What a Sculpture in Madeira Can Teach Us About Drawing Portraits

During a recent trip to Funchal, I came across a sculpture that instantly caught my attention.

The striking portrait is by Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto, widely known by his artistic name Vhils. His work is famous for revealing faces by removing material rather than adding it, carving and chiselling surfaces so that portraits appear to emerge from the structure beneath.

Standing in front of this piece, I was fascinated by how the face seemed to appear from fragments of texture and broken surfaces. Some areas are sharply defined — the eyes and nose especially — while other areas dissolve into abstract shapes.

From close up the sculpture almost looks chaotic.

But step back just a few metres and suddenly the face becomes completely clear. And that transformation reveals one of the most important lessons in portrait drawing.

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The Secret to Drawing Portraits: Big Shapes First

Many beginners struggle when learning how to draw a portrait because they focus on details too early.

They might start drawing eyelashes, lips or small wrinkles before the structure of the head has been properly established.

But strong portraits are never built that way.

Professional artists — whether they are sculptors, painters, or drawing with pencil — always start with the large shapes and proportions of the head first.

That’s exactly why this sculpture works so well.

Even though the surface is made from fragmented textures, the underlying structure of the head is correct. Because of that, the eye naturally recognises the face. This is the same principle I teach in my portrait drawing lessons:

large shapes first, details later.

Light and Shadow: The Foundation of a Realistic Portrait

Another powerful aspect of the sculpture is the way light interacts with the surface.

Because the face is carved and layered, sunlight creates dozens of tiny shadows across the portrait. These shadows give the face depth, character and realism.

In drawing and painting we achieve exactly the same effect through tone.

Understanding how light falls across the planes of the head is what transforms a flat drawing into something that feels three-dimensional.

Once students begin to see the head as a series of planes and shapes rather than a collection of features, portraits suddenly become much easier to draw.

Learning to Draw Portraits Step by Step

After teaching adult beginners for more than 30 years, I’ve seen the same pattern again and again.

Many people believe portrait drawing is extremely difficult.

But in reality, most of the difficulty disappears once you understand the structure of the head and the main proportions.

That’s why I’ve recently created a new online course focused entirely on this stage of learning.

Foundations of the Head – Online Portrait Drawing Course

My new course “Foundations of the Head” is designed to help beginners and improvers understand the essential structure behind every portrait.

Inside the course you’ll learn:

How to construct the head using simple shapes

How to place the eyes, nose and mouth accurately

How to understand the main planes of the face

How light and shadow create form

These are the exact fundamentals that make portraits easier and more convincing.

Once these foundations are in place, drawing faces becomes far more enjoyable and far less frustrating.

The Foundations of the Head course is available now on my website, and the next portrait course will be released in the coming weeks, building further on these ideas.

If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to draw portraits with confidence, this is the best place to start.

Check out the course

Inspiration Can Come From Anywhere

One of the things I love about travelling is discovering unexpected works of art like this sculpture in Madeira.

Even a walk through a garden can become a reminder of the fundamental ideas that artists rely on every day:

structure, light, shadow, and the power of simple shapes.

And sometimes a sculpture carved from stone can teach us exactly the same lessons that help us create better drawings on paper.