How To Draw Heads

1. Introduction: Hi, my name is Dan. When it comes to drawing the human figure, there's probably no other part of the body of the draws greater attention and struggle than the head. We've all tried to create a likeness and realism and a face during at some point now artistic journey. When we are our own worst critic, despite our best efforts, it's hard to see if we'll ever reach a level of perfection. We can be happy with it. But I have a solution for you. In this quick guide, I'm going to present to you a simple method that allows you to not only draw the head in proportion each time, but will also enable you to draw character faces with or without reference, time and time again. And with consistent use of this one tool, you're going to increase your head drawing skills in a rapid amount of time. If you're a beginner into character design comics, or just like to make portraits. Then I think you will learn a lot from this process in the next 20 minutes using the method that I use for my head drawings, I'll demonstrate how to construct well proportioned faces, placement of the main features of the face, and how to shade your head drawing to give it a life-like, three-dimensional quality. I've created an easy to use template for you to print out or download from the resources section below this video. I recommend you do that now so you can follow along in the class and at the end of the lesson, upload a picture of your finished head drawing to the project section. Let's not delay anymore and get started. 2. Tools: For this class, or you will need is a pencil and eraser and a sheet of white paper. But if you'd prefer to work in the medium you are most comfortable with, please do so. I'll be using a mechanical pencil with a to H lead. I prefer a hard lead and would recommend anything from the range to H to HB. As these will smudge less and create a line that is easier to erase when you use lightly. The final tool necessary for this class is the template. Since I've started using the template system for my character designs, I've seen a huge improvement in my understanding of facial proportions and structure. It has helped me when working from imagination and reference. And I believe it will assist you to. For this class, I recommend you download the template and print it out. You can work directly onto the printout as the lines and design light enough for it not to cause too much distraction. Or you can work as I do. That is to place another sheet of blank paper over the top and type the paper down so it won't move during the process. You should be able to save the lines just finally through the paper. Of course, you can download a version of the template and use it digitally on an iPad or drawing program if you prefer. Download or print the template before we get started. I've designed it to focus on the essential features of the face. There in time, you won't have to use the physical template, but instead draw on your knowledge of the structure and proportions of the head. 3. Drawing The Head: For this example, I'll be drawing a mile hit. The first thing I'm going to do is construct the overall shape of the head, beginning with the cranium, the uppermost part of the skull. One of the benefits of using the template is that I can easily match both sides of the skull to retain symmetry by looking at where the curves of my lines crossed the template and then mirror those lines on the other side. If you have trouble trying to draw a curved line, try drawing smallest straight lines instead of a large curved line. You might find that much easier. Next, upbringing the line downward about the height of where the mouth movie and begin to curve it in widths towards the chin line. Then repeat the line on the other side before adding a slightly curved line to represent the vice of the chin. Again, I'm using the template as a guide and watching where one side crosses and intersects with lines on the template. And repeating those steps on the other side. For example, where my chin reaches the base, I can simply look across to the other side and work out that that is about roughly the same position for the base of the chin on the other side. Now I have this egg-shaped representation of the head. I'm going to start adding in the features. Very basic shapes, not a lot of detail, just basic shapes. I find that if I add too much detail at this point, it's haunted to correct those. So this will be just very basic shapes to begin with. 4. The Eyes: Once I have the basic shape of the head, the first feature, I'm going to add the eyes. At this stage, I'm only going to use basic shapes without too much detail. I'll start by making an elliptical shape with the outer points touching the line inches. I'll repeat the step by drawing the opposite eye. Nodding how the lines of the first I drew fall within the template shape. Then mirroring those lines, Starbucks. I'll keep the pupils in the center and roughly taking up about half of the space that is showing for the bowl. I'm not going to add too much detail at this point. And I'll keep my lines as loose as possible so it will be easier to correct later if I need to. And it should be noted that by adjusting the simple shapes, you can create a diverse range of AJ Styles. For instance, I can add the fault of the eyelids or have no folded all. I can also adjust the shape of the eye, making it more rounded, thinner, square, or smaller, depending on the character type. 5. The Nose: The notice can be extremely difficult for beginners because it can consist of numerous shapes and shadows that can cause a lot of confusion. But by following a few basic steps, I can help you understand the shape of the nose and how to apply them for variation for different types of noses. Let's stop. With a base of the nose will be, I'm going to make a curved line. Then Mike, three curved lines to represent the bowl dynodes and the wings of the nostrils. The bridge of the nose. I draw two angled lines inward from the brown. With I made about the height of the top of the eyelid. I'll drop them down towards the ball of the nose with a slight angle. I'm taping these lines light as I might not be necessary. The final drawing and therefore can be erased easily. Then to finish off the nose, at the base of the nose, I'll draw two curved lines to represent the nostrils. 6. The Mouth: Thick and thin lips, wider, small. The mouth comes in many variations, but don't feel daunted as a beginner. You can draw a good-looking mouth with just a few simple lines. Then slowly as you build your confidence, you can start to vary those lines to create diverse looking mouth features. To start, I'll draw a horizontal line at the height of the mouth line indicated on the template. I can determine the width of the mouth by dropping a line down from the iris of the eye. And that will give me an indication of the corner of the mouth. To keep the math looking natural. And we'll give it a slight dip in the middle. Then I'll add in the upper and lower limbs, keeping them somewhat rounded to indicate their softness. I've kept the top lip thinner than the bottom loop for this character. But keep in mind, this is not always the case. 7. The Ears: The ys, we already have a box shape that indicates the placement of the ears. This is a good guide for making natural looking proportioned ears. However, it is not the case that every ear will sit perfectly within the box, but the box does make for an excellent guide. The real trick is to create realistic looking ears with just a few simple shapes to enhance the overall portrait. I'll start with the top of the ear. From a point slightly below the brown line. The line upward and downward towards the nose line. Then repeating the same step on the other side for the opposite here. I'm not going to add too much detail or over-complicate the shape of the ear because I may change details later. And I don't want too many details to detract from the rest of the face. I'll draw the inner ear with a slight curve. By darkening the inner curves. This gives the indication of shadow and implies the folds of the ear is giving them a three-dimensional quality. 8. Shadow and Light: It feels like the main features are in place. I can start adding secondary details such as eyebrows, contours and shadows. For the eyebrows. I'll keep them lower and a little thicker than I would draw if this were a female face. The top of the eyebrow angles in and downward slightly, while the bottom part of the eyebrow is raised towards the outside. Then finish just above the eye along the contour of the upper part of the Noise Bridge. Above the eyebrows are mocking way the temple will create a slight shadow on the side of the forehead and create that come to a shadow around the outside of the eye socket. Next block in a quick shape for the overall structure of the hair. Where the hairline is represented on my template is just a guide. And I've chosen to bring the hand line down further on this character. Keep in mind, halides can recede further, or the character might be bold. The hairline in the template actually represents with the skull begins to curve from the forehead and back toward the top of the head. I'll darken the hair a little to give it some white. Then start with shadows around the eyes and work my way down the sound of the nose and the phase. I keep my strokes moving in a direction towards the lighter areas. When adding in the shadows, I need to be mindful away the light source is coming from, as this will determine the strength and placement of the shadows. The shadows are added. I can start to see the areas which appeared large and flat now have form giving the image and more three-dimensional quality. This is especially evident in the jaw line and the four hint. What do I tend to do when drawing the facial features? See them as shapes rather than features. The tip of the nose is a bowl, the chin area around blockchain. This allows me to understand where shadows will fall and how to come to all the shape to give a sense of realism. Okay, so I'm gonna leave it at this point. As we all know, it's easy to get caught up in the Tinkering of a sketch and keep adding details on top of details. But that's not the point of this exercise. The emphasis here is to use the template and become a way of the key features of the face. How they cross an intersect on the template, and how you can develop structures and features of any type of phase using the template. When following the steps in this guide, don't get frustrated if you first paste isn't perfect, that's okay. Keep practicing. You'll inevitably see the results as I have. 9. Conclusion: Well, thank you so much for joining this class. I've really appreciated and I've enjoyed the opportunity to show you the methods I use for my head drawings. I hope you've left his class feeling inspired and confident that you can create well proportioned heads. And you have learned where to place the important features to create lifeline characters. The more you use this system, you will eventually develop the muscle memory and ability to draw heads without having to use the template. Please take a photo or scan your finished results and upload them to the Skillshare Projects page. As I would love to see what you've created. Well, that's it for now. Following my Skillshare page, skillshare.com slash d on him, or find me on Instagram at D on Hamill for updates or more classes to come on, look forward to seeing you then. Bye.