What are your favorite contemporary portrait artists?

Do professional portrait artists use measurements for achieving likeness of faces?

• Like, whenever I draw portrait from a photo I usually use measurements of various portions of the face to draw a proportionally correct portrait in order to achieve likeness. I find it really hard to do so without using the ruler. Have anybody heard about artists who can draw a portrait just by gauging proportions without actually measuring anything.

• Answer:

  Some do. Most don't. Most have trained their eyes to be able to nail proportion. It's one of those 'practice makes perfect' things. Using measurements wastes a lot of time. Therefore, most professionals won't use this approach. Time is money. If they are commissioned for a portrait, it's like a race against the clock to obtain as much profit as what they can without sacrificing the quality. So, if you and I both charge $150 to do the exact same portrait and it takes you 8 hours to do the portrait because you're using measurements but it only takes me 4 hours because I don't use them, then technically I'm being paid twice as much as you to do it. Understand? All in all, train your eyes to see proportion. Then, train your hand to follow your eyes. You won't regret it.