Drawing The Human Head - Easy Methods For Your Head Drawings

There are two elements of the profile we need to discuss and they are the skull and mask of the face.

Here are a few points I make in this lesson;

• The main shape of the skull is an egg. Slightly larger as it nears the rear of the skull.

• The shape of the face is more square and boxy. The character of the face shape is quite different than the round, curvy skull shape.

• You may opt to use an upside-down sail shape to lay-in the head shape. This method combines the skull and mask of face into one shape.

• The gesture of the skull is moving slightly upward and back.

• The gesture of the face is moving down.

• The neck joins the back of the skull higher than the front connection.

• Where the back of the neck joins the skull is usually level with the lower eyelid, or close to it.

• If you were to draw a square, or rectangle, around the profile it would be slightly longer on the face. Note that this idea is for the head structure only and doesn't consider facial features and hair style.

• When using the rectangle idea you can divide the face length in half to locate the lower eyelid, or close to it).

• If you divide the space between eyelid and chin in half it would locate the root of the nose (not the tip of the nose).

• If you divide the remaining space in half again it would locate the bottom of the lower lip.

• If you make an error you are better off making the chin, or mask of face, slightly longer.

In this video I will demonstrate the techniques discussed in the previous lesson.

Assignment

Complete a series of six profile drawings that include three head sizes, and a left & right side angle.

Note: I've attached an image of the demo

There are many techniques you can use to draw the front view of the skull and facial features. In this lesson we will discuss a some of those options and you can decide what works best for you.

A few ideas shared in this lesson;

• Draw a circle that starts at the top of skull and extends downward to just below the nose.

• Now add another half circle below it that will start at the bottom of first circle and extend to bottom of chin.

• Note that there are three halves of a circle that make up the length of the front.

• Add a centerline that divides the skull into a left and right side.

• Note that the width of the skull is two halves.

• Understand that the front view is proportioned differently than the profile which was almost square.

• So, you can use a rectangular shape to describe the front of the skull and face.

• The overall shape of the front view is an egg shape.

• If you vertically divide the egg into three parts it will help locate a key landmark.

• The ears are located within the middle third. Each model is unique so it will shift accordingly.

• If you divide the egg in half horizontally you will locate the center of the eyes where the top and bottom eyelids meet.

• If you divide the lower half of the egg in half it will locate the root of the nose.

• If we divide the lower section in half again we will have the lower edge of the bottom lip.

• The overall shape of the egg varies depending on the model. Some models have a pointier chin, some have a wider skull and so on.

• If we divide the face into thirds once again we will have the location for the arch of the eyebrows (top line) and the lower line is where the root of the node is located.

• If we divide the middle section in half vertically we will locate the center of the eyes where the bottom of the top eyelid and top of the bottom eyelid meet.

• And if we divide the lower section in half you will locate the bottom of the lower lip.

In this video I will demonstrate the techniques discussed in the previous lesson.

Assignment

Complete a series of six front view drawings that include three head sizes and various techniques for locating facial features.

In this video we will discuss how the head connects to the neck.

Here are some key points shared in this tutorial;

• The digastric plane is the area under the chin that connects to the neck. This shape will change dramatically depending on the vantage point, pose and model.

• The back of the neck starts at the bottom of the skull.

• The front of the neck attaches below the chin area, at the end of the digastric plane as it moves towards the ear, and is much shorter.

• It's important to understand the starting point of the front and back of the neck.

• From the front view the neck is a tubular shape.

• On women and small children the neck is thinner than most males.

• An hour glass shape can be used to best describe the profile view of the neck as opposed to the tube shape used for the front view.

In this video I will demonstrate neck drawing techniques discussed in the previous lesson.

Assignment

Complete a series of nine drawings that include the neck from the profile view, three front views with a female of child in mind and lastly three front views with a male in mind.

Note: I've uploaded my demo of the neck.

In this lesson we will take a look at the back of the head. This can be a difficult view because it doesn't have all the facial features that help make the drawing interesting.

Let's first determine the length of the neck from the front view and a few key points;

• The neck is usually one-third the length of the head from the bottom of the chin to the pit of the neck (suprasternal notch).

• This area is also where the shoulder line is located.

• The only other feature we will add here is the trapezius muscles which are clearly visible from the front but are actually located on the back.

Let's have a look at a few key points of the back of the head and how it relates to the front;

• You can best describe the back of the skull as a circle.

• The upper sides of the neck are visible until they meet the trapezius muscles.

• The mask of the face is clearly hidden except for a slight indication of the jaws and sides of the face.

• The back of the ears are visible and you should add some thickness to the feature.

In this video I will demonstrate five versions for drawing the back of the head using techniques we discussed in the previous lesson.

Assignment

• Complete a series of five drawings that include the back of the head.

• Change the size and proportions slightly on each one that would illustrate a woman, small child, male and perhaps a larger, more muscular male.

In this lesson I will demonstrate several ideas for using the ear as a tool to help draw various head angles. Some of these techniques were shared in previous lessons but I feel this video will strengthen these methods.

I will also cover some alternative ways to get your idea down such as a tube and cube.

Notice of how locating the ear to the front or rear of the head will immediately change how the head is turning.

Also take note how moving the ear towards the top or bottom of the head will help illustrate how the head is tilting towards or away.

Sometimes it's useful to use a tube as a starting point. Or, you may prefer this method over others I've shared. I will illustrate some ways to make this work but know I will cover this idea in more detail later on in this course.

In this lesson I will take some Master's works and illustrate some of the points we covered in this basic series.

In this lesson you will create a series of ten head drawings that will include some of the techniques we covered in previous lessons.

Assignment Guidelines

• Complete ten head drawings

• Be sure to use the ideas shared in previous lessons including angle(s), gesture (top of skull moving back and mask of face moving down), head turn (left or right), and tilting (head leaning towards or away)

• Do not add details, only focus on what we have covered such as hairline, eyebrows, lines for locating eyes, root of nose, lines for lower, middle and upper lips.

• Only include the construction lines and main contours that help illustrate what the head is doing

Here is my practice reel along with my thoughts on executing each pose.

In this lesson you will start your next phase of this journey; box construction. We will begin by breaking down some basic shapes to determine which one can furnish the best possible solution for indicating the front, side, tilt and lean of a particular shape/object.

In this lesson we will start mapping-out facial features using the box construction idea. By the end of this video you will begin to understand the front and side planes along with some key landmarks.

In this lesson we will build on the previous box construction ideas that I shared in the previous videos.

In this tutorial we will continue adding the the box construction idea(s). By the end of the video you will have a good understanding of how to locate and place the main facial features.

Now we will take the box construction idea and see how it translates with different head angles. So applying the techniques and planes to the head when it's turned in various poses.

In this lesson we will continue to expand on the box construction method by using planes. When drawing the head it's important to always consider the front, sides, top and bottom of the forms so that you better understand how to locate and place certain facial features.

In this lesson we will finish up with box construction. I hope that these ideas will help you better render the head by using simple shapes.

In this lesson you will put all the information you have learned together by creating a series of ten head drawings.

Assignment Guidelines

• Complete ten head drawings

• Incorporate some of the intermediate methods if/when applicable.

• Avoid details and only focus on box construction techniques.