Skillshare Live: Drawing Simple Yet Expressive Self Portraits

Practice your drawing skills with these simple self portraits that show off what makes you truly unique! 

Illustrator Karla Alcazar truly believes everyone can draw, it just takes practice, patience, and a willingness to be playful! In this hour-long class—recorded using Zoom and featuring participation from the Skillshare community—she walks you through this approach to art (and life) by way of the simple yet satisfying activity of drawing your own self portrait. 

In particular, Karla will be encouraging you to draw a minimalistic self portrait with less focus on every little detail and more on quickly capturing your essence. You’ll start with two warm up exercises to help you draw more freely and be more forgiving with yourself. Then you’ll quickly sketch out your portrait, incorporating elements that make you, you. Along the way, Karla will share some of her tricks for simply representing emotion and other characteristics in just a few strokes. Finally, she’ll challenge you to color in your portrait with only three colors, emphasizing how much beauty and creativity can be found in simplicity. Students who participated in the live session were also able to ask Karla questions, giving you more insight into her process and style. 

This class is great for artists of all levels, whether you’re just getting started on your illustration journey or are an old pro looking for a good practice activity. You’ll finish the session with a beautiful portrait of yourself and more confidence in your drawing abilities and what makes you special. And, no matter what, you’re sure to have fun along the way!

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While we couldn't respond to every question during the session, we'd love to hear from you—please use the class Discussion board to share your questions and feedback.

• Introduction
• Learning to Draw People
• Warmup #1
• Warmup #2
• Warmup Lessons
• Starting Your Portrait
• Adding Different Emotions
• Drawing Poses
• Adding Unique Attributes
• Choosing Colors
• Coloring Your Portrait
• Adding Details
• Q&A
• Final Thoughts