#Face outline how to

Usually the eye on the side opposite to us is at least a tiny bit smaller! We're able to clearly see one half of the person's nose and mouth. We are able to see one eye completely, but perhaps only part of the other one. When viewing a face at a 3/4's angle, we are able to see much more of one side of the face than the other. We are now dealing with certain levels of foreshortening, depending on the angle of the head and what perspective we're seeing it in. We are no longer looking to create symmetry, as we usually do when drawing someone facing forward.

In a sense, we are distorting facial proportions when drawing a face at an angle. So how does this information translate into a head at a 3/4's angle? The ears start at the eyebrow line and end at the nose line. The first tick mark placed within this area will be where we draw the opening of the mouth. The lower part of the face (from end of the nose to tip of the chin) can also be divided into three parts. We can use the inner corner of the eyes to define where the eyebrows should start and, if we bring two vertical lines downwards, they will also tell us where the curves of the nostrils should end. The hair line is below and not on or above the head shape Placing approximately the width of one eye to either side is going to ensure that we don't make the eyes too large or too small, too. It's important to make sure that the width of one eye fits in between both eyes to ensure they aren't too close together or too far apart.

The width of approximately five eyes should fit along the main horizontal line. The face can be divided into three equal parts if we measure from the hairline down to the chin (Part 1: Hair line to Eyebrow line / Part 2: Eyebrow line to Nose line / Part 3: Nose line to Chin line). Here are some important measurements to consider when drawing faces: What I'm referring to is the overall head shape and shapes of different facial features, proportion and location of facial elements within the head shape. Human faces have natural imperfections and aren't 100% symmetric (most of the time). With a portrait drawing being off, I don't mean small differences in eye sizes or eyebrow shape. This means that most people, artists or not, will be able to notice if something is off when viewing a portrait, even if at first they can't pinpoint exactly what it is. The main reason being that what we see most everyday are the faces of those around us. This is why it's so important to devote enough time to our preliminary outline sketches, especially if we're looking to draw freehand (without tracing or using grids), and our objective is to create believable-looking portraits. We're going to be building on an unstable base.

No matter how amazing we may be at shading and texture techniques, if our proportions are off when we finish this first phase of our drawing, something will look off at the end. When we're looking to draw faces that are a bit more on the realistic side, it's imperative to start with an effective preliminary outline sketch that shows believable proportions and locations of different facial features within the head shape, before moving on to smaller details and shading.īecause that preliminary outline sketch is the foundation for everything else.

#Face outline how to

Not there yet? No worries! Check out my How to Draw a Simple Face Tutorial for Beginners blog post. This is one of the most-used angles in both painting and photography portraiture and, in my opinion, its the best one to move on to after we've succeeded at drawing a completely forwards-facing face. In the video included in this post, I take you step-by-step through drawing a female and male face using Andrew Loomis's method, and below that, I provide a simple 4-step process for drawing faces using reference photos. In this blog post/ YouTube video I'll explain how I draw faces at a 3/4's angle and with believable proportions. :)Īre you getting a bit tired of always drawing stiff, flat faces looking forward? Would you like to start drawing faces at different angles but have no idea where to start? Do you frequently find something is a bit off when you finish your portrait drawings? I receive small commissions for purchases made through these links at no extra cost to you. These commissions help me keep this site up and running, in order for me to keep providing helpful and inspiring art content.