If your happy place is between your imagination and a stack of doodles, you are my people! And if you are weird enough to be spending paychecks on paper and pencils, you are who I made this course for. A lot of you asked me to open my full process, so I’m sharing it!
This is the exact workflow!
About Amanda LITTLESUICIDECANDY
Amanda is a visual artist that has been working as an illustrator for magazines, publications, and fashion weeks for over 10 years. She is an exhibited artist and curator with an MA in Art History and a PgCert in Contemporary Art. She is currently collaborating with The Print Space and working on her art book with The Mansion Press.
Complete Portrait Course
This course teaches a clear, start-to-finish portrait workflow. You’ll learn my style pillars, plan a concept with symbols and thumbnails, choose working references, and set up the right paper, color pencils, and gouache. We’ll cover clean linework and controlled stylization, then build skin with a limited palette and add a matte gouache background. Multiple videos, and a full real-time demo shows the entire process, and the final module covers photographing/scanning your work and social media tips. By the end, you complete one finished portrait, receive feedback, and leave with a repeatable method.
-
-
Lesson 1: Introduction & Aesthetic Foundations
Step into Amanda’s visual philosophy of fragility, silence, and restraint, and learn to see like she does. You’ll tour three pillars of her style (innocence vs unease, controlled minimalism, surface precision), understand the course flow, and set up the mindset + workspace for clean, intentional work.
Step into Amanda’s visual philosophy of fragility, silence, and restraint, and learn to see like she does. You’ll tour three pillars of her style (innocence vs unease, controlled minimalism, surface precision), understand the course flow, and set up the mindset + workspace for clean, intentional work.
-
-
-
Lesson 2: Concept, Reference & Composition
Treat the portrait like a story instead of a snapshot. You’ll translate a feeling into shape, space, and symbol, thinking more like a filmmaker or storyteller: mood first, frame second, details last. Expect live sketchbook demos, and a clear path from idea to stable composition.
Treat the portrait like a story instead of a snapshot. You’ll translate a feeling into shape, space, and symbol, thinking more like a filmmaker or storyteller: mood first, frame second, details last. Expect live sketchbook demos, and a clear path from idea to stable composition.
-
-
-
Lesson 3: Tools, Surfaces & Preparation
Learn which papers, pencils, and gouache actually support Amanda’s method and why the wrong choices break the illusion. You’ll see side-by-side tests of the same line on different papers, simple sharpening and erasing demos, and a clear setup for neutral light and a clean, steady workspace.
Learn which papers, pencils, and gouache actually support Amanda’s method and why the wrong choices break the illusion. You’ll see side-by-side tests of the same line on different papers, simple sharpening and erasing demos, and a clear setup for neutral light and a clean, steady workspace.
-
-
-
Lesson 4: Line Work & Precision Drawing
This is the execution stage. You’ll move from planning to clean action: light first lines, and a steady build from overall head shape to eyes, nose, mouth, and hairline. Amanda demonstrates confident, tattoo-inspired strokes, pressure control, and how subtle stylization serves mood without breaking structure.
This is the execution stage. You’ll move from planning to clean action: light first lines, and a steady build from overall head shape to eyes, nose, mouth, and hairline. Amanda demonstrates confident, tattoo-inspired strokes, pressure control, and how subtle stylization serves mood without breaking structure.
-
-
-
Lesson 5: Tonal Base & Skin Blending
Shift from line to light. Starting with the finished drawing, Amanda builds a soft graphite underlayer, then develops skin with a tight, limited color pencil palette, layered slowly so structure stays intact and the face reads as light, not outline.
Shift from line to light. Starting with the finished drawing, Amanda builds a soft graphite underlayer, then develops skin with a tight, limited color pencil palette, layered slowly so structure stays intact and the face reads as light, not outline.
-
-
-
Lesson 6: Gouache Backgrounds
The background is atmosphere, not just decoration. In a real-time demo, Amanda shows how tone and matte texture frame the portrait’s mood, from pale breath to deep stillness, and how clean edges and steady strokes make the image feel finished.
The background is atmosphere, not just decoration. In a real-time demo, Amanda shows how tone and matte texture frame the portrait’s mood, from pale breath to deep stillness, and how clean edges and steady strokes make the image feel finished.
-
-
-
Lesson 7: The Real-Time Portrait
Watch a full portrait unfold at Amanda’s natural pace—from blank page to final touch. Mostly in real time with light voice-over. This is about noticing the rhythm and flow: when she pauses, corrects, commits, and chooses to stop.
Watch a full portrait unfold at Amanda’s natural pace—from blank page to final touch. Mostly in real time with light voice-over. This is about noticing the rhythm and flow: when she pauses, corrects, commits, and chooses to stop.
-
-
-
Lesson 8: Presentation & Feedback
Close the loop: how to document your work cleanly, ask for useful critique, and keep growing after the course. Amanda shares her simple after-process ritual and a clear, repeatable way to present your portrait at its best and get feedback from Amanda.
Close the loop: how to document your work cleanly, ask for useful critique, and keep growing after the course. Amanda shares her simple after-process ritual and a clear, repeatable way to present your portrait at its best and get feedback from Amanda.
-