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This is the best Udemy Portrait Drawing The Smart Way coupon code discount for 2025.

So if you’re interested in Matthew Fussell’s “Portrait Drawing The Smart Way” course, which will help you increase your Lifestyle skills, get your discount on this Udemy online course up above while it’s still available. (The coupon code will be instantly applied.)

Portrait Drawing The Smart Way review for 2025

In our review of this course, we try to help you answer all of your most important questions about Portrait Drawing The Smart Way as quickly and efficiently as possible, so that you can determine whether this online education training is worth your time and money.

Feel free to jump to whatever question you want answered the most.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

Why use PDTSW as an abbreviation of the course name?

During our Portrait Drawing The Smart Way course review, you might sometimes see us refer to it as PDTSW for the following 2 reasons:

1. We created the acronym by taking the first letter of every word (which was very ingenious and innovative, we know)
2. We’re lazy and PDTSW is simpler and easier for reviewing purposes

The full course name is 30 characters long, including blanks, while PDTSW is 5 characters long.

You do the math.

Okay, we’ll do the math. We’re saving 25 characters every time we use PDTSW.

So, just a heads up that we’ll be using this abbreviation sometimes, so you’re not left scratching your head and wondering what the heck we’re talking about whenever we refer to PDTSW throughout the remainder of this review.

Is the Portrait Drawing The Smart Way course for you?

To determine whether Matthew Fussell’s Udemy course is a good fit for you or not, ask yourself the following questions down below.

The more you answer “yes” to each question, the more likely it is that you’ll like this course.

Can you understand what Matthew Fussell’s course is about in 30 seconds or less?

Hopefully, you can easily grasp in 10 seconds or less what this online course is about simply by taking a look at the title that Matthew Fussell chose for the course, “Portrait Drawing The Smart Way”, as well as its subtitle: “Lessons and Exercises for Drawing Accurate Portraits”.

This combo of title and subtitle should be enough to communicate the purpose of the training if Matthew Fussell is a good, clear communicator (which, of course, you want in a teacher).

In our opinion, if you still don’t know what PDTSW is about after looking at these two things, then this is a red flag, and you might be better off not taking this class.

Among other things, it means Matthew Fussell hasn’t clearly and accurately conveyed what the course is about and might not be the best teacher for you.

For similar reasons, it’s important that you’re able to clearly understand what Portrait Drawing The Smart Way is all about from the first few lines of the course description.

So take just a few seconds to read the opening lines down below and see what you think of them. 

Opening lines of Matthew Fussell’s official description of PDTSW

“Portrait Drawing The Smart Way” is a complete video course on drawing portraits designed for beginner and intermediate artists. The goal of this course is to provide the learner with a rich learning experience through “easy to digest” modules consisting of video demonstrations and accompanying ebooks. Designed for beginner and intermediate artists, this course lays the foundation required for success with portrait drawing.

Let’s face it. Portrait drawing can be intimidating to some. You sit down to draw a representational drawing of a person and something goes horribly wrong along the way. You’re not sure what happened, but you know that the drawing you just created just doesn’t quite look like the person. Fortunately, this doesn’t have to be case. With a bit of knowledge, practice, and few “secrets” used by the pros, accurate and realistic portrait drawings can be created by anyone – including you!It doesn’t require talent to create amazing, lifelike portraits. It only requires knowledge and practice. This course gives you the knowledge required to create accurate portraits by exploring the “ins and outs” of each feature, the underlying structure of the face, how light effects the form of the face, strategies for locating facial proportions, and techniques used by artists and illustrators to ensure accuracy every time.

This course has been designed to accelerate learning by teaching to many different learning styles. Not all of us prefer to learn from watching videos. Some of us prefer to learn from books as well as videos. Each course module includes an illustrated ebook that corresponds with the video. Every step and concept is clearly illustrated and described in each downloadable ebook. The ebooks are a fantastic compliment to the comprehensive videos.

(Read more about this course on the official course page.)

Does PDTSW pass the 30 Seconds Test?

You can read a lot more about Portrait Drawing The Smart Way on the official course page on Udemy, but the point is this: are the title, subtitle, and just the first few lines of the description enough to help you understand what the course is about?

If so, Matthew Fussell has done a good job and can be considered more trustworthy and a good communicator, which are important qualities for any teacher.

And, if not, maybe you’re better off looking at other Lifestyle classes that are more clearly defined and more tailored to your specific interests.

Did Portrait Drawing The Smart Way appeal to you in 30 seconds or less?

Now that you’ve done the 30 Second Test with PDTSW above, what is your gut reaction to this Lifestyle course with only the basic information of its title, subtitle, and the first few opening lines of its official course summary?

Did Matthew Fussell do a good job conveying its subject matter, and did it immediately get your attention and appeal to you?

If so, Matthew Fussell’s online course is certainly worth considering some more.

But if not, perhaps it’s in your best interest to consider some other Lifestyle courses instead, because clear communication and being able to hook and maintain your interest are two very important qualities for your online learning success.

Does Matthew Fussell sound like a course instructor you’d like to learn from?

You’ve already learned how to use The 30 Second Test to make a quick evaluation of whether the PDTSW course is worth taking.

We have a similar 15 Second Bio Test where you read only the first few lines of an instructor’s background — in this case, Matthew Fussell’s background — and then you make a quick, snap judgment as to whether you think the instructor would be ideal for you.

There is no right or wrong answer. It’s just about going with your gut instinct. What might appeal to one potential student might alienate another, and vice versa.

(FYI, all Udemy instructors, including Matthew Fussell, have a Udemy profile on their course page, so you can easily check for a bio and background on the Udemy website that way. We’re only including the first few lines of the bio down below for The 15 Second Bio Test).

Opening lines from Matthew Fussell’s Udemy bio

Hi, I am an illustrator and educator. As the founder and instructor at TheVirtualInstructor (website), I am able to help thousands of people all over the world realize their dreams of creating quality art. My illustrations have been featured in numerous publications and my work can be found in many private collections. Although I am an illustrator, my true passion in life is teaching. I have been teaching for over ten years and I am lucky to have helped so many people achieve their goals of creating art.

(Learn more about this instructor on the official course page.)

What did you think about Matthew Fussell after reading just the first few lines of the bio above?

After reading just the first few lines about Matthew Fussell, did it make you more or less interested in taking the PDTSW course?

And did it make you feel like Matthew Fussell was more or less credible and qualified to teach Portrait Drawing The Smart Way?

Finally, overall, did you feel like you’d receive the proper training from the instructor of this Lifestyle course?

As always, we encourage you to listen to your gut instinct, which is different for every student.

Are the PDTSW lessons clear, specific, and organized well?

Part of the (good) problem with Udemy’s online courses, such as the Portrait Drawing The Smart Way course, is that the instructors are constantly updating them, including adding and renaming lessons.

So it makes no sense whatsoever for us to list out all the modules and lessons in the PDTSW course here, because you can just as easily go to the Udemy course page and get all the up to date course structure as of right now.

We do, however, have some tips about reviewing Matthew Fussell’s course structure, so that you can get a better sense of whether this program is worth your time or not.

In a nutshell, you want to scan the the titles of the different sections and lessons of the course, and verify that they are clearly relevant to the course’s name, Portrait Drawing The Smart Way, as well as the course’s subtitle, Lessons and Exercises for Drawing Accurate Portraits.

If the section names and lessons are clear, specific, and relevant, then it’s a good sign that PDTSW is potentially a good, useful course for you, and you can have more confidence in Matthew Fussell’s teaching abilities and lesson planning.

On the other hand, if the module names are confusing, vague, or irrelevant, then this is a red flag, which might indicate that the program is worth skipping.

Have you taken some free lessons from Matthew Fussell that you enjoyed?

Have you already learned something from Matthew Fussell that you valued or enjoyed?

For example, does the Portrait Drawing The Smart Way training have some free lessons that you can try? (Almost all Udemy instructors will give you at least one or two lessons for free to help you make a better, more informed decision before enrolling in their course.)

But if you weren’t able to get any PDTSW lessons for free, have you perhaps watched a YouTube video by Matthew Fussell, or perhaps come across this instructor’s thoughts on Quora, Facebook, LinkedIn, Github, Reddit, or some other platform?

Or have you perhaps even taken one of Matthew Fussell’s free courses or free webinars? (Many online teachers offer these freebies, which is a great way to get to know them and evaluate their teaching methods before buying one of their courses.)

In any case, the more familiar you are with Matthew Fussell’s teaching methods, and the more you enjoy them, the more likely it is that Portrait Drawing The Smart Way will be a good fit for you.

(P.S.: We strongly encourage you to seek out some free instruction from Matthew Fussell before purchasing this course, since it’s one of the best ways to determine whether PDTSW will be helpful for you.)

Are “Portrait Drawing The Smart Way” reviews generally positive?

On the bottom of the PDTSW page, you can read student reviews of the class.

Prior to September 29, 2025, there were 627 students enrolled, 274 reviews / ratings, and it was overall rated 4.5 out of 5.

Obviously, the more highly other students rate PDTSW the better, but no matter what, keep an open mind when reading the reviews, since you might still like a course a great deal that other students dislike.

After all, everyone’s got their own opinion.

We recommend that you spend only a couple minutes scanning the PDTSW reviews to get an overall sense of them. You don’t have to read each one!

Is Matthew Fussell responsive to student questions in the PDTSW training?

You can see what other students have to say about this in their PDTSW reviews.

But, our simple all time favorite way of gauging an instructor’s responsiveness is to simply email the instructor and see if or how they respond.

In this case, Udemy has a messaging system for students / anyone who has an account, and you can send Matthew Fussell a message through this system quite easily, even if you haven’t bought PDTSW yet.

For example, you could say, “Hi, and I came across PDTSW while looking at Lifestyle courses on Udemy. If I enroll in your training, would you mind if I asked you any questions along the way?”

If you use this approach, the response (or lack of response) from the professor will tell you everything.

Obviously, the quicker the response the better!

Are you comfortable going through the lessons in Portrait Drawing The Smart Way on your own, online?

This is a big one, because Portrait Drawing The Smart Way is an online course as opposed to a course that you physically take in a classroom.

Of course, you will need a good internet connection to have access to the course material and lessons, but beyond that, you also have to be comfortable being self motivated to some degree, being on your own, and not having any physical interaction with any of the other students taking Portrait Drawing The Smart Way.

Yes, you will be able to interact with the students and the teacher, Matthew Fussell, online, but it’s a different kind of experience than what you’d get if you were interacting with them in person.

This is not a big deal to most people, but it might be something for you to consider if you feel like you do better taking classes in person rather than learning online.

Do the pros / benefits of PDTSW make it worth your time?

Ideally, if you’ve gone through the evaluation steps above, you have a list of positive things about the Portrait Drawing The Smart Way training that looks something like this:

• The purpose of PDTSW can be clearly grasped and understood, and its lesson structure is clear, specific, and well organized
• Matthew Fussell is well qualified to teach this subject matter, has good teaching abilities, and is responsive to student questions
• Other PDTSW students have great things to say about the program

Other benefits include:

• You get to go through PDTSW at your own pace
• You join a community of 627 other students taking the course
• You get lifetime access to the training
• All updates to the training are free
• You have a 30 day money back guarantee

Even if there are some things that you don’t like about the program, so what?

The question is simply this: do you think that PDTSW would be worth your time, even if there are some things that could be better about it?

Can you comfortably afford PDTSW?

Can you comfortably afford the cost of Portrait Drawing The Smart Way?

This is an important question to answer, because even if you think PDTSW sounds like the greatest online class in the world, it’s still not worth taking if you can’t comfortably afford it!

Before September 29, 2025, the price was $12.99 before any Udemy discount, and you were able to pay with a credit card.

Keep in mind that this is a Udemy online course, and there’s a great chance that you can get a solid discount on PDTSW with Udemy coupons / promo codes, especially with the strategies we provide for helping you find the best, most popular coupons available.

We’ll cover that in greater detail in the next section, because at the end of the day, its important that you can learn whatever you want to learn without getting into a lot of credit card debt.

How can you maximize your discount on Portrait Drawing The Smart Way?

By far, the easiest way to get the best and biggest discount on this course is to use the Portrait Drawing The Smart Way discount code link at the top of this page.

It will instantly give you the best coupon code we could find for Matthew Fussell’s online training.

We don’t believe there’s a bigger discount than the one we provided, but if for some reason you’d like to try find one, you can use the methods below to hunt for the best PDTSW course coupons and promo codes you can find.

FYI, the methods below will help you not just with getting PDTSW for a better price, but also with any other Matthew Fussell Udemy course that you’d like to get for cheaper.

How can Google help you get a PDTSW discount?

To use this method, do a Google search for the PDTSW training, but in your search query, be sure to add words like coupon code, promo code, deal, sale, discount, and Udemy.

For example, you might do a search for “Udemy Portrait Drawing The Smart Way promo code” or “Portrait Drawing The Smart Way udemy coupon codes” and see what turns up.

Similarly, you can use the same combination of search terms with Matthew Fussell’s name and see what happens.

For example, you might do a Google search for “Matthew Fussell Udemy coupons” or “Matthew Fussell course coupon codes” and see if that helps you.

However, in general, it’s far more powerful to do a search for deals and coupon codes with the actual training’s name, than with the instructor’s name.

So in this case, for example, prioritize searches for “Portrait Drawing The Smart Way coupons” rather than “Matthew Fussell coupons”.

How can a Udemy sale get you PDTSW for cheaper?

Every once in while, Udemy will do a sitewide sale where they offer all (or almost all) their courses at a discounted price. For example, one of the best sales is where every course is only $10 or $9.99.

So, if you’re interested in saving as much money as possible, you could wait and see if you can get PDTSW for this cheaper Udemy sale price one day.

The problem is that these sales only occur sporadically, so you might be waiting for a while. Also, if Matthew Fussell decides not to participate in the site wide sale, then you won’t get a discount on PDTSW, even though you could get a great discount on almost any other class at Udemy!

To understand this, think of there as being two different coupon categories for the PDTSW course. Category one is an official Udemy coupon (which instructors can opt out of), while category two is a coupon offered directly by the instructor.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what kind of a coupon tag you’re dealing with (for example, “officially from Udemy” or “officially from the instructor”), as long as long as as you’re dealing with active coupons that get you a better price.

How can you get a PDTSW discount from Matthew Fussell?

If you’re really serious about getting “Portrait Drawing The Smart Way” for the cheapest price possible, then perhaps one of the most powerful things you can do is get a coupon code straight from Matthew Fussell, instead of waiting for a Udemy sale.

To do this, you can use either the direct approach or an indirect approach to try to get your discount.

With the direct approach, the big idea is to simply get Matthew Fussell’s contact info in some way or another (whether it’s email, or Twitter, or whatever else).

Then you send a message saying something like “I’m interested in enrolling in Portrait Drawing The Smart Way. Do you happen to currently have an active coupon code for it that I could use?” (And then, hopefully, you’ll get a reply with your discount code.)

On the other hand, with the indirect approach, you join Matthew Fussell’s mailing list, if you can find it, and then you hope that at some time PDTSW will be promoted to you at a discount.

By far, the more powerful approach is the direct approach, because it tends to get results faster. But you can experiment with the indirect approach and see if it works for you.

Can you get PDTSW for free?

Of course, the best possible price for the PDTSW training is free! As in, you pay no money whatsoever.

And guess what? Sometimes Udemy instructors provide coupon codes that enable students to take their courses for free. So, perhaps it’s possible that Matthew Fussell has done this.

Basically, if you’re trying to get this program for free, you will want to search for the course’s name along with other words like free coupon, or 100 off coupon.

For example, you might do a google search for “Portrait Drawing The Smart Way free coupon” or “Portrait Drawing The Smart Way 100 off coupon” and see what happens.

But keep this in mind: often, Udemy teachers will offer a free coupon for their course when it first opens to get some publicity and reviews. And then, after a few days, they’ll make the coupon expired.

So even Matthew Fussell has offered free coupons for PDTSW in the past, the odds are likely they will all be currently expired. This is a common pattern that we have found.

What about a PDTSW free download?

It’s important to understand that there’s a difference between getting full access to the PDTSW training for free legally with a free coupon code vs. finding a way to download PDTSW illegally.

If you really want to go the download route, you can do a google search for something like “Portrait Drawing The Smart Way download”.

And if that doesn’t get you the results you want, you can add the word “free” to your search.

For example, perhaps you could do a google search for “Portrait Drawing The Smart Way free download”.

However, even if you get some results from these searches, we do not recommend that you take this course of action.

First of all, there are some shady sites out there that could be trying to infect your computer.

Second, Matthew Fussell created this course and deserves monetary compensation for it.

And third, if you go the free download route, you’ll be missing out on a lot of value, because you won’t be able to ask the instructor questions or interact with the other 627 students enrolled in the program.

Can you get a refund on Portrait Drawing The Smart Way if you don’t like it?

Let’s say that you used our tips above, and you were able to buy the PDTSW training at a fantastic discounted price. So at this point, you’re super excited.

Then, you actually dive into Matthew Fussell’s course, and you discover that it just isn’t for you for whatever reason.

And now you’re super bummed, because you feel like it wasn’t money well spent.

Well, guess what?

Udemy offers a rock solid 30 day money back guarantee on all their courses, so you can get a refund on PDTSW no matter what. And this means there is absolutely no risk.

Indeed, even if you left a super negative, critical review on the PDTSW training, and then asked for your money back, you’d get a refund. For better or worse, there’s nothing Matthew Fussell could do about it, since it is simply Udemy policy.

To sum it up: yes, you can get a full refund, so at the end of the day, don’t worry about the possibility of purchasing PDTSW and not liking it, since you can always get your money back.

What is OCP’s overall rating of Portrait Drawing The Smart Way?

During this PDTSW review, you’ve learned about some of the unusual ways we like to evaluate courses, such as with The 30 Second Test and The 15 Second Bio Test.

So our overall review process is perhaps a little unusual and different from other reviews out there. Keep this in mind when you consider the overall rating / score that we have given this course.

Anyway, after taking a look at the PDTSW training, the instructor, Matthew Fussell, and reading what other students have said about this program, we give it an overall rating of 4.9 out of 5.

Ultimately, though, what matters most is what you would rate it based on the same criteria.

What are some potential alternatives to Portrait Drawing The Smart Way?

If you like this course, you might also be interested in:

1. Beginners Watercolor Techniques with Geoff Hutchins

Learn to master the essential basics of watercolor painting

Taught by English Professional Artist and Tutor Geoff Hutchins

2. Expert Nail Technician Course – Become a SuperStar Nail Tech

Learn how to do stunning designs, sculpt durable nails and market your nail business!

Taught by Award winning International Nail Artist

3. From Puppy To Dog Training

The Complete Dog Obedience Training Course To A Fantastic Life With Your Dog.

Taught by Dog Expert & Trainer at Curious Puppies

4. Drawing for Kids: How to Draw Step-by-Step Interactive Art

Hey Friends! Let’s Build This Course Together. Send Me Your Artsy Ideas: What Would You Like to Learn to Draw? Ages 5+

Taught by Teacher, Art Instructor, Artist

5. Basic Land Navigation: How to Find Your Way and Not Get Lost

Practical ways to find your way across the terrain using only a map and a compass to guide you.

Taught by Outdoors Enthusiast

TLDR: Just the quick facts about PDTSW

Okay, if all of this was Too Long Didn’t Read for you, here is the Cliff’s Notes version of what PDTSW’s online training is all about:

PDTSW coupon & course info

Course Name: Portrait Drawing The Smart Way

Subtitle: Lessons and Exercises for Drawing Accurate Portraits

Instructor: Taught by Matthew Fussell

Category: Lifestyle

Subcategory: Arts & Crafts

Provided by: Udemy

Price: $12.99 (before discount)

Free coupon code: Get Udemy coupon code discount at top of page (no charge for coupon, especially since we are compensated for referrals via affiliate marketing)

PDTSW review info & popularity

Prior to September 29, 2025…

Students: 627 students enrolled

Ratings: 274 reviews

Rank: ranked #121 in Udemy Lifestyle Courses in Udemy Lifestyle Courses

Rankings tip: rankings change all the time, so even if Portrait Drawing The Smart Way is a bestseller or one of the top Udemy courses one year, it doesn’t mean it will be a top Udemy course the next year

PDTSW final details

Languages: English

Skill level: All Levels

Lectures: 21 lectures lectures lessons

Duration: 5 total hours hours of video

What you get: Draw portraits with accuracy that actually look like the subject.

Target audience: Anyone who wants to learn how to draw accurate portraits.

Requirements: You should have the desire to draw life-like portraits with accuracy.

Access: Lifetime access

Peace of mind: 30 day money back guarantee

Availability: available online, as well as on iOS and Android

Download options: check course to see if you can download lessons