How to Draw Faces: Easy Tips for Success

Learning how to draw faces isn’t as hard as most people think, though it probably can be seem difficult for those who lack even a basic interest in art. But for those of us who are interested, the learning process mostly boils down to a bit of observation and planning.

Observation

Look carefully at a face. Check the relative size and proportion of each facial feature. In order to make it easier understand how to draw faces, you should first study the basic structure of a face so that you’ll know where each facial feature should really be placed, as opposed to guessing where you think it should placed.

Below is a list of instructions ̶ a plan ̶ on how to draw faces the right way.

Planning & Doing

The first step is to draw a simple face shape. Individual face shapes vary, of course, but some common ones include, circle, oval, diamond, and heart-shapes. Most artists use the oval shape when making quick, generalized sketches of faces. Anyway, once you’ve settled on a particular face shape, draw it lightly on a piece of paper.

Then create divisions or sections on the face. First, draw a straight vertical line from the top to the bottom of the face. Next, draw a horizontal line across the center of the face. Then, further divide the upper and lower sections of the face with two more central, horizontal lines until you have four (or actually eight) facial sections.

Now let’s turn to the eyes. Many beginners commit an error when drawing the eyes by putting them on top of the face when they should be placed at the center. Using your pencil, lightly draw five adjoining eye shapes (each the same size) across the horizontal center of the face. After completing the 5 eye shapes, erase the central one and the ones that are on the far right and left sides. The two remaining eye shapes are in the correct place. Next, fill in the eyes’ pupils and irises.

Now sketch the nose. Generally speaking, the position of the bottom of the nose is approximately at the same height as the bottom of the ears. To establish an accurate width for the nose, draw parallel vertical lines from the inside corner of the eyes downward to the outer edge of each nostril. A smaller nose will be a bit less than that and a larger one, a bit more.

Then sketch the mouth. To establish an accurate positioning for the mouth, draw parallel vertical lines downward from the pupils of both eyes. These lines should be touched by the corners of the mouth.

Next, draw the ears and eyebrows. Note that the top of each ear should be placed at approximately the same height as each eyebrow. And finally, sketch in the dominant shapes and shadows of the hair. Do not try to delineate each strand of hair.

As you’ll see, learning how to draw faces accurately is a lot fun, and you’ll improve each time you do it. However, if you’d like to accelerate your learning process or develop your skills to a professional level, you really should get expert instruction. For drawing faces, here is what we currently recommend: Editor's Choice - How To Draw Faces In 8 Easy Steps.

It’s a step-by-step, guided process that will enable you to produce an accurate portrait in 7 days or less, guaranteed (if you actually do the steps, of course!) -- How To Draw Faces In 8 Easy Steps.