Guide
Michelle's iPad creative course: Layers and brush diversity with Procreate
by Michelle Brändle
A step-by-step guide to your first digital portrait
28/3/2025
Translation: Megan Cornish
Pictures: Michelle Brändle
Drawing a face doesn’t have to be tricky if you keep a few things in mind. Using a graphics tablet and an art program, I’ll take you through creating your first portrait step by step.
The advantage of digital images is that you can touch up your work as much as you like. This helps ease the fear of drawing, but there are techniques that make it easier to get good results to start with.
If you’re new to digital art, don’t worry – I’ll keep this tutorial as simple as possible. If you still want to practice, my short Procreate beginner’s course will help. Since working with layers is really important, I have a separate article on this topic that you can check out.
A brief overview of the hardware and software I use
I’m using the XP-Pen Artist Pro 22 tablet, which the manufacturer provided me with. I’ve already extensively tested a slightly smaller model in the series, the Artist Pro 14. The advantage of XP-Pen’s Pro devices is that there’s an extensive range of accessories, so you can get started right away without missing a thing. However, you can also use a different tablet with a pen and still follow my portrait painting instructions.
I chose Adobe Fresco as my art program. Its user interface is very minimalist, making it ideal for beginners. It’s also very similar to other programs such as Procreate or Infinite Painter, so you can easily follow the instructions, even without an Adobe subscription.
The warm-up: quick strokes to loosen up
Warming up for painting is a bit like exercising. You shouldn’t go all out straight away. You gently move or stretch your joints, legs, shoulders, and head first. Only then do you gradually work your way into it. Painting’s the same. You warm up gently before you tackle the actual picture.
To do this, open a portrait-format canvas. I chose A4. A pencil’s particularly convenient for warm-ups and sketching later. Feel free to experiment with the program to find out what you feel comfortable with.
Now you can create a few quick sketches on the theme of «portrait». You can pick out some templates from Pinterest, Google, a magazine, or wherever. I chose a few faces from Pinterest and copied them into the program onto their own layer. I then sketched one layer above.
The goal of this warm-up is to quickly grasp the basic shapes and leave out details as much as possible. If you find this difficult, paint directly over the template and try to identify the shapes. For digital templates, draw one layer above. For analogue templates, you can either draw onto the paper with a pen or place a sheet of clear plastic or baking paper over it.
A large circle for the head, two small circles for the eyes, and one each for the nose and mouth. At the bottom, the oval or V-shaped chin area. Over time, you’ll get a feel for these shapes and recognise the repetitive pattern that all faces have in common. I’ll go into this in more detail below.
Don’t forget you’re just warming up. It doesn’t have to look pretty – and above all, leave out the details. You can, of course, pick out an eye or a nose and try to capture it with a few strokes. In any case, the result doesn’t matter.
Division and basic shapes: faces consist of circles
Once you’ve warmed up after five to ten minutes, it’s time to work on the basic structure. Here, too, you can choose a template and place it in a visible location.
As I mentioned, the face can be easily divided into different shapes. This creates a basic grid for the actual portrait. The structure can be divided as follows:
- A large circle with the chin area or an oval for the head
- A cross in the centre of the circle or slightly above the centre of the oval
- Above the cross, the two eyes as circles, each placed in the centre of the left and right halves of the face
- A circle of exactly the same size fits between the eyes
- The nose is located under the cross, with the tip of the nose two eye circles away from the centre of the cross
- Below that is the mouth, in the same circle size as the eyes and nose
- The ears are ovals on the left and right sides, starting at the top of the eyes and ending approximately at the tip of the nose
The draft should stay sketchy
Once you’ve drawn the basic structure on one layer, it’s time to start the rough work. Choose either a thicker pencil or an ink brush – whichever you prefer. It all comes down to personal choice. I like to quickly experiment with a few different options. In the digital world, you can conveniently erase everything quite easily.
Now place a new layer on top of your basic structure. If necessary, gently lower the opacity of the basic structure so the lines are less distracting.
For your first portrait, try not to get too caught up in the details. Keep the portrait sketchy and playful. With each shot, you’ll develop a better sense of lines and shapes, so it doesn’t have to be perfect. You can also add a lot with colouring at the end.
If you’re having trouble with certain parts of the face, draw them again next to the portrait. If I can’t get an eye right straight away, for example, I’ll draw another one on a separate layer at the edge of the image. This gives me better feel for the composition and I don’t get distracted by the rest of the face. Afterwards, I can simply delete or hide this layer.
Adding detail with colouring
Your more or less sketchy design now needs a bit of colour. Don’t get lost in the details here either. Brush selection helps. I like to use a wide brush with less coverage than a watercolour brush. The advantage of this is that you can paint over the same colour twice, creating shading immediately.
When colouring digital images, it doesn’t matter if you paint over the edges. This can easily be corrected with the eraser tool. However, make sure to paint with each colour on a separate layer so you can edit them individually or experiment with them.
I like to start with the skin tone, as it makes up the largest part of the portrait. Then a soft red for the lips and possibly the cheeks. You can use a blending brush to soften the red for the cheeks a bit.
A whitish-grey under the eye colour makes the eyes shine nicely. I like to keep the hair as vague as the lines in the sketch. A few rough shadows add a playful touch.
Then, using the pencil I started with, I add a few light, white highlights to the hair. Finally, I add a few white highlights around the eyes, nose, and lips.
Have fun trying it out! I’d love to know how you get on – feel free to update me via e-mail.
Header image: Michelle Brändle
In my world, Super Mario chases Stormtroopers with a unicorn and Harley Quinn mixes cocktails for Eddie and Peter at the beach bar. Wherever I can live out my creativity, my fingers tingle. Or maybe it's because nothing flows through my veins but chocolate, glitter and coffee.
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