Erika Lancaster-Traditional Media Illustrator, Art Blogger and Teaching Artist
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How to Draw a Face (for Beginners)

9/12/2017

21 Comments

 
How to Draw a Face for Beginners
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​*​This post contains affiliate links. I receive small commissions for purchases made through these links at no extra cost to you. These commissions help me keep this site up and running, in order for me to keep providing helpful and inspiring art content. :)


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Have you ever finished a drawing of a face just to notice that something is off, but you can't tell exactly what it is? Is there any specific facial element (eyes, nose, mouth, etc.) that you have trouble drawing?

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In this post I will be explaining how I go about drawing my simple, faster faces. It is essential for the beginner artist to learn about facial proportions and effective placement of facial elements before moving on to a more realistic drawing style. Only after anatomical proportion and proper location of features is understood, should one move on to things like value, shading and texture. 
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I have included a section briefly explaining how I draw each individual facial element (eyes, nose, lips, ears and hair) and have also included some notes about how features can be modified when drawing either male or female characters. Before we start, it is important to keep in mind that facial elements come in ALL shapes and sizes. So as long as you stay within these general ¨rules¨, you CAN and I actually ENCOURAGE you to experiment by making face shapes, noses, lips, and all the rest in slightly different shapes and sizes.
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For this tutorial, you will need:
-A pencil (I recommend an HB)
-Sketchbook or paper of any kind
-Eraser
​-Ruler


I've used all of these products below and highly recommend them! Click on the images to find out more about them at www.consumercrafts.com.
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Picture
Canson Spiral-bound Sketchbook 11 x 14 inches 100 sheets $9.72
Prismacolor Premier Turquoise Drawing Pencils
Prismacolor Premier Turquoise Medium Graphite Pencil Set $8.97
Milan Erasers
Milan Erasers Triangular 2 pack $1.49


I've included free downloadable PDFs at the end of the post that you can practice with! Have fun!
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f you enjoyed this video, consider subscribing to my YouTube channel! :) I publish a new video every-single-week sharing art tips, drawing/painting tutorials, and encouragement for aspiring artists.
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​1. Drawing the Head Shape


The way I draw the initial head shape is by starting with a large circle (1). I then make a vertical line dividing the face in half (2) and add a centered, small horizontal line a bit below the circle, which will be the chin (3). The shorter you make this horizontal line, the narrower/pointer your chin will be.

The wider you draw this horizontal line, the wider your chin will be. The further down from the circle you draw it, the longer the face will be. The closer to the circle, the rounder the face. It all depends on the facial characteristics you are going for.
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Once that is ready, draw two vertical lines down the left and right sides of the large circle (4). At the point at which these vertical lines touch the circle, I draw two curved lines downwards, connecting them to each side of the chin line (5).

​At this point, you can erase the vertical lines running down the sides of the head, as well as the bottom half of the circle. Leave the vertical line dividing the face where it is. 
How to draw the head shape
How to draw the head shape.

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2. Drawing your Guidelines

As I had mentioned before, when drawing faces, it is essential to be aware of placement and size of facial features within the head shape. In order to achieve this, we will add guidelines that will help us along the way.

Aside from the vertical line we already have dividing our face width in half (which will help us place the nose in the appropriate place), we will add a horizontal line dividing our face length in half. This will be the line that tells us where to place our eyes.

​This line will then be divided into five parts. Five eyes should fit along this line. Eyes should be drawn in the ¨2¨ and ¨4¨ sections of this line. The nose line will be placed halfway down the eye line and the chin. Finally, the mouth line will be placed halfway down the nose line and the chin. 
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I recommend adding these guidelines LIGHTLY, because they are going to be erased after they have served their purpose. 


Portrait drawing proportions
Adding guidelines on the head shape that will allow us to draw facial elements at appropriate places.


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Sketchbook Challenge

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2. Drawing the Different Facial Elements

We are all good so far, but many of us (myself included) have trouble drawing at least one of the facial elements, whether it's the eyes, eyebrows, nose, lips, ears or hair.

Do not attempt to leave something out simply because you think you're not going to be able to draw it properly. Remember, practice makes perfect and if you want to ever be able to create a realistic drawing, you have to start at some point!
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I am going to give you a brief description of how I go about drawing simple versions of all of these necessary facial elements. I hope my handwriting isn't too horrible!
​

How to draw eyes and eyebrows
How do draw simple eyes and eyebrows.
How to draw a nose
How to draw a simple nose.
How to draw lips
How to draw simple lips.
How to draw ears
How to draw simple ears.

Once you have finished drawing your facial elements, erase all your guidelines. 

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​3. Drawing Hair

There are many different ways to draw hair, depending on the hair style you'd like your character to have. It can be long, short, straight, curly, wavy, etc. I cannot go into all the different hair styles here, but I strongly encourage you to experiment with different types of line (curved, straight, wavy, etc.) in order to transmit the characteristics you'd like. 
How to draw hair
How to draw simple hair.

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​4. Bringing it All Together
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By this point, your face should be completed. Here are two examples I have drawn for you showing the differences between male and female characteristics. 
Picture
Complete male and female faces by Erika Lancaster. Soft graphite in Canson paper sketchbook.

​5. Final Details
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Add as many details (textures, shading, etc.) as you'd like. I personally don't add many details to this type of face drawing and prefer the sketchy look. 
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face_shape.pdf
File Size: 255 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

guidelines.pdf
File Size: 246 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File




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​What do you find the most difficult about drawing faces? Is it drawing individual facial elements? Drawing them in the appropriate places? Is it proportions? I'd love to hear from you! Comment below.
​

Essential Tips for Realistic Drawing
Pen and Ink Sketching Shading Techniques
Essential Sketching Tips for Beginner Artists
21 Comments
cate link
12/18/2017 02:55:57 pm

This is a great tutorial! I'm going to practice my drawing skills now :)

Reply
Erika Lancaster
4/5/2018 02:30:48 pm

Yay!!! I'm glad you found it helpful! Is there anything else you'd like to learn to draw? I'm always looking for ideas that people would like to see. :)

Reply
Erika
12/18/2017 07:09:55 pm

Yay!!! I'm glad you found it helpful! Is there anything else you'd like to learn to draw? I'm always looking for ideas that people would like to see. :)

Reply
Monica link
2/1/2018 04:10:23 pm

This is fantastic advice. It has melted away my frustrations and I'm painting again with patience and enthusiasm. I would love to see how you approach painting flowers and animals. Now I'm craving a toasted paninni!

Reply
Erika Lancaster
2/2/2018 08:22:17 am

Hi Monica!! I hope you're having a wonderful day!!
Thank you SO much for taking time to comment. Your words are very much appreciated and I love knowing that my work is helping out in some way. :)
I love painting food, for some reason! I will make sure to keep in mind my approach for painting flowers and animals for a future post/YouTube video! Thanks so much for the suggestion!
Have a great one and keep on making art!

Reply
Joslynn
2/10/2018 07:32:13 pm

Hey Erica, I'm working on it! 👍🏼😌 I just started today, hope to send you a good pic!

Reply
Erika Lancaster
2/11/2018 09:59:18 am

Excellent Joslynn!
Take however long you need. I'll be waiting! :)

Reply
Teryn
2/15/2018 11:15:25 pm

Thank you for the detailed instructions! I’m thrilled to
Try this out with my students tomorrow!

Reply
Erika Lancaster
2/24/2018 06:30:08 pm

Teryn hi!!
You're very welcome! I hope your students are able to get something out of these. Mine always seem to struggle with facial proportions!
Have a great weekend and hope to have you back here soon! :)

Reply
Julia
2/21/2018 10:02:57 am

Thank you so much for this information. I am an elementary school teacher— and small children often get frustrated that they “can’t draw.” They absolutely LOVE drawing animals or “things” using step-by-step instructions and ending up with a product that surprises and delights them! They will be thrilled with this guide on how to draw faces!!

Reply
Erika Lancaster
2/24/2018 06:25:44 pm

Hi Julia,
OHH! Yeah! Little ones can get so emotional! But they're SO happy when they're able to achieve something they never thought they would be able to, huh?
I hope that you're able to use these and that your students get something out of these drawing exercises! Do stay in touch! :)

Reply
Nikki
3/4/2018 09:54:54 am

As a dabbler, I'd given up drawing human faces. I thought they were just too hard. Thanks for inspiring the to give it another go. And for the valuable tips!

Reply
Erika Lancaster
3/5/2018 07:47:21 am

Hi Nikki,
Please don't give up! If you get tired of drawing faces, then continue drawing something else that is easier for you and these skills will help you when you get back to it. Have you tried drawing objects or still life compositions?
Whatever you do, don't give up on art or drawing entirely. Faces (and any part of the human anatomy) are hard, even for skilled artists.
Hope to see you back here, soon!

Reply
Sam
3/29/2018 04:09:49 am

Good tutorial for beginners

Reply
Erika Lancaster
4/5/2018 02:33:48 pm

Thanks so much for taking time to comment Sam!
I'm glad you found this helpful!

Have you checked out my tutorial for drawing faces at 3/4's angles? I created this especially for those looking to take it a step further:
http://www.erikalancaster.com/art-blog/how-to-effectively-draw-faces-at-a-34s-angle-my-4-step-process-and-practice-freebies

Have a great day! :)

Reply
Xela
6/14/2018 09:36:35 am

Thank you so much for these guidelines. This is so helpful and you have done a very thorough and fantastic job with this.

Reply
Erika Lancaster
6/15/2018 09:48:28 am

Hi Xela,
Thanks so much for your kind words! I'm very happy to hear that you found this post useful. :) I do like being as thorough as possible, whenever I can!

Reply
Dewey Harrison
8/15/2018 11:01:22 pm

Best tutorial I have found on Pinterest.

Reply
Erika Lancaster
8/16/2018 08:33:21 am

Hi Dewey,

I'm happy to hear you found this tutorial helpful! Thanks so much for checking it out and taking time to comment. :)

Reply
Anarael
1/24/2019 09:24:24 am

I think that this tutorial will help me a lot, because I have been trying to do some portraits and this would help
Thanks :)

Reply
Erika Lancaster
1/25/2019 08:48:20 am

Hey there Anarael,

I'm so happy to hear you found this tutorial helpful! :)
All the best to you in your portrait-drawing and please do stay in touch. I'd love to hear how it goes for you!
Thanks so much for checking this post out and for leaving a comment!

Reply



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