The Portrait Guru
Welcome To The Portrait Guru!
Are you passionate about portrait drawing and looking to take your skills to the next level? You’ve come to the right place! Whether you're a beginner artist or an experienced artist, my channel is dedicated to helping you master portrait art through step-by-step tutorials, time-lapses, and professional tips.
I'm Haydn Symons, an illustrator and designer with over 15 years of experience, and I have a deep passion for capturing the human face through art. My goal is to provide you with the tools, techniques, and inspiration you need to create stunning portraits with confidence.
🎨 What You’ll Find on This Channel:
✅ Step-by-Step Portrait Tutorials
✅ Follow-Along Drawing Videos
✅ Time-Lapse Drawings
✅ Essential Art Tips & Hacks
✅ Beginner to Advanced Lessons
✅ Sketching, Inking & Painting Tips
✅ Creative Exercises
Ready to improve your portrait drawing skills and become a better artist? Hit that subscribe button and start your creative journey today!
The Portrait Guru
Instantly improve your portrait drawings with these tips:
🎨 Analyse every portrait drawing you create
✏️ Trace over your finished portrait drawings
📏 Measure horizontally and vertically
🖼️ Study past & present master artists
🔺 Start your drawings using basic shapes & forms
See the video on these tips + more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSUep...
1 day ago | [YT] | 3
View 0 replies
The Portrait Guru
Instantly improve your portrait drawings! 🎨 I'm sharing 5 simple tips to improve your art and help you draw faces more accurately! This will make practising portraits easier and more effective. Level up your portrait skills! 👇https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSUep...
3 days ago (edited) | [YT] | 3
View 0 replies
The Portrait Guru
Here’s a collection of some of my favourites artists - from Peter Paul Rubens, Monet to Paul Signac.
And the best part? You can actually learn from them! 🔥
Master studies are one of the fastest ways to level up your drawing skills. I keep coming back to them because they’re packed with centuries of visual knowledge — composition, colour, edges, and decision-making. This video breaks down exactly how to do master studies properly and get the most out of them 👇
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKohf...
6 days ago | [YT] | 15
View 0 replies
The Portrait Guru
Don't know what to draw today? Try these drawing exercises to help you improve:
🎨 Gesture Drawing
👀 Blind Contour Drawing
✏️ Continuous Line Drawing
⏱️ Timed Gesture Drawing
👻 Ghosting & Practicing Lines
🌗 Limited Tones
🖌️ Mark Making Exercise
See the video here + 3 extra exercises for you to try: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX78m...
1 week ago | [YT] | 6
View 0 replies
The Portrait Guru
In my new video, I show a simple exercise using observation, basic shapes, and forms to improve accuracy, proportion, and confidence.
Watch the full video and see how to apply it to your own drawing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbLzU...
1 week ago (edited) | [YT] | 3
View 0 replies
The Portrait Guru
Avoid these classic beginner portrait drawing mistakes:
❌ Drawing the eyes too high
🧠 Forgetting the cranium (the head isn’t flat!)
📐 Ignoring perspective
⏱️ Rushing into details too quickly
📏 Skipping facial feature alignment checks
See it broken down step by step here 👉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl09H...
1 week ago | [YT] | 3
View 0 replies
The Portrait Guru
Ready to make your drawings look solid and 3D? In this video, I'm sharing essential exercises to level up your drawing skills by mastering 3-point perspective with boxes and cylinders! Improve your perspective drawing skills: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09HW_...
1 week ago | [YT] | 7
View 0 replies
The Portrait Guru
1️⃣ Drawing tips
2️⃣ Underrated drawing exercises
3️⃣ Improve your drawing skill easily
It's all packed into my brand new video on my channel! 🔥 Like, share, and comment with how you got on! Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbLzU...
1 week ago | [YT] | 9
View 0 replies
The Portrait Guru
Think you can’t learn from the great artistic masters? Think again... 🎨
From Henri Matisse, Leonardo da Vinci to Rembrandt, these artists left behind a wealth of techniques and knowledge you can apply to your own art ✍️. In this video, we explore master studies - how to do them, why they work, and how they can improve your drawing and painting skills.
Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QBL2...
1 week ago | [YT] | 5
View 0 replies
The Portrait Guru
WOOP WOOP! I’ve officially been accepted into the YouTube Partner Programme! 🎉
Trying to hit 3,000 watch hours in a rolling year felt like a never-reaching goal — always so close yet so far. However, I’ve finally made it, so thank you to everyone who’s watched, liked, commented and shared… you’ve genuinely helped make this happen.
Next goal: 4,000 watch hours!!
By reaching 4,000 watch hours (which was my initial goal), creators can start earning revenue from ads shown on their videos.
I’m just 1,000 away now, so keep watching, sharing with friends and family, and dropping comments, it would honestly be the best early Christmas present and a huge motivation for me if I get there before 2026!
Massive love and hype — let’s keep this momentum rolling! 🙌🎄🔥
#YouTubePartnerProgram
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 5
View 0 replies
Load more