Portrait Art

Lesson One

Facial Proportions

Mathematics in Our Faces

• Throughout history, man has found beauty in proportions which can be derived by simple mathematical relationships.

• Perfection in the human face is mathematically proportional, too.

• Although there are very few “perfect faces”, cultures value beauty according to the mathematical model.

• Most of us have near perfect facial proportions, but being unique is about being who we are. You will notice that even the top models do not have “faultless” faces.

How It Works

• Proportions of the Human Head Drawing the Structure of the Head and Face To draw the human head accurately, first become familiar with the basic proportions. Traditional rules of proportion show the face divided into six equal squares, two by three. The upper horizontal division is roughly at the 'third eye' level mid-forehead, the lower at the base of the nose.

• The eyes sit on the horizontal center, the mouth on the center of the lower third.

• This will become clearer as you work through this tutorial.

• Many artists want to make realistic portraits that show how someone looks. To do this, you have to learn about face proportion.

• 1. HEAD. Use a large piece of paper, pencil and ruler to assist in your drawing.

• Draw a large head shape on your paper.

2c. Now draw the eye shapes—you can draw five to start with to help you remember the size and spacing.

2a. EYES. Eyes are halfway down the face. So use your ruler to divide your head in half with a horizontal line. Draw lightly (you may want to erase it later).

2b. If you look at someone face on, they will have room for five eyes across the front of their face! You can divide the horizontal line into five equal spaces to figure out how big to make the eyes.

Biggest Mistake Revealed

Eyes actually go midway on skull!

3a. NOSE. The size of the nose depends on the person. The bottom of the nose is often as wide as the inside corners of the eyes. So you can draw two lines down from the inside corners of the eyes.

3b. Usually, the bottom of the nose is halfway between the eye line and the bottom of the chin.

3c. Now you have a "nose box"—draw the nose! A lightly drawn curve will give the impression of a nose. Do not draw a hard line on the side of the nose or at the bottom.

4c. Now draw the mouth! Again, draw lightly, the lower lip will be larger in height than the upper lip.

4a. MOUTH. Draw another line half way between the nose and the chin.

4b. Mouths are right above this line. The width of the mouth depends on the person’s expression. But the corners of a relaxed mouth line up with the middle of the eye. Draw two vertical lines down from the pupils of the eye.

5. EARS. Ears are bigger than many people think! They stretch from the eyes to below the nose. Use the horizontal line you first drew for the eyes to line up the top of the ears. They will end between the bottom of the nose and the mouth.

6. EYEBROWS. Eyebrows tell a lot about a person’s mood. They come in all different sizes and shapes (and some people pluck them out!) A gentle arch over the eyes should do for a relaxed face. Be careful not to draw eyebrows too lightly, or outline only. They are a series of short lines.

One third of the face is the eyebrow line, base of nose, to the bottom of chin.

7. NECK. Most people draw the neck too thin. A head weighs eight pounds so necks are big and strong! Start at the ears and gently curve in then out again.

8. SHOULDERS. If you have room on your paper you can draw shoulders or part of the shoulders. We actually have room for three heads on our shoulders!

Make the shoulders wide enough so you could fit another head on each shoulder.

9. HAIR. Last but not least, HAIR! You could stop now if your subject has no hair. But if he or she does, remember where the hairline is. The hairline is the last 1/3 of the nose to eyebrow to hairline measurement.

Good work! Now you can use what you have learned on the following page.

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Lesson 1Facial Proportions

1. What surprised you about learning the proportions of the face and shoulders?

2. Name three [3] different errors that are easy to make when drawing a face.

a.

b.

c.

3. How do you think your drawing of people will improve with your new knowledge?

Attach this page to the back of your drawings, the printout and the original drawing from the tutorial.

Name _______________________________

Date ________________________________

Grade you deserve ______, because

______________________________________