I can safely say that at social events, I’m that one bizarre person who brings along their sketchbook and draws people’s portraits (with their permission, so I’m not being too weird, okay?) Anyways, while I love drawing people’s portraits, I often find myself falling into the same bad habit of outlining certain parts of the face instead of—you guessed it—focusing on the main shadows. Trust me on this one, ladies and gentlemen, your portrait will come out much more accurate and dynamic if you focus on big shadow shapes first, and the details later. Drawing a portrait by thinking eye-eye-nose-mouth is not the way to go. Rather, draw the shapes that are created by the highlights and shadows on the person’s face. This way, your portrait will come out much better, and even if people think you’re weird and anti-social while you’re drawing instead of actually communicating with another human being, at least they’ll also think you’re a decent artist.