How to Draw a Face
Hello, and welcome to Anatomy of a Sketch!
Here is where I teach you the fundamentals of drawing people, and today’s lesson is all about faces.
In this tutorial, we will learn how to draw a face, and how to draw different facial features.
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Before we get started, I want to state that this tutorial is an anatomy tutorial, and is not meant to reflect anything other than female anatomy from an educational standpoint.
How to draw a face – proportions, and structure
For this tutorial, we will be learning how to draw a face looking straight ahead.
Step One: Draw a Circle
As with drawing any head, we will start out by drawing a circle.
Step Two: Jawline and Chin
After we draw the circle for the head, we will draw a line down the center, and past the bottom of the circle.
This line should be about 1 1/2 times the circle’s length.
From here, draw a curved line on either side that meets in the center where the chin will be.
This is your basis for drawing a face looking straight ahead.
Step Three: Ears and Neck
Next, we will draw a curved line across the center of the circle we drew in the first step.
Step Four: Draw the Facial Features
This step may seem easier said than done, and I understand that.
The easiest way to tell where the facial features should be placed is to use the reference lines we’ve created in the first few steps.
The eyes should sit on or directly under the centerline of the first circle we drew.
The eyes should also be spaced apart enough for one eye to fit between them.
The top of the ears should be about even with the bottom of the eyebrows.
The corners of the mouth should be equal to the centers of the eyes.
And the nose should fit along the bottom of the circle we drew in the beginning.
You can use the picture above as a reference!
All of these measurements are an estimate, but for basic proportion and anatomy, this is a fair gauge.
Step Five: Create final linework
In this step, we will finalize our linework for the face.
If you are working digitally, create a new layer to trace with whichever pen you like best!
Note! If you plan to add hair and are drawing traditionally with pencils, pens, or markers, don’t use permanent ink on the top of the head or ears.
Once you outline the piece, you can hide the previous layers (or erase your sketch lines).
Step Six: Finish with color!
I almost always finish my sketches in full color.
Here is how I colored the sketch we worked on above!
If you want to know more about how I shade, highlight, and draw skin tone, keep reading till the end!
I also want to go over the different types of faces you can make with simple linework.
Here are 3 variations I drew.
To show exactly how different faces can be, I use almost the same linework to create each of these images below!
I changed the chin and nose width and added different hair, but the base for these three characters was the same.
Differences between male and female faces
While there are always exceptions and variations, these are typical truths about male and female facial structures.
But even so, everyone is different, and your characters can be drawn in whichever way you prefer.
Want to learn how to finish your illustrations in full color?
Sketching is so much fun and I LOVE linework!
But one of my favorite parts of being an illustrator is rendering my illustrations in full color.
Click the image above to join my Patreon community, and get instant access to this tutorial and more!
On Patreon, I post monthly FULL-COLOR tutorials for my Champion and Hero tiers!
These are so much fun, and Patrons are able to comment and ask questions as well as “like” posts and answer polls.
My Hero tier also receives a monthly vinyl sticker from me via snail mail!
These are such a big hit. Some of the ones we have done so far are Harley Quinn, Jane Foster’s Thor, Princess Leia, Aloy (Horizon Zero Dawn), and Captain Carter from Marvel’s What If?
And if you are a Patron, we do take polls so you can help pick which stickers I send each month.
Come join the fun at Patreon.com/LeahHarris
And if you are a Patron, we do take polls so you can help pick which stickers I send each month.
Come join the fun at Patreon.com/LeahHarris
Learn more with my next tutorial below!
What to draw next… Tips for drawing facial expressions
Thank you for reading this tutorial on how to draw a face for beginners!
I hope you were able to get value from it, and that we can continue to learn together.
Until next time!
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