BeforeYouDraw turns any portrait photo into a structured drawing plan: four values, shadow shapes, proportion anchors, contour edges, and a form centerline. Pick up the charcoal knowing exactly what to draw, where, and why.
Free during open beta · Photos processed in your browser · No upload to our servers
BeforeYouDraw is a guided drawing system, not a generative AI tool. Upload any portrait photograph, and the system analyzes it to produce a structural plan: four discrete value tiers, simplified shadow shapes, proportion anchor points, contour edges, lost-and-found edges, and a form centerline that traces the head's vertical midline.
The plan is a guide, not a finished drawing. The user makes the drawing themselves, in any traditional medium — charcoal at launch, with graphite, pastel, ink, and oil planned for later releases. The product’s job is to compress years of seeing-skill development into a clear visual brief that a beginner can follow and a working artist can use as a planning tool.
“Most people who quit drawing don’t quit because they can’t make marks. They quit because they can’t see what to mark. BeforeYouDraw fixes the seeing.”
Upload a portrait photo, choose an Approach, choose your paper. The system generates a structural plan in seconds. From there, follow the seven-step guided flow or work freely from the plan beside you.
| Approach | What it produces | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Architectural | All seven layers visible. Hard edges, five anchors, four discrete values, uniform contour weight. | First attempts and learning to see structure. |
| Studio | Shadow shapes and key anchors. Mixed hard and soft edges — lost-and-found rendering. | Working artists who already know proportion. |
| Expressive | Big shadow masses with three key anchors. Loose, gestural rendering. | Confident artists who want a planning aid, not a walkthrough. |
The same plan looks different on different papers. White paper builds values down from the highlight; toned papers use the paper itself as the midtone, with white charcoal supplying the highlights. The system adapts the plan and the recommended media to match.
| Paper | Strategy | Recommended media |
|---|---|---|
| White | Paper is the highlight; build values down. | Vine, willow, compressed charcoal; kneaded eraser; blending stump. |
| Mid-gray | Paper is the midtone; draw only darks and lights. | Vine charcoal, compressed charcoal, white charcoal or Conté. |
| Warm tan | Paper provides midtone with a warm cast. | Sepia or willow charcoal, compressed charcoal, white Conté. |
BeforeYouDraw is a web-based drawing system that converts any portrait photo into a structured drawing plan. The plan includes four discrete value tiers, simplified shadow shapes, proportion anchor points, contour edges, and a form centerline. Users follow the plan to draw their subject in traditional media.
No. Photos are processed entirely in your browser. BeforeYouDraw uses MediaPipe Face Mesh and client-side image processing. Your photo never leaves your device. There is no server upload, no cloud storage, and no data collection from photos.
BeforeYouDraw is for anyone learning to draw representational portraits from photographs. The three rendering approaches scale to different skill levels: Architectural for beginners, Studio for working artists, Expressive for confident hands.
Currently human portraits in any traditional drawing medium. Pets, landscapes, and still life are planned for releases through 2026 and 2027.
BeforeYouDraw does not draw for the user. It analyzes a photo and produces a structural plan that the user follows to make their own drawing by hand. The output is a guide, not a finished image.
White, mid-gray, and warm tan paper. The system adapts the plan and the recommended media for each paper type. On toned paper, the paper itself serves as the midtone, and white charcoal handles the highlights.
BeforeYouDraw was built by Jeffrey Tokarz, a charcoal portrait artist based in Fairport, New York. Jeffrey Tokarz is also the executive director of Railroad Street Artworks, a cooperative gallery in Fairport. Read more.
No signup required. Photos process in your browser. Try it on your own portrait.