How to Draw a Realistic Portrait

 In this tutorial I show you how to draw realistic figures in charcoal. I came up with this method many years ago and it works very well. It is far more forgiving than drawing directly on the paper with charcoal. It could be compared to the wet on wet oil painting method made popular by the late, great Bob Ross and Bill Alexander. Instead of working directly on the paper, I lay down a layer of white charcoal dust first. This allows for much easier blending, and very easy corrections if you make a mistake. You can also work in layers, as opposed to being trapped working in a limited space.