How to Draw Faces and Face Proportions – Beginner Friendly
Overview:
This is a complete guide on How to Draw a Face
- In this guide you’ll learn:
- How to Draw a Face
- Face Proportions
- How to Draw Eyes
- How to Draw a Nose
- How to Draw Lips
- How to Draw Ears
- And more!
Contents:
-
Overview of Loomis Head & Loomis Method
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Chapter 1: Face Proportions – Grid Markers
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Chapter 2: How to Draw Eyes
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Chapter 3: How to Draw a Nose
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Chapter 4: How to Draw Lips (Mouth)
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Chapter 5: How to Draw Ears
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Chapter 6: Perspectives
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Chapter 7: How to Draw Hair
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Chapter 8: Putting it All Together
-
Chapter 9: Your Turn!
Overview of Loomis Head & Loomis Method
We know how to draw the Loomis Head from our other post on The Loomis Method, so let’s just jump right in to how to draw a face.
Chapter 1: Face Proportions – Grid Markers
Remember the 1/3 facial markers we made with the Loomis Head?
The same concept shown here, except we will go into detail about how to correctly draw face proportions using the 1/3 method.
It’s a lot easier to create a simple Loomis Head and mark 1/3 facial markers.
This is a simplified version of the Loomis Grid we talked about in our previous Loomis Method post.
If you take a closer look, you will see that we placed necessary facial markers to the front and side views of the Loomis Head to save a lot of time.
Here is an additional ¾ face proportion view, notice these facial proportions as well and how they follow the 1/3 Loomis Grid.
Face proportions can take a while to master, but that’s okay.
We will look at more complex facial proportions later. For now, we’re going to focus on how to draw the front view of the face.
Chapter 2: How to Draw Eyes
There are so many ways to draw eyes, and by far it is the most difficult to draw, so we actually created a separate blog post specifically on how to draw the eyes.
We are going to create a front view of the eye for this chapter.
Let’s start with the basic ball (like the Loomis head but think on a much smaller scale).
Step 1: The Ball
Just like how we started out with the Loomis Head, we’re going to do exactly the same for the eye.
Step 2: Another Ball
This ball will give us an approximation of how big or small you want your eye to be.
Step 3: Outline the Eye Shape
The shape of the eye is pretty close to an almond shape, so you want to create the shape to follow the two circles you just drew.
Step 4: Outline the Iris
The iris is the colored part of your eye, so we want to draw yet another ball, because your iris is a perfect circle (most of the time).
Step 5: Shade the Eye a Little
Shading correctly is extremely important, if you need help with this step, read this blog on how to shade.
This is a pretty short guide on how to draw the eyes, but we created a more in-depth guide on how to draw eyes, including different views.
Step 6: Finish the Details
Finish the last steps by adding in shadows and highlights that will make the eye more realistic.
This step can take a while to master, but that’s always okay.
Chapter 3: How to Draw a Nose
Drawing a nose can be quite tricky because of the shading process, but no worries! We can guide you how to draw a nose easy.
We created a more in-depth guide of how to draw a nose that includes the shading process and different views of the nose.
Let’s begin!
Step 1: The 3 Balls
You probably have seen this before if you have ever tried to draw a nose, but this method is pretty helpful when you’re directly looking at someone.
Step 2: Outline the Shape
There are a few ways to do this, depending on how you would like to draw the nose.
I first define the tip of the nose and draw the lines from the sides and the tip to point inward a bit.
Step 3: Define the Nose
This is where we define the nostrils and the general shape of the nose, and where we want to shade.
Step 4: Finish Details
Remember that shading correctly is important, and that learning how to shade can take some time – but that is completely okay.
If you need a more in-depth guide, remember to check out how to draw a nose.
Chapter 4: How to Draw Lips (the Mouth)
You can draw lips in 2 ways, and you can follow whichever way you think is easiest to follow.
There is a more in-depth guide of how to draw lips and the mouth here.
Step 1: The 3 Balls OR 1 Heart and 2 Balls
For some people it might be easier to continue the 3 balls method that we talked about earlier, or the heart shape, since it’s pretty unique and can be easier to remember.
Step 2: Outline the Top of the Lips
Create an oval for each side of the top lip to figure out how long/how big you want the lips to be.
Step 3: Define the Shape
Create the shape you want for your lips and shading points of the mouth.
Step 4: Where to Shade
Figure out where exactly you’d like to create shadows and highlights of the lip.
Step 5: Finish Details
Add shadows and highlights where necessary on your drawing, and voila!
It’s okay if you need more practice, we have a more detailed version of how to draw lips and mouth.
Chapter 5: How to Draw Ears
Drawing the ears from the front is a little different from drawing the ears on the side.
So, for this small tutorial we’re going to show you how to draw ears of the front view and the side view.
Step 1: The Ovals
For each view, notice how one oval is slightly narrower than the other. This is because when you look at someone in front of you, it’s rare that their ears will come out all the way (unless you want to draw them like that, then there’s no shame of course).
Step 2: The Balls… Again
Yes, for some reason, it’s much easier to see what you’re doing when you’re drawing balls.
For the front view, we’re going to draw 3 more balls once again.
But for the side view, we’re going to draw 2 balls to make it easier.
Step 3: Define the Shape
Next, we’re going to define the ear shape and shading points.
Step 4: Finish the Details
Finally, we’re going to finish the details of the ears!
If you need help with shading, remember to check out this blog on how to do that.
Remember it’s okay if any of these steps take you some time, practice makes improvement!
Chapter 6: Perspectives
Of course, you will always need practice and some sort of routine to improve, so go ahead and try to at least sketch the face in of the front view with the face markers we talked about earlier.
Don’t think too much about the end result, just focus on what you’ve learned and start drawing!
[insert example of mine and outline next to each other]
If you want to try a more difficult approach, try drawing from the ¾ view!
Chapter 7: How to Draw Hair
Hair is pretty important considering it gives every person or character personality, with that being said, this is probably most difficult part to master, but don’t worry. We’re going to start off simple, and we can talk about more difficult approaches to drawing hair later.
Before we start, remember hair is never truly straight, it’s always messy, flowing, or messed up in some sort of way.
[insert hair pic before and after]
Here is a more in-depth guide of how to draw hair – short hair, long, hair, curly hair, and more!
*Note: Using real-life references helps more than you know!
Step 1: Construction and Volume
First, let’s go back to the Loomis Head and look at where the hair line is and let’s start with parting the hair in the middle.
Notice how the hair has volume from the scalp – hair on the head is never flat.
[insert loomis head & hairline volume]
Keep in mind that the head is a sphere, it helps to not flatten the drawing while working.
Step 2: Draw the Hair Flow
I like to use arrows to figure out which direction I’d like the hair to flow – if I’d like to keep it straight or curly, etc.
[insert direction of hair flow]
Step 3: Add Values and Finishing Details
This is the fun part – this is adding shadows and highlights to get a stronger definition of the hair.
I like marking the shadows and highlights of the hair where I think would make it as realistic as possible.
[insert shadows & highlights of the hair]
If you’d like to learn about the different kinds of hair textures, be sure to check out a more in-depth guide how to improve your journey.
Chapter 8: Putting it All Together
Now that you’ve learned all the small details in how to draw a face, it’s time to put it all together!
[insert front view full portrait picture]
Remember that mastering face proportions takes some time, and that there are generally no rules, only guidance.
This is a great time to figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are while drawing, and eventually you will develop your own style over time.
Chapter 9: Your Turn!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read how to slowly master how to draw a face. Now it’s your turn to try all of these steps (if you haven’t tried already).
Now we’d like to hear from you:
What was your favorite part from today’s short guide?
Did you learn something new today while mastering your technique?
Or maybe you just wanted to brush up on your facial proportions.
Either way, leave a comment below right now.
