The basic head shape.The first thing I
did was to draw a cross on a piece of paper.
Once I had my cross I chose a
point near the top and put a faint dot. The next thing I did was to
judge the distance from the dot to the point of intersection where the
vertical line meets the horizontal line of the cross. I then put a another
dot at approximately an equal distance below the horizontal. This will give
me my top and bottom for my head shape. I did the same again on the
horizontal line to establish the width of the head. When doing this have a
rough idea of the shape of the head you want to draw before you mark out
your points. All head shapes are different so don't worry if it isn't a
perfect oval. remember this is a guide to get you started.
The next step
is to lightly sketch your head shape by joining the dots using curved lines
from point to point. making sure that both sides of your head are equal or
it will look out of proportion. If you are slightly out do not worry
as you can adjust it up later.
The next step is to divide the bottom half
of the face into half and then half again as shown. This will give you your
guide points for the base of the nose and the centre of the mouth. All faces
are different so the proportions can vary.
Positioning of the eyes. A general guide for
positioning the eyes is to divide the horizontal centre line into five equal
spaces making sure that the vertical line through the face is the centre of
your 3rd space. As shown. This will give you the width of the eyes and top
of the nose in proportion to the rest of the face.
Positioning of the nose. Moving down the face place
two small marks inline with the inside point of the eyes. This will give you
the width of the nose at its base in proportion to the rest of the
face.
Positioning of the mouth. Moving down
again place a dot roughly inline with the centre of the eyes. This will give
you the width of the mouth in proportion to the rest of the face.
Basic shapes. Once you have added the basic
shapes of the eyes nose and mouth the face starts to appear.

Nose. The next thing I did was to slightly emphasise the nostrils.
Again I used a 4B pencil. I then used the H pencil to lightly shade the top
and bottom of the nose to give it some shape. Do not worry if it looks too
big or too small, again you will start to learn what works and it doesn't
matter how many times you rub out and try again, You will get it right
eventually. The thing I found that I struggled with most was getting the
shape of the nostrils right so I studied lots of pictures and came to the
conclusion that if I drew them as I would if I were drawing a quick
cartoon picture of a bird in flight
See
also or even a set of bicycle handle
bars I could get them pretty close. You will find that the shape of the nose
will completely change the appearance of the face.
© 2009

If you find our
tutorials helpful Please consider
making a small
donation.
How
to practice using images & photos.