So much to do, so little time

I picked a descent (safe for work) photo of a pinup girl on Google Image search and decided to “play by the rules,” meaning that I drew some lines that show the structure of the face. I left the lines in on purpose, so you can see them.

Mind you, these are rules of thumb and you should always measure on the model and see if she or he conforms or deviates (and if so, in what manner). It’s a good starting point for a rough first sketch. If you’re experienced enough, you can do this step in your head and draw the right proportions straight in your initial rough sketch. A beginner might prefer to do both steps on paper until they are confident enough. It’s a crutch and once you can see the proportions of the model without these rules, you should base your drawing on that instead.

Note, that I’m not a teacher, nor do I play one on tv. It’s just some handy tricks I picked up here and there and which seem to work. If they don’t work for you, then don’t use them, or modify them as needed.

1. There is a vertical line that separates the left and right halves of the face. If you look closely, both sides aren’t exactly the same, but close enough for an initial sketch. The model is looking straight at us, so both halves are equally distorted by perspective view. They are more or less mirror images of each other.
2. The face is roughly as wide as the width of 5 eyes next to each other. The eyes are separated by the width of an eye. The eye of an adult is approximately twice as wide as high.
3. The vertical distance of the forehead, the nose and the part between the base of the nose and the tip of the chin are more or less the same. In women and men with weak chins you will notice that the part underneath the nose is not as high as the other vertical distances.
4. If you draw a line piece between the outer corners of the eyes, then this line piece will be the base of an upside down triangle with equal sides (equilateral triangle). The third point of this triangle coincides with the lowest point of the lower lip if the mouth is closed and relaxed.
5. Similarly, if you connect the pupils (looking forward) with a line piece, it is the base of an upside down equilateral triangle, with its top at the base of the nose (between the nose holes).
6. Two vertical lines drawn through the inside corners of the eyes touch the outer edges of the wings of the nose, left and right.
7. Two vertical lines drawn through the outer edges of the pupils looking straight ahead touch the corners of the relaxed mouth. However, often the mouth corners are closer together than the distance between the two vertical lines, making the mouth seem smaller than you’d expect. Wider mouths are rare, though.
8. In women the point of the nose is often turned up, while in men it’s often turned down. However, this woman has a nose that’s in between up and down.
9. The top of the forehead is about where the hair line lies in non-balding people with a short hairdo (no bangs).

I’m sure there are many more regularities in the human face, but these 9 rules of thumb should help you get on your way. Remember that if you draw from observation, you need to look mostly at your model and only occasionally at your drawing. Ideally you shouldn’t look at your drawing at all, but the temptation is just too great to not look.

So look, but don’t keep looking. Looking at people is much more interesting than looking at an unfinished sketch anyway.

Thanks for reading and have fun drawing.