love and the final Gallery of Drawings in pencil and charcoal features a stunning range of faces, breathtaking.

Why We Like This:

A much-needed inspiration for students of figure and portrait drawing
Beautiful high quality drawings for artists to use as a reference or master drawing
Highly recommended to serious art students and artists alike
Portrait drawing" would be of value to any artist at any stage of development

Best For beginning Portrait Artist: Jacquelyn Descanso Portrait Drawing Book

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It is a great book for beginning portrait artist. This book does a great job of teaching the basics of portraits, as well as a few new techniques. The sample drawings in it are quite beautiful. It is easy to follow book on learning how to sketch. This book is a good primer for beginners as well as refresher for experienced artists. It is easy to follow, and the writing is engaging.

Why We Like This:

A thoroughly enjoyable way to learn and/or enhance drawing skills
Helps with new ways of drawing portraits
Very good book for a beginners
Excellent textbook to teach drawing and sketching portraits

Best price: Lee Hammond Portrait Drawing Book

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For a self tough artist, this book is perfect for a realistic portrait. This book teaches illustrative, Norman Rockwell style drawing. It is a great guide to not only drawing portraits, but making them lifelike. This book teaches you how to draw each facial feature one at a time. This book allows you to relax and take your time, step by step while you learn to create a realistic portrait.

This book is not the only beginner's book you should have if 'lifelike' and'realistic' together is what you really want. This book is essential in learning to move from a sketch to a life. It is easy to follow these step by steps by lee hammond. This is a must have book for portrait drawing, diagrams, explanations and illustrations are spot on.

Why We Like This:

Highly recommend for beginning and returning artists
Teaches shading and goes through each part of the face
Good investment for long term

Best For Learning techniques: Rockridge press Portrait Drawing Book

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Rockridge Press offers a variety of book for personal choice and yet maintaining quality in all the variants. This course trains a person to understand facial proportion using the Loomis method. It explores different mediums such as charcoal, ink, and watercolor. Facial features are strongly emphasized, once you get these down, you can work on expressions, facial angles, shading, light, and details. This would be very useful in not only drawing faces of super heroes but of faces in general.

This book has helpful techniques but it still requires a lot of practice to achieve the skill shown in the examples. They may also include step-by-step tutorials, exercises, and tips that can help beginners create more accurate and expressive portraits.

The book is very well illustrated and really does guide users through a stepped process covering all the fundamentals of portrait drawing. There are some great tips within the book that the reader can definitely apply to future work.

Why We Like This:

Amazing portrait drawing instructions for beginners
Easy step-by-step lessons and techniques for drawing faces
Perfect fit for anyone who loves to see and do