Drawing a realistic looking face is a challenge, but with a little practice and the right focus you can master it. To succeed in drawing a face with proper technique, pay attention to proportions and shading as you work and the picture will come together beautifully.
Instructions
1. Sketch a general facial shape first. Different people will have differently shaped heads, so pay close attention. Males tend to have squarer jaws than females, who have more rounded or pointy faces.
2. Know your proportions. The most important thing to drawing a realistic looking face is knowing the proportions between eyes and nose, mouth and pupils, etc. These won't be the same for everyone but can give you a general idea that will keep your facial features scaled.
3. Fill in the features of the face. For now, just sketch them in and work to finalize the proportions and location. Often you will have to do this several times to ensure everything is the right size and distance from the other features but the proportion rules can help make this quicker.
4. Mark the highlights on the face and hair where the light is brightest. These will often be near the cheekbones and on the lower lip, as well as other places depending on the direction of light.
5. Find the shadows as well. These are the places where the deepest shades are present on the face. Pupils, the shadow of the head on the neck and the upper lip are good places to start.
6. Start shading. By this time you should have a good blueprint of what your face will look like. This allows you to start filling in the areas of shadow and light, starting with the most extreme and then gradually blending the two together. Make sure to accurately portray the shades present; there may be a difference between the shadows under one eye and another. Use a wide range of shades.
