Let’s talk about face.
Welcome back on “Human Illustration Tutorials” website! We are really glad to see you again here.
Drawing human head and face is the most important part of drawing human, but most complicated at the same time. These parts of the body contain many facets and huge number of small details, which are different in every individual and need to be taken into consideration. At the same time quality illustration, realism of your illustration and disposition of the future character(if you are making a cartoon) depend on the face.
Let’s see what you should know about drawing human face:
- Shape: the first thing you need to do is to identify what shape the head has. To do this look at the jaw line and hairline. For example, Bruce Willis’s head has a square shape, whereas Al Pacino’s head could be described as a rounded triangle.
- Proportions: stick to the right proportions! Each face has specific proportions. Sometimes they can be a bit different, but still they are very much alike. Thus during your work you will notice that proportions of a baby’s head are quite different from those of an adult.
- Eyes: The eyes are always halfway down. They are placed between the top of the head and the bottom of the chin. They are also an eye-length apart. This means that, however long you decide to make the eyes, there will be that much space between the eyes as well.
- Nose: The rest of the face underneath the eyes is divided into thirds. And the first third line will be the bottom of the nose.
- Mouth: the next third(or two-thirds of the way from the eyes to the chin) should be the mouth. The mouth’s edges should be in line with the middle of each eye.
Now you know the basics of the individual uniqueness of a human face. And now you should notice if someone’s eyes are unusually far apart, or if their nose is a little longer than normal. This will help you to draw more realistic portraits.
