Hey, @morloq! Your drawings look pretty good! In a way, when you follow a tutorial, you are indeed drawing from a reference - it’s just that the reference is not a photo, but another drawing (broken down into step-by-step instructions, but still). So, for all that matters, you most certainly can draw from reference right now, yes. Of course, drawing from a tutorial, from another ready-made drawing, from a photo and from life are four different types of experience, but managing these differences is more about getting familiar with the different contexts than about acquiring new skillsets per se. With that said, I wonder if perhaps, your concern is not that you can’t draw from observation (which obviously you can), but rather that you’re not sure about how the drawing process should go when you don’t have an instruction to cling to. I also wonder if you have tried doing these same drawings, but instead of following along the tutorial steps, just grab the final reference drawing and attempt to do it from scratch totally on your own, at your own pace and following your own process (which, of course, could be similar to the instructor’s, but not necessarily). If you have tried this already, let me know how it turned out! And if you haven’t, I’d suggest giving it a try. And since you’ve done these drawings through the tutorials before, it should be a bit easier to do it on your own now than if you were to draw something completely new for the first time - so this can be a practice of transition before you draw “from zero” using photos as reference. You see, one interesting thing about drawing is that the logic of the process is often somewhat the same, regardless of what we’re drawing. If we were to explain it in a didactic way, I think it would be something like this: 1. We often start with a loose sketch in order to lay in the main visual components of the drawing. There’s usually an advantage to keeping a very light line at this stage, and also drawing “from big to small”: ignoring details at first, focusing mostly on the bigger shapes and proportions. For example: if you’re attempting to draw a portrait, this first stage could be no more than just a very rough gesture to define the shape of the head and the overall position of the features. 2. Once the bigger elements of the drawing are sort of “mapped out” on paper, even if very rough and without detail, we can start to tie it down, take it to a more thorough development, put in the minor visual information. In other words, we work on top of the rough sketch to develop and define it more and more, little by little. This can require time, patience and keen thought and observation. In a portrait, for example, this stage would mean finding the actual shapes of the parts that compose the eyes, establishing the minor planes of the nose, constructing the forms of the lips and ears, building up the mass and volume of the hair. It can also mean constantly checking proportions and making several adjustments throughout. Making “mistakes” and having to adjust them on the go is just a natural part of the drawing process, happens all the time to everyone. 3. Once we feel that the sketch is developed enough, we can start shading. This involves establishing where the light comes from, building a tonal separation between lights and shadows and making sure that the drawing has a clear values which helps convey volume and form and also keeps a clear “read” of the picture. 4. Finally, on top of the shaded drawing, we can add toppings such as hair texture and finer light and shadow details on the features, as well as do an overall polish however needed. I’ve attached an image than can help illustrate this description. However, in practice, of course, things are not always this plain and clear. Each drawing can be different, and, often times, we need to deal with setbacks, unforeseen problems, corrections and re-corrections, frustration and even starting over if needed… it’s just part of the game. On the other hand, other times things flow smoothly and we feel inspired. Either way, once we choose to continue and not quit, the joy of accomplishment during and after the process compensates for the challenges, as you must know! So, in the end of the day, one of the most helpful things you can do is what @ @paper mainly recommended: just go ahead and draw. I know it can be a bit scary and even sound like an oversimplistic and “crude” advice at first glance, but improving in drawing is something that can only happen through practice. Try to be patient, stay open to the points where you can improve and take it easy on critiquing yourself. Hope this helps. Overall, keep up the good work! You’re surely on track. Best of luck!

An excellent tool to help working from either a live reference or a photo is a knitting needle or proportional dividers. You use them to measure a reference point like the distance from the side of the head to the tear duct of an eye, make a mark at each point and use that as a reference to judge other points on the face. This is in reference to a portrait but the same applies for figure drawing. Once you learn proportional measurement the next aspect I’d suggest it to pay attention to the angles of lines connecting the reference marks you make from your measurements, then look at the negative spaces and the shapes they make, compare to your reference. Now think of the anatomy and the rhythms of the forms. This should help you build a solid image from reference.

These are fantastic! I guess the question I would ask is, where does the instructor begin? What I would do, is find a reference that I want to draw, then I'd actually open the tutorial video (or videos) and follow the steps, but not the instructor's reference or drawing. That way, you can start to get an idea of the instructor's method and process, then implement them to your own art and style. I think this would be an interesting exercise and help you understand if you're referencing the instructor's artwork, or the actual image. Again, these drawings are excellent! I'm sure you'll figure out your best process of drawing from reference. I hope this helps.

Hello @Morlog The obvious answear I give if someone were to ask me how to begin doing portrait by picture,I would say they should start trying to drawing portrait from reference.But since that answear seemed unsatisfactory I'll give you a few pointer I suggest Stephen Bauman portrait drawing series where he lead you through how he would start a portrait drawing from start to finish https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRG3N63G3AE Andrew Loomis also thaught it really well in his book https://www.alexhays.com/loomis/Andrew%20Loomis%20-%20Drawing%20the%20Head%20and%20Hands.pdf And obviously proko portrait fundamental https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EPNYWeEf1U&list=PLR2KBLDDnZz0pHBiiyrqlOB3FU-W5XX1k Then I would suggest just jumping into it and try to draw a face from reference as best as you could.Don't worry if the proportion or value isn't right the first time,you'll get better if you keep studying.(Also here a resource for faces https://line-of-action.com/) On the topic of the actual drawing,I think you did really good!You copy the drawing of the eyes really well and there aren't that big of a value or structure mistake.The page on the nose,i think you did good on the top but the one below seem to be missing the darker parts on the underside of the nose (Some VAnderpoel for example,I suggest copying these and all his other plates if you feel like improving your design) But honestly,yeah,again,I suggest just jumping in and drawing the faces.That way it's more obvious where your weaknesses are and it be easier to know what to study next (Also I apologize that this became longer than I thought,hopefully it was usefull and not just a waste of time >_<)