After you drew
Look at what you made. Compare it to what you saw.
AfterYouDraw is the second half of the BeforeYouDraw method. After you’ve finished a charcoal portrait, walk through seven structured questions that direct your attention to the specific places where beginner errors hide — the broken shadow, the outlined hair, the flat form.
Start a critique → Free. Browser-only. Your drawing stays with you.What it is
A structured way to look at your own drawing.
Not a grading tool. Not an algorithmic critique. Just seven questions an experienced instructor would ask — written so you can ask them of yourself.
The hardest part of self-study is not the drawing. It’s knowing where to look once you’ve finished. AfterYouDraw walks you through it: did you connect the shadow side, or break it into patches? Did your edges vary, or are they all the same weight? Does the head feel three-dimensional, or flat?
Each answer leads to specific, actionable feedback — the kind of thing an atelier instructor would say if you brought your drawing in.
The seven questions
A complete pass over the drawing.
The questions follow the same priorities atelier training emphasizes: see structure before features, shape before line, form before detail.
Question 1
Value structure
Did you preserve all four tiers, or compress everything into the middle?
Question 2
Shadow shape
Is the shadow side one connected mass, or broken into separate patches?
Question 3
Proportional anchors
Are the spacings between eyes, nose, mouth, and chin within tolerance?
Question 4
Edge variation
Did you commit some edges hard and let others dissolve, or outline everything uniformly?
Question 5
Form turn
Does the head feel three-dimensional, or does it read as flat?
Question 6
Line quality
Do your marks vary in weight and confidence, or are they all the same?
Question 7
Composition
How does the subject sit on the paper? Crowded, drifting, or balanced?
How to use it
Two halves of the same loop.
Real drawing practice is a feedback loop: plan, draw, evaluate, repeat. AfterYouDraw is the evaluate step.
Use BeforeYouDraw to generate a structural plan from your reference photo. Draw your portrait. Then come here, walk through the seven questions, and use what you find to direct your next session of practice.
The point isn’t to grade yourself. The point is to direct your attention to the places you wouldn’t otherwise look. A self-critique done honestly is worth more than any external grade.
Need a plan first?
Start at BeforeYouDraw.com. Upload a reference portrait, get a structural plan, study it, then draw. Come back here when you’re finished.
What it isn’t
An honest scope.
AfterYouDraw doesn’t use AI to grade your drawing. It doesn’t score you. It doesn’t replace a real instructor. It’s a scaffolded self-critique — a structured way to look.
A student who walks through these seven questions honestly will see things they wouldn’t have noticed otherwise. That’s the whole job. The seeing is the lesson.
For real instruction, find a teacher. For real progress, draw a hundred portraits with attention. This tool helps you pay attention.