How To Draw The Male Face

I have shown many people, who felt they had no artistic ability, this tried and tested method, slightly adjusted, of drawing a proportionately correct male head. I invite you to give this a go. I hope you find this helpful and I welcome any suggestions and comments.

STEP 1 - The Ball

 

Start by drawing a circle. It doesn't have to be perfect but try to get it as round as possible. This shape represents a ball.  Divide it along the vertical and horizontal axes with lines.

STEP 2 - Slice off the sides

Imagine you have a sharp knife and you slice off a chunk of the ball on either side. AQlready the ball mis starting to represent a skull

STEP 3 - Where do the features go?

Place markings along the areas shown above. The hairline sits roughly where the top curve meets the flat part you "cut". Then add two spaces below the brow line approximately the same distance as the hairline to brow line.

STEP 4 - The Brow Line

Draw a line about a third way down between the brow line and the nose-line. This is where the eyes will go.

STEP 5 - Eye brows and Nose

Now you can indicate the eyebrows something like I drew above.  Men's eyebrows "arch" up toward the outer side and droop down toward the the nose. Almost an "angry" pose.

STEP 6 - Where does the mouth go?

Indicate the nose similar to what I drew above. The mouth will sit where the bottom of the original circle appeared.

STEP 7 - The eyes

Draw an eye shape similar to what I have done above, roughly in the middle between the center-line and the flat cutaway part (temple). A rule of thumb says that the space between the eyes are the same width as a single eye.

STEP 8 - The structure of lips - an easy way

A mouth works quite well with a guide made from ellipses as shown above. Draw these as shown. Adjust  accordingly depending on the shape of the lips.

STEP 9 - The mouth has such character!

Here you can see how to use the ellipses to guide the shape of the lips. Remember to shade the top lip because it slopes away from standard light source. Also draw in the jaw-line with the angle of the jaw in line with the mouth.

STEP 10

Add the ears where the size fits between the brow-line and the nose-line. Two semi-cirlces with the top curving in more than the bottom.

STEP 11

Finish off the nose as shown. Note how it gains shape when the bottom edge is shaded. also finish off the bottom of the jaw.

STEP 12

Add the hair shape. Take note of the way hair grows naturally in most humans. The area near the temples recede as shown here.

STEP 13

And there you go! You can finish off the face as you wish, free to focus on features, personality and character with the reassurance that the dimensions are covered.

So, I hope some Steemians out there will give it a go and see if they can sketch this guy. Once these basics are laid down on paper, one  can then add paint and color the face like I did in the beginning picture.

 If this is helpful to anyone, I hope to show three-quarter views and side views. Let me know what you think.

Thanks for visiting my blog!