Hand drawing a face.
Sketches are quick drawings intended to capture the essence of a figure or a subject without actually addressing the minor details. When completing a sketch, remember that accuracy is less important than the impression of accuracy--a sketch is meant to cut to the heart of what makes the subject what it is. When drawing a sketch of a face, focus on what makes that face different from other faces, whether its the pout of a lip, the squint of an eye, the large roundness of a nose. It's less difficult to sketch a face than you may think, and with impressive results.
Instructions
1. Find a subject. You may draw from a photograph or from life, but faces are nearly always best drawn from a subject you can see, rather than from imagination. Faces drawn from imagination are often generic and even uninteresting.
2. Study the face before making your first move. What shape is the person's face? Their eyes? Are there any prominent features that stand out? Blemishes? What is extraordinary or beautiful about this face?
3. Quickly draw a line around the perimeter of the person's face. You may wish to hold the pencil at a steep angle to the paper, and clutch it like a piece of chalk, less like a pencil.
4. Outline the shape of the hair with a few telling lines, then inside the outline, draw the sweep of the hair. Don't use too many lines--you're not shading the hair, you're simply trying to give the impression that the hair exists there. Usually the ears will be visible somewhere in the hair--more so for some people than for others. Draw the outer curve of the ears, or what you can see of them, as you address the hair.
5. Draw the eyes. Slow down a little for this part--often the most important part of the portrait is the eyes. Starting with either eye, draw the graceful draping upper lid, then the lower lid. Don't feel like you have to close the shape of the eyes--if you can capture most of the eyes, but capture them well, then you can leave other parts untouched (this is another advantage to a sketch). Draw the outline of the irises and pupils. Note that often the top of the iris is covered by the upper lid. Repeat this with the other eye.
6. Draw the nose, starting between the eyes and moving down the front middle of the face. Unless the nose is a particularly impressive part of your subject's face, you will probably want to downplay its role. Usually a line up one side or the other, a couple telling curves to outline the sides of the nostrils, and a quick line that dips under the bottom edge of the nose's point will be more than enough.
7. Draw the mouth. If the mouth is closed, begin with the center line of the mouth, formed by the two lips pressed together. Pay close attention to your subject here--this will not be a straight line. There should be a slight dip in the middle of the line, where the upper lip protrudes slightly over the lower lip. If the mouth is open, start with the outline of the lips and then move inward. Teeth are usually best represented with as little information as possible--teeth can start to look horsey very quickly. A few discrete lines for the teeth should be enough.
