8 Week Course to Master Portraits

Let’s be for real for a min to start. I’m Kalsie, and this is a guide that we together can follow to help advance our art. I myself am no master at portraits. But there is clearly only one way to get there. Practice! Practice! Practice!
I wanted to share this with other artists for free because I believe we can all learn together and build success all while cheering eachother on!
Good Luck, and feel free to reach out to me with any questions or comments or tip I should add!

Full 8-Week Advanced Black & Grey Portrait Tattoo Master Plan

WEEK 1: Master Your Eye (Foundation of Realism)

Focus:

• Train yourself to see shapes of light and dark, not features or lines.

Daily Work:

• Print 3 black & white faces.
• Trace over ONLY the darkest shadows, ignoring lines.
• Block out shadows into 3 tones: dark, mid, light.
• 30 minutes/day whip-shading on fake skin (9 mag):
   
  • Practice 3 smooth gradients: black → gray → skin tone.
• Remind yourself daily: you’re painting shadows, not objects.

Key Goal by End of Week:

You stop thinking about “eyes” and “noses” — you see only light and shape.

WEEK 2: Contrast is King (Darkness and Light Control)

Focus:

• Create drama by exaggerating blacks and letting highlights breathe.

Daily Work:

• One portrait daily:
   
  • Mark all pure black zones with a red Sharpie.
  • Shade ONLY black areas (no midtones) onto tracing paper.
• Redraw black zones freehand (train your memory).
• Tattoo 3 practice circles:
   
  • One black-heavy
  • One gray-heavy
  • One highlight-heavy.

Tattoo Tip:

Use crisp, solid passes for pure blacks — no “scrubbing.”

Key Goal by End of Week:

Your eye naturally finds and commits to the darkest 20% immediately.

WEEK 3: Texture — The Secret Sauce

Focus:

• Build believable skin, hair, lips without any outlines.

Daily Work:

• Study macro photos of textures (skin pores, lips, hair).
• Sketch just the texture shapes (no features).
• 30 minutes/day stippling, pepper shading, hair strand practice.

Tattoo Tip:

Low voltage + small mags (5 or 7 mag) = buttery soft textures.

Key Goal by End of Week:

You can create pores, wrinkles, hair, lip cracks with just shading, no lines.

WEEK 4: The Eyes — Bring Life Into the Portrait

Focus:

• Perfect the soul of every portrait.

Daily Work:

• Sketch 2 eyes per day:
   
  • Sharp reflections in pupils.
  • Smooth fade across sclera (eyeball).
  • Crisp upper eyelid shadows.
• Practice blending iris textures softly.

Tattoo Practice:

• Tattoo just an eye on fake skin.
• Focus: Deep dark pupil, wet/glossy cornea, and eyelash shadows.

Key Goal by End of Week:

You can tattoo an eye that feels wet and alive.

WEEK 5: Nose and Mouth — The Soft Zone

Focus:

• Create soft, believable transitions without cartoonish outlines.

Daily Work:

• Sketch 2 noses + 2 mouths daily:
   
  • Study soft bridge shadows.
  • Capture reflected light under the nose.
  • Define lips with tonal contrast, not outlines.
• Sketch lips moist and shiny using subtle highlights.

Tattoo Practice:

• Tattoo noses and lips together — focus on subtlety.

Key Goal by End of Week:

You can make noses and lips look three-dimensional and soft without obvious “drawn” lines.

WEEK 6: Full Face Construction

Focus:

• Learn to structure the entire face correctly — proportions + lighting flow.

Daily Work:

• Sketch one full face every 2 days:
   
  • Divide into 4 zones: Forehead / Eyes / Nose / Mouth+Chin.
• Draw the BIG shadow shapes first.
• Do not detail features until the structure is believable.

Tattoo Practice:

• Tattoo a full face outline on fake skin.
• Focus first on broad light flow, THEN detail.

Key Goal by End of Week:

Your portraits are built from light flow first, not feature-by-feature guessing.

WEEK 7: Depth and Atmosphere — The Final Touch

Focus:

• Create a 3D feel by controlling soft vs sharp edges.

Daily Work:

• Study portraits with soft melting backgrounds.
• Sketch one “soft” portrait per day, letting background fade naturally.
• Practice creating sharp vs soft edges intentionally.

Tattoo Practice:

• Tattoo a portrait with 70% of edges softened, only sharpness around eyes, nose tip, lips.

Key Goal by End of Week:

You control where the viewer’s eye lands — your work feels deep, not flat.

WEEK 8: Final Project — Create a Masterpiece

Focus:

• Combine EVERYTHING: contrast, texture, features, depth, flow.

Daily Work:

• Pick your final portrait (high-res black and white photo).
• Sketch it fully in charcoal first. Get tough critiques (post online if needed).
• Tattoo it in stages:
   
  1. Big shapes
  2. Midtones
  3. Details last

Tattoo Tip:

• Use dynamic contrast (push your blacks deeper).
• Let highlights stay skin — don’t overwork them.

Key Goal by End of Week:

Finish a portfolio-level portrait tattoo showing all your mastery.