Drawing Faces for Beginners

Drawing faces intimidates many beginning artists. Eyes and mouths create the personality. Draw these correctly, and your portrait closely resembles your model. However, the eyes and mouth, along with other features, require correct placement on a properly proportioned face before a true likeness appears. Learn the breakdown of facial feature drawing and draw faces that truly resemble the people you attempt to draw.

A very oval shaped headDraw a basic egg-shaped oval, wider at the top than at the bottom. Some faces appear slightly square, heart-shaped, round or long but all start with this oval base. Adapt the oval to resemble these other shapes through later minor line changes, shading and hair placement. Lightly draw a horizontal line across the middle of the oval. Draw another horizontal line lightly across the oval, equally dividing the space between the first line and the bottom of the oval. Create a lightly drawn vertical line down the center of the entire oval. Use these lines to assist you in placing the facial features and creating correct facial proportions. Slightly adjust as needed for individual differences but use these lines as a strong guide for correct proportions.

Almond shaped eyes with very round pupilsThe top half of the oval becomes the forehead and hair. At the line you drew dividing the entire oval in half horizontally, draw the eyes. The bottom of the eye rests on this line. Draw the eyes with a very almond shaped outline. Leave one eye width between the eyes and one eye width on either side of the eyes, creating a face that is five eyes wide. Draw the iris inside the almond shape of the eye. Make it perfectly round and partially hidden by the eyelid. Inside the iris, draw the perfectly round pupil. Shade the pupil darkly with a small highlight to show reflected light. Shade the white of the eye slightly, to create a spherical look. Above the eye, create the brow bone with shading then add the eyebrow. These give the face depth. Pay attention to the shape of your model's eyebrow as you draw.

Create a well proportioned nosePlace the rounded tip of the nose halfway between the eye and the bottom of the oval or chin. Study your model's nose, paying attention to the shape of the ball, or end, of the nose. Most noses have a very rounded ball on the tip, however the size varies greatly. From the inside corner of the eyes, lightly draw two diagonal lines that extend down past the nose tip almost to the chin. If you drew an imaginary line under the nose to connect these two lines, a triangle would appear with its point between the eyes and its bottom half way between the nose tip and chin. The imaginary triangle forms a guide for placing sides of nostrils and mouth corners. Draw the rounded, half circle formations that create the sides of the nostrils on either side of the tip. The nose, from one side to the other at the nostrils, should be about as wide as the eye. Shade in the rounded inside of the nostrils. Lightly draw two lines extending from the ball of the nose to form the bridge of it. Later, shade these areas to create the bridge of the nose as well as under the tip of the nose to create depth.

Note the shape of the lipline and upper lip bowStudy the model's mouth, paying particular attention to the line in the middle of the lips, the shape of the upper lip bow, and the level of fullness of both upper and lower lip. Half way between the tip of the nose and the chin, place the center line of the mouth. Use the diagonal lines that you drew in making the nose as a guide to create the size of the mouth. Edges should extend to the diagonal line placing the mouth corners beyond the edges of the nostrils. Draw the shape of the bow of the upper lip then fill in the rest of the upper lip line. Note the fullness of the lower lip and draw its line. Shade the upper lip darker than the lower lip since the fuller lower lip tends to reflect more light. Highlight the middle of the lower lip. Shading under the lower lip also helps to create its dimension. Shade the corners of the mouth slightly, where the lips meet, to create additional depth.

Notice the fall and flow of the hairDraw the hairline half way between the eyes and the top of the oval creating your head. Create any bangs falling down from this line. Notice the flow of your model's hair as well as the light and dark areas created when light falls on it. Create hair that suggests movement rather than a helmet by first shading a bit to indicate light and dark areas. Next, taking note of the way the hair falls, draw many lines quickly within an area to suggest the way in which the hair falls. Move on to the next section and repeat following the fall and flow of the model's hair. Draw shorter hair with shorter strokes and longer hair with longer strokes. Draw fewer and lighter lines in the areas of the hair the light catches. Also, draw fewer lines to illustrate blonde and other light shades. Draw darker hair and sections of hair that do not catch the light with more lines.

Shadow and highlight form the earDraw the ears if visible on your model. If the model has long hair or has head wrapped in scarf or hat, take note of any bowing of the covering so that the ears are indicated when you draw this area. If drawing the ears, study the shape of the folds, shadows and shapes that create it. Draw the top of the ear about even with the eyes, and the bottom of the ear about even with the nose tip. Create the folds, shapes and shadows of the ear through shading and highlights or areas left white. Draw the shading, shapes and shadows of the ear in much the way that the drawing of draped fabric occurs. Use shading and highlights more than lines. Do not worry about recreating every detail. You do not want the ears to become the center of attention on your portrait.

Cylindrical NeckSimply drawing two parallel lines for a neck under your carefully drawn face can ruin your portrait. Remember that the neck has dimension. Draw a cylindrical shape for the head to rest on. Do this by remembering that the neck muscles extend down from behind the ears diagonally until they meet at the collarbone. Shade this area subtly to create the illusion of muscles and depth. Between the two muscles or sides of the "V," draw the Adam's apple. Remember to shade the area around the Adam's apple so it has dimension and appears to stick out. Draw this area more predominantly in males. Shade the neck darker on the sides and lighter in the center as you would a cylinder to give it depth and appear rounded. The neck descends into the muscles of the shoulders and chest. Include a hint a shoulders and chest in your portrait so that it appears more realistic.