Drawing the Head

Since I’m starting my new portrait class this week, I thought I’d post a drawing of a person.  There are some tricks – the eyes are in the middle of the head.  Go ahead, measure and see.  I like to put them in, then draw triangles underneath which create the smile lines.  Actually the smile lines are from the cheekbones.  Under the bottom lip there is an area before the chin line.  I like to call it the bow tie.  The area above the eyebrow protrudes some because the bone above the eye socket sticks out.

When doing the face look to see where the top of the ears line up compared to the eyes, then the bottom of the ears to where the nose or mouth are.  Usually the edge of the mouth is straight down from the pupil of the eye.

When drawing a face, have a light on the subject so there is light and shadow.  It will give the drawing or painting depth.  You can see the shadow on the right side of this drawing.