Helga loves attention and adoration, so what better way to give it than to illustrate one of my favorite portraits of her?

I'm new to drawing, and I still struggle with perspective. But this method of building up from basic shapes really helped me capture this princess in a way I'm pleased with!

This picture of her didn't really need editing, as she was already well-lit and prominently placed (I cropped in tight since I wasn't planning on including the background). Portrait of a Princess - image 1 - student project

I loved the notion of leaving the sketch open, and emphasizing or exaggerating features to make it more cute and stylized. In trying to draw my cats before, I fell into a trap of trying to recreate the photo exactly, and would get overwhelmed and discouraged. Portrait of a Princess - image 2 - student project

Each new sketch layer I made the eyes slightly larger than the last. This really helped me keep them at the right proportion to each other (something else I've struggled with). I added her tail at this step. Portrait of a Princess - image 3 - student project

This method of drawing in her stripes with short strokes was a game-changer. I've never gotten them to look quite as good (still room for improvement, but better than anything I've tried on my own). I ended up coloring in the pupils with a darker color on the inking layer because they blended in too much with the eye color later on. Portrait of a Princess - image 4 - student project

Once I was done with Helga, I hid the reference and background layers and copied and pasted her onto a new blank square canvas. This made it easier to reposition her without having to merge or group layers. I can always go back into the original canvas if I want to edit anything on her.

I decided to draw the ledge that she is sitting on in the photo. Again, I struggled with perspective on it, but I was able to use the distort tool to good effect, and I'm satisfied with the result.

Portrait of a Princess - image 7 - student project

Added color and shading to the ledge. Portrait of a Princess - image 8 - student project

No drawing of the princess is complete without a crown. Also sparkles and a heart. Portrait of a Princess - image 9 - student project

This class was great! I already said this in my review, but I would love to see a class on how you draw portraits of people.

- Remy

Instagram: @chaotic_mewtral

Remy Drain

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