Fundamentals of drawing a portrait. Proportions and angles
Undoubtedly, one of the most discussed topics among emerging artists is the drawing of a person's face in profile. Initially, this seems difficult, although in reality the whole difficulty lies only in ignorance of the human skeleton and muscles.
Therefore, it is worth learning the basic rules in order to be able to create a really good portrait.
The image of the face from the side begins with a visual determination of the width of the head, the ratio of its parts to each other, the shape of the nose and the location of the eyes.
Let's move on to the main steps.
Let's draw the borders. To do this, we draw a square whose height is 1/8 more than the width and divide it into four equal parts. We plan horizontal line, which divides the square in half - the line of the eyes, as well as three others: hair growth, eyebrows and nose. Determine the point of the chin.
From the line of the nose to the top of the head, we enter an inclined oval, which will show the shape of the head and forehead.
1. From the top extreme point oval, we begin to draw a line to the level of the eyebrows. Thus we get the superciliary arches.
2. We show the bridge of the nose. From the central axis of the eyes, draw a nose, the tip of which should protrude beyond the previously outlined square.
3. Now let's move on to the jaw. Its shape should be concave inside the square (remember what your face looks like in profile).
4. The chin, on the contrary, protrudes forward.
5. Next, we outline the line of the mouth, draw the upper and lower lips (they also protrude a little forward)
Fourth.
1. We outline the line of the eye and eyebrow.
2. On the central vertical axis, we outline the ear. Its size will be from the line of the eyes to the level of the nose.
3. We outline the outlines of the neck.
1. Now we can erase the markup. We begin to draw facial features.
2. Outline the eye, add the pupil and eyelids.
3. Draw the shape of the lips, mark the shadow under the lower lip.
4. Draw the ear and show the relief of the jaw under the ear.
Sixth.
Now the rules are created by your imagination! There are finishing touches left.
We add a hairstyle, detail the facial features, the shape of the eyes, lips and nose. Don't forget to highlight the shadows and draw the eyelashes.
A few tips:
- In profile, the eye resembles an arrowhead, with a hint of the upper and lower eyelids. Do not forget that the iris should be partially hidden under the outer eyelid (but if the person looks down, then it will slightly touch the bottom).
- Detailed, to the smallest detail, drawing the eye will not always have a good effect on a beautiful result.
- When a person looks down, all lines of the face move up. The nose protrudes from common line face, tip approaching the mouth. The upper eyelid covers most of the eyeball.
- When a person looks up, all lines of the face move down. The lower eyelid begins to round down a little. The lower part of the nose with the nostrils becomes very visible.
And, of course, it is worth adding emotions. Without them, any portrait will remain an unnatural and inanimate picture. The most different: disgust, anger, fear, joy, grief, sadness. Each of them will give the hero of the portrait a certain zest.
Let's not forget about ethnic features:
The Asian type of face is characterized by high cheekbones, narrow eyes and a wide nose. The face is framed by straight hair.
For an African-American, a wide nose and full lips. The eyes are wide open and bulging. Curly hair.
For caucasian race- slightly closed eyes, thin lips and a straight nose. Hair can be wavy or straight.
Now that we've thoroughly covered the basics, you can create your own portrait.
Everything will work out!
Very often, novice artists neglect the study of the human skeleton and muscles, mistakenly believing that “it will work out just fine”. But ignorance of human anatomy leads to the fact that the drawn person turns out to be unconvincing, and his facial expressions and movements look unnatural.
Therefore, today we will look at the basic principles that you should be guided by if you want to draw a good and high-quality portrait.
1. Proportions of the face
The skull and jaw are a slightly flattened sphere, so looking at human face in full face, we see something like an egg turned upside down. Two perpendicular lines passing through the middle divide this egg into four parts. Let's look at the details:
- Mark the midpoints of the right and left halves of the horizontal line. The eyes will be located exactly at these points.
- Divide the bottom half of the vertical line into five sections. The lower part of the nose will be located on the second mark from the top, and the line where the lips meet will be located one point lower.
- Divide the top half of the vertical line into four parts. The hairline will be located at the second or third mark, this feature varies. The ears are between the upper eyelid and the tip of the nose, but this rule is only true when the face is not down or up.
Helpful hint: the width of the face is usually five eyes wide or slightly less. The size of the distance between the eyes is equal to the width of one eye. Very rarely in humans, this distance is very different from the standard, but this feature will be easy enough to notice. The distance between the lower lip and chin is also equal to the length of one eye.
Another way to measure is to use the distance between the tip of the large and index finger. The figure below shows what distances can be measured in this way: ear height, distance from the hairline to the eyebrows, from the eyebrow to the nose, from the nose to the chin and from the pupil to the pupil.
Profile
In profile, we still see the shape of an egg, but the sharp side of it looks into a corner. Lines now separate the head into a face and skull.
On the skull:
- The ear is just behind the vertical line. In size and location, it is still located between the upper eyelid and the tip of the nose.
- The depth of the skull varies within the limits indicated in the picture below in paragraph 4 with dotted lines.
- Everything is located as mentioned above.
- The root of the nose coincides with the horizontal line or is slightly higher
- The most prominent part is the first point above the horizontal line that marks the brow line.
2. Features
Eyes and eyebrows
The eye is simply two arcs connected in an almond shape. There is no definite rule in drawing eyes, because the shape of the eyes can be different, and there are a lot of such forms, but we can notice the following trends:
- The outer corner of the eye may be higher than the inner, but not vice versa.
- If the shape of the eye is almond, then the rounded part of the eye will be closer to the inner corner, and the elongated part will be closer to the outer.
Eye details
- The iris is partially hidden under the outer eyelid. It touches the lower eyelid only if the person looks down, or if the eye is built so that the lower eyelid is higher than usual.
- Eyelashes grow from the inside out, not the other way around, and this is very important when drawing to make them look natural. Eyelashes on the lower eyelid are shorter.
- When trying to draw all the little things (tear ducts, lower eyelid, etc.), remember that drawing in detail does not always mean that the result will be beautiful.
In profile, the eye takes the form of an arrowhead (with convex or concave sides), with a slight hint of the upper and possibly lower eyelids. IN real life you will not see the iris from the side, you will only see the white of the eye. But an eye without an iris looks weird, so draw at least a hint of it.
As for the eyebrows, the easiest way to draw them is to follow the arch of the upper eyelid. Often the widest part of the eyebrow is closer to the inside, and the “tail”, tending to the outer part of the eye, gradually becomes thinner.
If you look in profile, the shape of the eyebrows changes dramatically and becomes more like a comma. The eyebrow, as it were, begins where the tips of the eyelashes are.
The nose of a person is approximately wedge-shaped, it is enough just to imagine and draw it in three-dimensional form before drawing the details.
The back and wings of the nose are flat surfaces that are only outlined at the end, but it is still very important to take these surfaces into account when sketching in order to correctly calculate the proportions. The lower flat part of our wedge in the form of a truncated triangle is connected to the wings and the tip of the nose. The wings fold inward towards the septum to form the nostrils - note that the bottom view shows how the septum begins before the wings and connects to the face. It protrudes lower than the wings when we look at the nose in profile, which means that in 3/4 view the distal nostril is hidden by a septum.
Just as in the case of the eyes, detailing does not always give good result. Therefore, it is more important to work out the proportions than to pore over the details, which in the end can disfigure the drawing. When drawing from the front, the nose looks better if you draw only the lower part of it. If you are drawing a 3/4 view, then most likely it will be better for you to draw the line of the back of the nose. You will have to examine and study a lot of noses in order to understand how and when to draw it.
Lips
- The line where the lips meet should be drawn first, as it is the longest and darkest of the three lines that form the mouth. This is not just a wavy line, but a whole series of thin curves. In the picture below you can see an exaggerated example that will explain the movement of the mouth line to you. Note that there are different lip shapes, and that the main line can reflect the lower or upper lip. Lips can be softened different ways. The line in the middle can be very straight to reflect a sharp look, or very blurry to loosen the lips. It all depends on the shape of the lips, how plump they are. If you want to achieve symmetry, start from the center and draw one half of the lip and then the other.
- The two upper tips of the upper lip are the most obvious parts of the mouth, but they can also be pronounced or practically run in one line.
- The lower lip is a soft arch, but can also vary from almost straight to very rounded.
- The upper lip is usually thinner than the lower and protrudes from general relief the face is smaller than the bottom one. Try to shade the upper lip with strokes.
- On the sides of the lips are in the form of an arrowhead and the fact that the upper lip protrudes slightly forward in this place is very clearly visible.
- The midline of the mouth at the ends deviates downward from the lips. Even if the person smiles, it curves down before going up again. Never draw this line straight up if you are drawing a face in profile.
The most an important part ear is a long C-shaped shape external line. The inside of the ear is like an inverted U. There is also a similar curve just above the earlobe, connected to a small C-shaped arc. In general, the shape of the ear also varies.
When we see the face in front, the ears are visible in profile:
- The rim, which was previously U-shaped, is now a separate part - as happens when we look at the plate from the side and see its bottom.
- The earlobe will look more like a drop and will stand out.
- How thin you need to draw the line of the ear depends on how close the ears are to the head.
If you look at the head from behind, the ear looks as if separated from the head: the rim is attached to the head with a funnel. Don't be afraid to draw the funnel too big, as it really isn't small.
3. Angle
Having the shape of a ball with a few changes, the head is drawn easier than expected. But, despite this, you need to study how it looks from different angles. Of course, the appearance of the nose changes first of all, but the eyebrows, cheekbones, the central part of the mouth and chin also change.
When we drew a face in full face and in profile, we practically simplified it to a two-dimensional plane. For other viewing angles, we need to think in 3D space.
look down
- All details are rounded up and the ears are also moved up.
- Since the nose protrudes forward, it protrudes from the general line of the face and its tip is closer to the mouth.
- The eyebrow curve becomes more even. In order for it to take a reverse bend, you need to turn your face in some particularly unusual way.
- The upper eyelid becomes more visible and covers most of the eyeball.
- The upper lip almost disappears, and the lower lip protrudes more.
- Note that since the mouth follows a general curve, it looks like a smile has appeared on the person's face.
look up
- All details are rounded down and the ears are also moved down.
- The upper lip becomes fully visible and the mouth appears plumper.
- The eyebrow line becomes more rounded, but the lower eyelid is rounded down, giving the effect of a sharp look.
- The lower part of the nose is clearly visible, the nostrils are also clearly visible.
Side turn
When a person is seen almost from the back, all that is visible is the protruding line of the eyebrows and cheekbones. The line of the neck protrudes and tends to the ear. Eyelashes are the next thing you see when a person turns his face.
Then part of the eyebrow appears, and the protrusion of the lower eyelid and the tip of the nose protruding from behind the cheek also become visible.
When the face is already turned almost in profile, the eyeball and lips become visible (but the midline of the mouth is still small), and the line of the neck merges with the line of the chin into one line. You can still see the part of the cheek where the nostril is hiding behind.
Head:
We draw a figure that resembles an egg turned upside down with a sharp end down. This figure is called OVOID.
Vertically and horizontally, we divide it exactly in half with thin lines.
vertical
the line is the axis of symmetry (it is needed so that the right and left parts
turned out to be equal in size and the image elements were not on
different level).
Horizontal - the line of the eyes. We divide it into five equal parts.
In the second and fourth parts are the eyes. The distance between the eyes is also equal to one eye.
The figure below shows how to draw the eye (the iris and pupil will
not fully visible - the upper eyelid partially covers them), but we are not in a hurry
to do this, first finish our sketch. 
Divide the part from the line of the eyes to the chin by two - this is the line on which the nose will be.
Divide the part from the line of the eyes to the top of the head into three equal parts. The upper mark is the line from where the hair grows) 
The part from the nose to the chin is also divided into three parts. The top mark is the lip line.
The distance from the upper eyelid to the tip of the nose is equal to the distance from the upper edge of the ear to the lower one. 
Now we make our standard blank sob in three streams.
lines,
drawn from the outer edges of the eyes will show us where to draw the neck.
Lines from the inner edges of the eyes - the width of the nose. Lines drawn in an arc from
the center of the pupils is the width of the mouth.
When you colorize the image, notice that the raised
parts (forehead, cheeks, nose and chin) will be lighter, and the eye sockets, cheekbones,
the contour of the face, and the place under the lower lip - darker.
The shape of the face, eyes, eyebrows, lips, nose, ears and
etc. all people are different. Therefore, when drawing someone's portrait, try
see these features and superimpose them on a standard workpiece.
Another example of the fact that everyone's facial features are different.
Well, here we see how to draw a face in profile and half a turn - the so-called "three quarters"
At
drawing a half-turn face, you need to take into account the rules
perspective - the far eye and the far side of the lip will appear smaller.
Let's go to the picture human figure.
In order to depict the body as correctly as possible, you need to know a few secrets, as when drawing portraits:
per unit of measure human body head length is taken.
- human height is on average 7.5 head lengths.
- Men, of course, are usually slightly taller than women.
-
Of course, we start drawing the body from the very head that we will
measure everything. Have you drawn? Now we postpone its length seven more times down.
This will be the growth of the depicted.
- The width of the shoulders is equal to two head lengths for men and one and a half lengths for women.
- At the place where the third head ends :), there will be a navel and an arm bent at the elbow.
- The fourth is the place where the legs grow from.
- The fifth is the middle of the thigh. This is where the arm length ends.
- Sixth - bottom of the knee.
-
You can not believe me, but the length of the arms is equal to the length of the legs, the length of the arm from the shoulder
to the elbow will be slightly less than the length from the elbow to the fingertips.
- The length of the brush is equal to the height of the face (note, not the head - the distance from the chin to the top of the forehead), the length of the foot is equal to the length of the head.
Knowing all this, you can quite plausibly portray the figure of a person.
Taken in a group dedicated to graffiti VKontakte.
Lip shapes 
nose shape 
Eye shapes 
Forms of women's brogues
(c) The book "How to draw a human head and figure" by Jack Hamm
The proportions of the child's figure differ from
adult proportions. The less times the length of the head is hindered in growth
child, the younger he is.
In a child's portrait, things are a little different.
The child's face is more rounded, the forehead is larger. If we draw a horizontal
line through the middle of the child's face, then this will not be the line of the eyes, as
was in the portrait of an adult.
To learn how to draw a person not only
standing like a pillar, we will temporarily simplify our image. Let's leave
only the head, chest, spine, pelvis and fasten to all this
arms and legs. The main thing is to keep all proportions.
Having such a simplified version of the human figure, we can easily give him any pose.
When we have decided on a pose, we can
grow meat on our simplified skeleton. Do not forget that the body, it is not
angular and does not consist of rectangles - we try to draw smooth
lines. At the waist, the body gradually tapers, at the knees and elbows too.
To make the image more lively, character and expression must be given not only to the face, but also to the pose.
Hands:
Fingers on such smooth as a board, the joints in the entire skeleton are the widest parts of the bones.
(c) Anatomy for Artists: It's Simple by Christopher Hart
How to draw a profile - such a question arose in every novice artist. The human face, as you know, is drawn in stages and has geometric proportions. Depending on the gender, the head is drawn in completely different ways.
Profile of a woman
How to draw a woman's profile?
Step 1. First, a square is drawn, which is divided into 4 even inner squares.
Step 3. Line D is made, which must be divided into 4 identical parts and draw a jaw line for the profile along them.
Step 4 The image of the nose line starts inside the square. The beginning is a little above the middle line.
Step 6. The shape of the drawn eye resembles a curved triangle. The line of the mouth is drawn in a similar way. Then you need to connect the nose and upper lip of the woman. Add an eyebrow, an ear.
Step 7. To draw the correct neck - lines E, F are divided in half.
Step 8 Small elements are added.
Step 9. The woman's hairstyle is depicted.
Step 10 Saturate the image with shadows.
Step 11. Having depicted a female profile according to the scheme, you can move on to the real image. Particular attention should be paid to the corners of the nose, lips. Also study the level of inclination of the eyebrows and wings of the nose.
Profile of a man
The shape of the male profile is different. To correctly portray the face, you need to follow the following instructions.
Step 1. A rectangle is drawn. Proportions: width less than height 1/8. The rectangle, as in the previous case, is divided into four identical parts.
Step 2. The line of the nose is - 1/4 - 1/5 of the triangle. Start just above the elevation angle.
Step 3. Proportion: the length of the gap from the chin to the upper lip is equal to the height of the nose line.
Step 4. Lips are depicted.
Step 5. The lines of the triangle of the superciliary arches are drawn outside the drawn rectangle. But the lines that indicate the space from the bottom of the lip to the chin are inside.
Step 6. Proportion: the hairline is equal to the length of the "nose-eyebrow".
Step 7. A triangle of transition from the forehead to the hair is depicted.
Step 8. The beginning of the jaw line from the middle of the rectangle.
Step 9 We depict the chin, outline the shape of the head along with the hairstyle.
Step 10. The eye, as in the previous case, is slightly above the middle line.
Step 11. The eyebrow line is low, just above the eye.
Step 12. You need to add a few short lines: a) above the eye (1); b) lines of nostrils (2); c) lip folds (3).
Step 13. Hair, neck, back lines of the head. Ear - at the level of the nose, protrudes slightly beyond the vertical drawing of the middle of the rectangle.
Step 14. We draw shadows, we hatch.
The person depicted in profile is beautiful and unusual. If the artist is fluent in the technique of drawing, the portraits will come out of indescribable beauty and will please the most demanding client.
Greetings!
Today we will look at a popular topic - how to draw female face in profile. We will learn the basic rules of how to correctly draw a person's face in profile and, of course, watch a video tutorial.
The structure of the human face in profile
In the previous lesson, we learned using the example of a male face, and today we will gradually draw a man's head in profile using the example of a girl's face. Consider the basic rules and stages of this process in order to learn how to draw men and women with different facial features correctly.
Step one
We enter the head in a square. In order for the head not to crumble, you need to enclose it in a simple shape. A person's head in profile is best inscribed in a square, or in a rectangle, the height of which is 1/8 more than the width.
How to draw a hare
Let's easily draw a square and divide it into 4 equal parts, as shown in the picture above.
By analogy with the rules by which we built the full face, we outline the lines: the growth of hair, eyebrows and nose. To do this, we need to divide the square into 3 and a half parts horizontally (in the picture this is shown in green).
The horizontal axis that divides the square in half is the line of the eyes.
step two
In the rectangle, from the line of the nose to the upper edge of the head, we enter an inclined oval, more precisely, even an ovoid shape, it will show the shape of the head and forehead. 
This ellipse will later help us determine where the neck is attached and how the hair falls.
If you are going to draw a person with a lush hairstyle, then you may not need this form. It is important to remember that the oval of the skull in profile is slightly inclined downwards.
How to draw bright lips
Step Three
- From the upper extreme point of the oval, we draw a line inclined forward, to the level of the eyebrows. This superciliary arches.
- We outline the bridge. From the central horizontal axis of the eyes, we begin to draw a nose, the tip of which slightly extends beyond the intended boundaries of the square. Naturally, nose must end at the appropriate level. Our separate publication will help you draw the nose correctly in stages.
- Easy to plan jaw, whose shape is concave inside the square. This is underlined by the red arrow in the first part of the illustration.
- Chin, on the contrary, protrudes slightly forward.
Searching and planning mouth line. To do this, the segment from the chin to the nose must be divided in half - so we get the level lower lip. Further, the distance from the lower lip to the nose is divided in half - we get the level upper lip. And, once again, we divide the distance between the upper and lower lip into two equal parts and get the line of the mouth. ( This division process is shown in red in the first part of the illustration.).
- More clearly mark the lips, mouth and chin.
- We outline the guides from the wings of the nose to the inner corners of the eyes. From the corners of the mouth to the center of the eye.
How to draw poppies
Step Four
- Add an eye and an eyebrow at their respective levels.
- Ear mark on the central vertical axis. We start drawing it from the line of the eyes, and finish at the level of the nose.
- We plan neck. Behind it is attached to the skull at the level of the line of the nose, in front, approximately opposite the outer corner of the eye.
We wipe the previously marked markup, square and guides.
- Draw the eye pupil and eyelids.
- We show the shape of the lips, the shadow on the upper lip and under the lower one.
- We draw the ear.
- We show the relief of the jaw under the ear.
Step five
Add hair and emphasize the shadows. We refine the facial features, the shape of the nose, chin, forehead, draw the eye, add eyelashes, highlight the lips. We get a portrait of a girl in profile: 
Scheme for drawing a human head
Using this scheme, you can draw various portraits in profile, female and male. When you practice enough, you will be able to draw a person’s face correctly and beautifully and without prior marking and diagram presenting it in your head. Although the square center lines helps to avoid mistakes and is a reliable support in the construction of the human head.
diagrams for drawing a human head
You can print these diagrams and use them to practice drawing different faces with a pencil, try to give them different features. For example: a big hooked nose, or small lips, two chins or frowning powerful eyebrows, big ears… 
