1.Place the eye on the halfway mark. The line would
be through the center of the pupil if the eye were looking straight ahead.
The front edge of the eyelid may be drawn approximately one-third of the
distance from the left side of the square, a to f, to the
center vertical line 2 to 4.
2.After dividing the left edge of the two-inch
square into seven parts, draw the brow and skull projection at c.
In females the brow is often higher and more curved.
3.Put the base of the nose at e, halfway
between the brow and the bottom of the chin.
4.The top of the ear is on a line with c,
the bottom of the earlobe and the base of the nose are
at e, and the front of
the ear is at center vertical line 2 to 4.
5.Note that her forehead is much more curved than
the male's. Draw this line from c curving to
the top of the skull at 2, around
to the back of the head at 3, still curving to a point level
with e, the base of the
nose.
6.Place the mouth between e and f.
7.Drop a curving chin line to g. Sketch
a jawline from g to the base of the skull.
8.Since the female neck is more slender and often
longer than the male neck, try drawing a
slightly curved diagonal from
c at the brow, back and down, so that the pit of the neck lines
up under the earlobe.
9.Parallel to the line you've just drawn, draw
a slightly curved diagonal from the top of the
skull at 2, touching the top
of the ear to the base of the skull for a guide-line indicating the
back of the neck.
An infant's head is quite different from an adult's.
The face itself (eyes, nose, and mouth) takes up
a reletively small area of the head, the face is much flatter, and there is virtually no chin. The infant's face is sometimes nearly lost in fatty tissue. In profile, the cheeks can totally obscure the cornors of the mouth. The distance from nose to chin is quite short, since there are no teeth. The eye appears very large in the tiny face because the eyeball is nearly the size of an adult's. Very little of the white of the eye is visible, but that which is observable is blue-white. The skull is sometimes flatter and longer rather than round. The infant usually doesn't have very much hair. You can try drawing the heads of babies of different races, but you'll find there are considerably fewer differences at this age. |
THE CHILD: When the child is four or five, the face is
till quite small in proportion to the entire
head, but the eye has "moved up" from the infant proportion. This is because there is more mass in the lower quarter of the face. - there are now upper and lower teeth and a jaw that has grown to accommodate them. This lengthens the facial mask. Study the illustration here and see if you can draw a child's head with similar features. |
THE PRETEEN: As the child matures, the eye "moves up"
until it reaches the halfway line at
adulthood. The above child is eleven or twelve years of age. Baby fat has gone and is replaced by more clearly defined features. It is quite difficult for an artist to get a childs age right at any stage of life, but from age eleven to fifteen this becomes a challenge to the best of us. Extra careful observation is the key. |