Drawing Tutorial 002 - Drawing a head / face in front view

1. We start with the basic oval shape. The oval tapers to the bottom. For head facing straight to the observer, its symmetrical to the vertical line dividing the face in two halves. The horizontal eye line is approximately in the middle of the oval. In this one the eye line is drawn a little above the middle. The top of the year is aligned with the eyeline. Since face is viewed from the front, ears will be narrower than while the head is seen in profile. Tip of nose is halfway down from the eye line to the bottom of jaw.

2. Lets add the nose. Follow the steps from 1 to 3. The nose is perhaps the simplest shape in front view.

3. Mouth can take numerous shapes depending on the action of the face. Also mouth shape of different people can be different. Men and women on general have different mouth shape. Here we keep it simple closed shape of mouth of a male. The upper lip of mouth is generally little thinner than the lower lip. Lower lip is generally more fleshy and bulging.  The top line of the upper lip is like the bow, little down in the middle like a wide ‘V’ letter and then straight line towards the end. Shading done in later step shall add the volume to the lips.

4. Now we add the eye, the most expressive element of the human face. The eyeshape can widely vary. Here we use a general shape. The eye shape is created with broken lines instead of smooth lines to simplify the shape. The pupil is round and little short of touching the lower line of eye socket but is partially hidden inside the upper line.

5. Creases created by eyelid is more prominent and therefore in a sketch, it is suggested by a harder line than the lower skin which can be suggested by lighter lines. Pupil with a partial highlight shall add to its shape and shininess. The iris is not complete black and therefore needs variation in value while shading to suggest volume and its surface quality.

6. Some shading added to suggest the shapes and plane changes of the face. Top of nose bridge,, middle of forehead, fleshy portion of cheeks and middle of chin shall be lighter in normal lighting condition with diffused ambient light. If light is coming from one side of the face the areas away from the light shall be comparatively in more shadow and can be suggested by darker values. Here light shading is done on areas that received less light.