The Face

The majority of my time last week was spent learning about the human face.  I spent time both in and outside of class learning techniques to help me create realistic facial features.  It was an exciting week because I have been looking forward to learning how to draw the face the whole semester.  It’s a skill that I have always wanted to become better at. 

            When I begin drawing the face, I find it beneficial to do some short gesture drawings in order to understand the perspective and proportions of the facial features.  Once I have a general understanding of the layout of the face, I start my longer drawing.  I start with the shape of the head; this is an oval shape that is slightly wider at the top than on the bottom.  Then I create a vertical line down the center and a horizontal line halfway between the top and bottom of the oval.  This horizontal line is used for the placement of the eyes.  I then create another horizontal line to divide the remaining space below the eye line.  This line is used for the location of the nose.  The remaining space below the nose can be divided in half with another horizontal line.  This is used for the placement of the mouth and allows enough room for the chin.  These simple lines help me keep the face balanced and proportional.  The placement of the ears starts slightly above the eye line and ends at the bottom of the nose.  I find the eyes, nose, and month very difficult features to draw.  I understand the general shape of these facial features, but I find myself continuing to rework my drawings because I don’t feel they are realistic enough.  It really takes time to develop a nice drawing of a face.  It’s important that the face is proportional, realistic, and has a three-dimensional appearance.  It’s easy to have a drawing appear flat and not life like.