Is drawing artistic paintings and portraits prohibited or permissible?

In summary, the ruling on portraiture is the same as the ruling on drawing animate beings. A portrait is a painting or image of a person. It is permissible to draw a portrait if the image is missing limbs that are essential for life (such as only the head or half the body). It is more scrupulous to refrain from drawing anything that includes a head, even if it is by itself. However, drawing a complete image of animate beings is not permissible.