Head Start- A Guide to Drawing, Coloring and Rendering Faces

Head Start - A guide to Drawing, Coloring and Rendering Faces - 5 hours real-time walk-through 

From an in-depth PDF guide to a long-form video walk-through. 

This is a breakdown of my thoughts and techniques step by step in both PDF and video form. Showing you exactly how I take a character portrait from a rough sketch to a fully rendered painting. 

Going deeper and sharing more than I’ve ever shared. 

I’m taking you behind the scenes to show you my thought process, explaining my techniques and, more importantly, why I do certain things that’d be too complicated or detailed to cover in a quick post or short video. 

By the end of this guide, you’ll have a better understanding of… 

1. Alpha lock and clipping mask: How can these tools be used to control shading areas and make cell shading more precise and efficient? 

2. Cell shading techniques; you'll gain a deeper understanding of cell shading to add more detail and complexity to your artwork 

3. Introduction to digital painting; how to go beyond cell shading and explore painting techniques for more realistic or stylized art 

4. Blending mastery; Understand how to blend colors more smoothly, creating softer transitions and depth in your work 

5. Understanding of multiple light sources; how to work with multiple light sources in your art, making shadows and highlights more dynamic and realistic. 

6. Real-time Drawing insight; Watch a drawing unfold in real-time at 1.4x speed( you can adjust it to your liking) to see how I think, solve problems and techniques I use. 

7. Head structure & anatomy; Learn to break down the human head into basic shapes and structures, a crucial foundation for accurate facial drawing. 

8. Line Work to Finished Painting: Learn how to refine your artwork step by step by seeing the process of turning a basic line drawing into a complete painting.

 9. Speeding Up the Workflow: By watching and practicing with real-time demonstrations, you'll speed up your workflow and build confidence in your artistic process.

About me...

My name is Ese, and I love learning and sharing my knowledge about art.

Last year, I discovered that explaining my process helped me deeply understand the concepts behind it—and that insight leveled up my skills like crazy. Along the way, I realized many of you enjoyed those process breakdowns, and together, we built a supportive community. Huge thanks to everyone who’s been part of this journey so far. I hope this guide delivers what you need, but if there’s anything unclear, feel free to DM me on Instagram anytime—I’ll do my best to help.

Thank you again for your support!

What this is; 

This is a guide for artists who want to explore new ways of drawing, coloring, and rendering the head and face. It’s packed with my personal techniques, workflows, and insights, showing you how I approach illustration from start to finish

What this is not:

This isn't a laser-focused course on any one particular topic like rendering, lighting, stylization, perspective, likeness, photoshop, etc. They'll be coming for sure... but this is not one of them.