How to draw face

THE FACE

Always start with a circle. This represents the head, which is the most important part of your drawing. It doesn't have to be a perfect circle (but it helps to get as close as possible, of course) and can be very sketchy. This is just to cement the location of the head on your paper.

Draw a curved, horizontal line across your circle. This is your eye line, the line on which the eyes of your character will rest. Depending on the character, it can be in different places; I usually find I put mine about 3/4 of the way down the circle but I know I need more variety in my character design. If you want to have some fun, you can vary it a lot and see what effects you get. Generally, the lower you put the eyes in the face, the younger the character looks. It's curved to give the illusion of depth. Suddenly your circle is a sphere, and the line shows how it curves. Keep telling yourself your drawing is three-dimensional, don't let the flat paper throw you off. You don't have to draw it perfectly level - tilting it is the best (only) way to depict a tilted head.

Next, draw a vertical line that is at a right angle to the eye line. This gives you the idea of where the center of the face is. It's very important to keep the features placed in the same place on either side of the line ... unless you're drawing someone with an extremely odd face, that is. But the most important thing is to keep it at a right angle to your eye line, or else your face will look all wonky. This line is also sometimes curved, especially if your character has a receding chin or slanted forehead. Feel free to play with the shape of this center line, have it curve drastically, have it almost straight, give it a sharp angle – it's a great way to explore characters.

	With these crosshairs of the face, you can make the head circle look like it's facing any direction. This grid is also your roadmap to being able to draw the same character in different poses, because you'll be able to plop down the features at pre-arranged places according to how far they are from the center lines.

From here forward, the order in which you do these steps is entirely up to you.

Draw in the contour of the face, remembering the eye socket, flesh for the cheeks, the chin, etc.

Draw in the nose and ear. I like to draw the nose first to cement the centre of the face and the perspective in which I'm working, as well as the shape of the eye sockets.

Draw in the rest of the features. In real life, the eyes are usually one eye width apart and the mouth is halfway between the nose and the chin, but these are cartoon characters, so they don't have to obey the rules. It's good to know them anyway, though.

Sketch in the general shape of the hair, paying attention to the way it parts and the volume of each section.

Add texture to the hair, especially where the line changes direction. Don't make the tufts of hair zigzag in a sawtooth pattern, make random shapes and sizes, which makes it look more realistic and interesting.