how do you draw a face?

I've prepared a step by step guide for how I draw faces. Behold!



But seriously, I always start with the general shape of the face. Depending on the style I'm using, that could be the average human oval shape or something really bizarre like a square or a dodecahedron. I'll put on some construction lines to define the planes of the face and then it's the eyes first. Eyes first because I usually build a face around them and in my opinion, the eyes are the most expressive thing on the face. If you don't succeed in making the eyes emote, the mouth, nose and everything else won't make it so. I still have troubles with the nose and mouth, or rather having trouble making them consistent from pic to pic.

Other than the basics, I do know I got better at faces when I realized the planes of the face. For example, the plane from the hairline to the brow, the arches of the nose, from the mouth to the chin. Then the shape of the cheeks and the ears. There's alot to consider when drawing a face, even for cartoonists. And for every rule, there's the exceptions to the rules. If you wanna get better, I'd suggest drawing alot of real faces, and then defining a style on what you leave in and take off detail-wise and still get to convey your style and expression.

Hope that helps, if not, I could post some more examples. Better ones.

-Vince-

I try not to get too hung up on drawing any one part of the face first - doing so can mean problems later on if I need to change posture, etc. Sometimes concentrating on just that one element can throw off the balance or make the subject otherwise awkward, since it will be obvious that I spent more time on that part than anything else.

Instead, I try to think about the face in general terms - where is the subject looking? what should the mood be? etc etc. Details come later.

it is interesting though...everyone draws completely different, even if they're after the same results....pretty cool.