Technique Demonstration: Face Shapes

Find a model to draw
For a live model, ask someone to sit very still and relax his or her face. Make sure they face you, so you get a full front view.

A front view is what you see looking straight at someone’s face.

You can be your own model if you have a mirror. Make sure the mirror shows your face straight on, so you have a full front view. You can also look through magazines to find photos of faces to practice drawing. Be sure they show full front views.

Get started
Start by drawing studies or quick sketches to practice. Don’t worry about making mistakes! Just keep drawing! To draw a face shapes for a front view, look straight at your model. Don’t worry about showing moods and emotions yet—just get the basic shapes down.

Face Shapes
Faces are oval or egg-shaped.

Every face is a little different—look carefully at your model and try to match the shape of the face.

Eye Shapes
Look closely at your model’s eyes to get the right shape.

The basic eye shape is made up of curved lines.

Nose Shapes
Noses take some practice. They come in may different shapes and sizes.

Noses don’t have hard edges or outlines—most of their shape comes from shading. But you can draw simple outlines to practice.

Mouth Shapes
Mouths tell all! Mouths can tell us how old the model is, whether they are male or female, and what part of the world they came from.

Lip shapes can be made from several curved lines. The bottom lip is usually a little bigger than the top. There is a little dip in the top lip.

Ear Shapes
You don’t see the entire ear from the front. Ears are often completely hidden by hair, earrings, hats, or wide cheeks.

Look closely at your model to decide how much ear shows. Draw the ears using simple curved lines.

Are you ready to put it together? Try your hand at Portrait Proportions! Or test your knowledge of face shapes in Carmine’s BrainStrain "What’s Wrong with this Portrait?" Or try Practicing Proportions: A drag and drop activity.