Why Draw Faces?

Dr.Betty Edwards author of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain gives a wonderful explanation as to why portrait drawing is a useful subject for beginners in art:

For three reasons. First, beginning students of drawing often think that drawing human faces is the hardest of all kinds of drawing. Thus, when student see that they can draw portraits, they feel confident and their confidence enhances progress. A second, more important, reason is that the right hemisphere of the human brain is the one we are trying to gain access to, it makes sense to choose a subject that the right brain is used to working with. And third, faces are fascinating! Once you have drawn a person, you will really have seen that individual’s face. As one of my student said, “I don’t think I ever actually looked at anyone’s face before I started drawing. Now, the oddest thing is that everyone looks beautiful to me.”