Drawing people does require the ability to draw,
but it also requires lots of measuring which is a very
right-brained, logical thing to do. Even if you're not
going for total realism in your drawing, knowing some
basic facial measurements will help you to make your
drawing look more like a face. Everybody knows the
placement of the various facial elements - the eyes are
above the nose, which is above the mouth, but how far
above? We're looking at the profile of the face
because it's a bit easier to draw than the face when
it's straight-on. Usually, when you look at a profile,
the eyes, nose and mouth are the first things your
vision gravitates to even though, comparatively, those
elements are a small percentage of the total head. The
cheek, ear, and back of the head are much more prominent
than the face, so when we draw a profile, we have to
keep that in mind.
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We'll draw this profile |
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The "lopsided" egg |
 Let's
draw this old mugshot. Get your lap desk out and put a
sheet or two of paper on it and get comfortable in front
of your computer. Sharpen your 5B pencil and have your
eraser handy. If you'd like to print out the photo we'll
be working with go ahead. To start a profile drawing you
might want to lightly draw a "lopsided egg" shape to get
the placement and general size down on your paper. The
eye is halfway between the bottom of the chin and the
top of the skull. So the eye will be an excellent place
to base our measurements from. So you might want to
lightly draw a straight, horizontal line through you egg
at it's midpoint. Use your pencil to measure from the
top of the "egg" to the chin to find and place the line.
 Rather than drawing the eye first, you might want to
start with the nose. We'll draw the contour of the nose. Measure the length of your
subject's nose from the bridge to it's tip and lightly
draw an angled line that has all the bumps and curves of
your subjects nose. It won't be a straight line, because
your subject's nose isn't straight. Hold your pencil's
eraser vertically at the tip of your subject's nose so
the tip of your pencil is pointing up, see the angle
that is created between your pencil and the nose? Look
at the angle that the nose creates in comparison to the
straight vertical edge of your paper and try and
approximate the nose angle you measured. You're going to
have to eyeball the length of the nose because you don't
have anything in your drawing to measure it against.
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The nose and the bumps of the
lips |
Now with the nose lightly drawn in, move down and
draw the contour of the lips. They'll be two curved
"bumps", the top one may protrude out a bit more, and
also be a bit smaller than the bottom lip. But of
course, the sizes of any element on the face depends on
the face you're drawing. But as you look at the photo,
you'll see that the top lip is slightly smaller and does
indeed protrude out a bit further than the lower lip.
That's actually pretty common because most peoples upper
teeth sit in front of the bottom teeth when the mouth is
closed. |
