Drawing Realistic Portraits – My 5 Top Tips To Staying Motivated And Inspired

In this blog post I’m going to give you an insight into why I love drawing portraits, and how I stay inspired and motivated to put in the time and effort it takes to draw them in the realistic style that I do. Hopefully this post can help some of you ignite or resonate with your passion for portrait drawing, as well as give you some new ideas which will help you stay passionate and motivated as you create! Because, (as my fellow portrait artists will know) it’s easy to lose that motivation sometimes!

When it comes to drawing, there are so many different subject areas that we can draw! People, animals, nature, landscapes, buildings, objects, vehicles etc. The list is endless! You may have one specific subject area you love to draw the most, or you may have many! For me, I love drawing people (and animals, but people are my favourite!)

Why Draw People?

People are interesting! I mean come on, look at us. We are all so different, no two people are the same. The physical makeup of who we are as humans is just fascinating, we are all the same yet physically, mentally and spiritually we differ. We are all different genders, different races, different ages. Our facial features and bodies are intrinsically unique to us. The way we are made up, the very nature of us as humans – is fascinating to me. I like to capture the beauty and uniqueness of individuals through my art – and I do this by trying to replicate images into drawing, and working to capture the likeness of the individual as much as possible. Some may call this just “copying” an image, but really I get the chance to bring an image to life in an entirely different way. I get to study my subjects and replicate each detail, each wrinkle, each strand of hair – whatever it may be. As well as capturing the emotion and expression in ones face (particularly the eyes, as I believe the eyes reveal the heart’s true emotions). It’s not easy, but it’s satisfying and very rewarding. The beauty of drawing in this way is that, even though in essence you are trying to draw exactly what you see, as artists we all have our own unique perceptions of how we see the world, and so even working in realism, we will still inevitably capture images differently, place emphasis on different elements and reimagine them from our own perspective and artistic angle. No two people are the same, and neither are any two artworks!

My 5 Top Tips To Helping You Stay Motivated and Inspired While You Draw

1. Listen to music / whatever gets you in “The Zone”

Sometimes it can be difficult to begin the drawing process in the first place, especially on a day we’re feeling particularly unmotivated, or uninspired. So what helps me is to stimulate one of my other senses – my hearing! Music is another love of mine, I think listening to music can really change your mood and put you into a different headspace, especially depending on the type of music you’re listening to. Depending on my mood, or the kind of atmosphere I want to create, the genre/style/type of music I listen to varies! For example, if I’m in a good mood and I want to heighten that, I’ll put on some high energy, fast paced music. And that get’s me energised to start drawing and keeps me in a good, motivated mood while I draw . Or if I want a more relaxed, chilled out vibe I might listen to some slow R&B, or just generally more slow paced songs. So make sure to have a few playlists ready to go for whatever mood you’re looking to be in, and choose songs you know will get you into a good creative zone. There’s this thing called “flow state”. When an artist is in peak creativity mode and creativity just flows out of them. I’d definitely say there’s been many times I’ve been in this flow state – think about any time you’ve been drawing (or doing something creative in general), and it’s as if the world around you melts away and hours can pass by without you even realising. That’s being in the zone and in a sense of flow state! And for me music helps me do that, takes me into my own world where I can create freely. Some may prefer to listen to podcasts, or more instrumental/orchestral music. There are of course some artists that also like to work in complete silence! So it’s whatever works for you, whatever it is that gets you into that creative zone – do it!

2. Focus on each area individually

When we’re drawing it’s really easy to get overwhelmed by looking at the drawing as a whole. When we’re focusing on the whole picture, we can get overwhelmed at the idea of drawing it all. And that can be discouraging and make it really difficult to know where to start. However what I do is break the picture up in my mind, and put all my attention to one area at a time. For example, sometimes I often start by shading the eyes once I’ve completed my outline. So I’ll put all my attention into this area and this area alone. It’s much more enjoyable and motivating when we’re just focusing on one section at a time. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I’ll move away from a section still incomplete, and begin a new one – but I’m still working on just one section, and giving my undivided attention to that section. If we try to tackle the whole piece at once, it gets overwhelming and discouraging and that’s why many people give up on drawing. With drawing realism, patience is key. And working on sections at a time is what will keep your momentum going.

3. Keep the end result in mind

This might seem contradictory to my last point, because what I’m asking you to do now is to focus on the piece as a whole (which is what I just told you to avoid haha!) But what I mean here, is to just visualise the finished piece and keep the end goal in mind as you’re drawing. Think of your desired outcome and the joy and satisfaction you’ll get from completing it, and use that to motivate and drive you even when you’re feeling discouraged.

4. If it helps, draw someone you love/admire/feel a connection to

When I first started taking drawing seriously a few years ago, I began by drawing celebrities! My favourite celebrities. This helped me stay passionate and driven as I was creating as I knew I was drawing someone I admired. The first celebrity I drew then was Avicii (who is my favourite celebrity and overall idol/inspiration). I drew it after his tragic passing in 2018, and so the emotions from that made me even more passionate and emotionally invested in the drawing I was doing of him. So you see, it helps to have some kind of emotional connection to what you’re drawing, as it gives you a reason and a desire to draw it and want to draw it. Nowadays I still draw celebrities, but I also draw “random people” I don’t know, as well as photos I get commissioned to do, so although I may not have a connection to these people in this instance, I derive that passion from somewhere else. E.g. if its a commissioned piece, knowing who the drawing is for, or who the subject is (e.g. a lost loved one) gives me a desire to create as I have the reason and story behind the photo I’m drawing in mind. I once created a drawing of this woman who commissioned me, as a gift for her father whom she lived far from, so he’d have this special artwork of her to look at whenever he missed her. After she gave it to him, she told me that he loved it so much he was almost at tears when he saw it. That reaction sums up my biggest motivator for drawing, especially when it comes to my commissions. I want my drawings to be able to make people feel something. I love creating pieces which bring joy, and that can be cherished forever. But anyway, I’m getting a little off track here haha – perhaps I’ll do blog posts in future dedicated to discussing art commissions in more detail. For now, as I said – to initially get that passion flowing, try drawing someone you love/admire. Whether that be a celebrity/public figure, a family member/friend or even a character, anyone you’d be excited to draw. It also helps to draw someone you know as it’s exciting when you begin to see the drawing come together and you, and others, start to recognise who it is!

5. Take breaks!

Although it can be tempting sometimes to want to finish a drawing in a day, it’s often unrealistic – especially when working in realism! Drawing in this style takes time. And the most important thing is to take breaks so that you don’t get burnt out. When I’m drawing, I often hit this wall after a while, where I suddenly start getting a bit irritated and tired. And this is when I know its time to stop. When we draw, we want to be enjoying it, not for it to become a chore or something we dislike doing. So it’s best to draw only when we’re actually enjoying it. If you’re not enjoying it anymore, it’s time to stop. It always differs, sometimes I can go hours and hours without hitting that wall! And sometimes, it can be less than 30 minutes. It really just depends on how you feel and what creative state you’re in that day. I know that if I continue to draw when my body’s telling me to take a break, the quality of my art will start to suffer because of it. So take breaks! It’s always good to return to your art with fresh eyes and a fresh perspective anyway.

To conclude

When working in realism, it can take a lot of time and effort to get our drawings looking the way we want them too. It’s not easy, especially when drawing portraits. There’s so many elements to it, from getting the outline and the proportions right, to being able to create a realistic look with your shading. It can be even more difficult and discouraging especially when you’re a beginner who doesn’t have much experience yet. I’ll write more blog posts in future specifically aimed at helping beginners too, but I hope you can take something away from this blog post. And I also want to encourage you – at whatever skill level you’re at – to just never give up! Keep going and keep developing your skills, and you can use some of my tips to help you stay motivated and inspired while doing so!

Please feel free to leave in the comments any other topics you want me to discuss or give advice on in future blogs!