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There’s an old adage in art that the human face is the most interesting landscape of them all. If you want to explore your creative side and improve your drawing skills, drawing a face is great way to go! In this article, we’ll break down the mechanics when it comes to drawing faces. We’ve even provided reference images so that you can practice along as you learn.
Draw an oval. Then, add vertical and horizontal guidelines through the center to create guidelines for the features.
Make eyes realistic by making them almond-shaped. Place one eye’s width between each eye to keep them symmetrical.
Focus on the shape of the base of the nose and shade under each eye to give definition to the nose’s bridge (instead of drawing a line in the middle).
Make a light outline of a face.
Heads aren’t actually circular; they’re oval-shaped, like an egg. Sketch an oval outline that tapers down at the bottom where the chin would be.
Divide the oval in half vertically and horizontally.
The easiest way to draw a face is to use dividing lines to map out the proportions of the features. First, draw a line down the center of the oval. Then cut the oval in half again, this time horizontally.
Add another horizontal line to illustrate the nose.
Divide the lower half of the oval again with another horizontal line. The point where the vertical line meets the lower horizontal line is the base of the nose. Sketch out the tip of the nose and add a nostril on each side.
Draw the shape of the head using a loose oval.
Craft a loose oval shape to guide the illustration. Heads aren’t perfectly circular, but younger people rarely have sharp chins so don’t make it too sharp.
Add guidelines to the center of the face.
Put one horizontal line and one vertical line in the center of the oval. This will help you compose the features evenly.
Sketch lines to define the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.
Use your pencil to lightly sketch out the location of each part of the face. Add marks for almond-shaped eyes, note the location of the mouth, and lightly define the nose.
You’ll add the chin later. Don’t worry if your circle isn’t perfectly round—this is just a starting point.
You can start with an oval if you prefer, but men tend to have much more angular jawlines. This circle will represent the top portion of the head.
Draw a guideline through the middle of the head.
Extend the line down past the bottom of the circle until you reach the bottom of the chin. This line determines where the person is looking, so keep it straight if you want the face to be looking at the viewer.
Define the shape of the cheeks, jaw, and chin.
Build out the bottom half of the head by adding the jaw lines. The more angular you make the cheeks and jaw, the more “rugged” the face will eventually look.
- Outline the Face. Begin your drawing by deciding how much of your paper you’d like the face to take up. Using a ruler, draw a horizontal line at the top and bottom of your paper with two vertical lines around an inch from either side.
- Add the Ears and Hairline. Draw the upper portion of a circle inside the original curve at the top of your page. This will create a hairline for you to work from later on.
- Mark Guidelines and Start Drawing the Eyes. Across the middle horizontal line, draw five light rectangles. Inside the second and fourth rectangles, draw an oval that overlaps the middle line.
- Complete the Nose. Continue shading down from the eye along the center guideline and rough outline you already created for the tip of the nose. Shade up into the outline of two small ovals for the nostrils.
- Start with a circle. Draw a large circle and make a horizontal line below it for the chin. Then sketch the jawline. Draw a vertical line down the center of the face and make sure both sides of the face are symmetrical.
- Draw guidelines on the face. There are 2 ways to do this step: Ruler or no ruler. I highly recommend using the ruler method for the first couple of faces you draw.
- Draw eyes in the right spot. On the face, mark the center line with 4 ticks spread equally apart. The eyes will sit roughly on this line. Don’t be afraid to move slightly above or below the line, since eyes are usually slanted.
- Draw a proportionate nose. Extend the 2 lines where the inner corners of each eye are located. These guidelines will determine the nose’s width. Now that we have a box, it’s time to draw the nose.
Learn how to sketch facial features with basic proportions and landmarks. Follow the step-by-step instructions and examples to create realistic or cartoon portraits in Adobe Fresco.
