Draw Faces Step By Step – The Easy Way

It’s really not that hard to draw faces step-by-step if you follow a few simple guidelines and practice.

Have you ever watched as anyone who’s really good when they draw a picture? Especially of someone’s face? When a talented artist draws, they make it look so easy as the lines just flow from their hands as if by magic.

But that’s just how it looks on the surface. Most artists actually use a structured process to draw faces step by step. There’s a whole lot going on behind that pencil that you and I, as spectators, are not even aware of. And it’s not just head-in-the-clouds inspiration. It’s training and practice that makes it look effortless.

So even though portrait drawing does take some talent, it’s mostly based on education and know-how. And that’s what you’re about to get. Read on for the “secrets” of how to draw faces step by step.

1. Decide which shape the face is; circle, triangle, rectangle, oval, or square. Draw the outline of the face with this in mind. Then, either imagine in your mind or draw on the paper, two “guides,” one straight down the middle, and one directly across the middle, creating four equal parts of the face. This will help you keep the right proportions of the face.

2. Unless you know how to draw faces step by step, this is usually the part where most people will get totally lost. The eyes. In contrast to what you may believe, the eyes should always be placed on the horizontal line around the middle of the face shape.

Then, begin the nose right between the middle of the eyes, about half-way down from the middle horizontal line. Basically, you are creating an imaginary upside-down triangle from between the nose and the eyes.

Create a straight but short horizontal line just below the nose, about halfway down for the lips and mouth. Then add the ears, making the top of the ear line up with the eyes.

3. At this point you can start adding some detail to the eyes and mouth. Eyelids, eyebrows, and lips. Round out the nose to the shape of the face you’re drawing.

Try to keep the outer edges of the mouth in line with the center of the eyes.

4. Practice shadowing at this point. Shadow under the nose, at the top of and inside the ears, under the mouth, between the eyes, etc. Don’t go crazy, but at the same time, don’t be afraid to be bold.

5. As with a lot of things, the more you practice the more your drawings will begin to look more and more like the face you’re drawing. Of course, you’ll have a bald face unless you add some facial hair.

So once you get those basic facial features down, it’ll be time to work on adding some hair.

Any portrait artist will tell that you need to draw faces step by step and actually “build” a face on paper. Then once you get these steps down pat, it just takes practice. Your first face will not be a perfect likeness of whoever you’re drawing. In fact, it won’t look much like anyone at all. Don’t be discouraged. Keep at it.

The old cliche of “practice makes perfect” became a cliche because it’s true. With each face you draw, you’ll learn more and more what to do and, maybe more importantly, what not to do. And you’ll get better with each face.

But most importantly, have fun. If you don’t love what you’re doing, why do it?

What Are Pencil Drawing Tutorials?

Pencil Drawing Tutorials

You probably found this web site by looking for pencil drawing tutorials online – which if you think about it is quite amazing. Just a few years ago, who would have thought that art lessons were something you could find online in just a few mouse clicks, and right in the comfort of your own home?

Name just about anything, including artistic endeavors, and I guarantee you can find something about it on the web. I conducted an experiment. I input some of the weirdest things I could think of into Google just to see how many websites existed online on those subjects. Here are a few examples:

How to clean my kitchen trash can – 4,470,000 results
How to crack my knuckles – 396,000 results
How to win an argument with my spouse – 96,600,000 results
Art lessons – 450,000 results

When you look at the amount of information available, both valuable and useless, it seriously makes you wonder how we ever got along without it. Can you think back to what you did when you needed directions to somewhere, or needed opinions about a new restaurant you wanted to try, needed to pay your electric bill – or wanted to learn something fun and new? It’s honestly hard to remember how to do any of these things without the Internet.

And now the arts have become a huge part of the online world. These days you don’t need to go find a class somewhere to learn how to draw. You can take pencil drawing tutorials at home, in your spare time. And you’ll learn just as much, if not more, than you would in a classroom.

There are both free and paid pencil drawing tutorials available to you on the web. While the majority of the free tutorials will cover the basics and are definitely good enough to get you started, the tutorials you pay for go much further into what you need to know. And 99% of them will cost you less than a class that you have to drive to at a certain time each week.

It’s quickly becoming the way of the world now. Go to work during the day, and at night, sit at your computer and get an education. The convenience alone is usually worth the price. And when it comes to learning to draw, there’s nothing like working at your own pace in the comfort of your own home. If you’re the shy type who is sensitive to criticism, on the Internet no one can spy on your creations.

If you decide to take some online pencil drawing tutorials, be prepared to be shocked. The depth to which you will be taken into the world of drawing will be like nothing you can imagine.

They will use all types of online media available. There will be text for you to read, graphic examples for you to study and learn from, and even videos. You can watch a pencil drawing professional at work, over and over again, as much as you want. You can study his or her techniques without the pressure or time constraints of a face-to-face class.

It’s like having a teacher come to your home, only when it’s convenient for you. Or only when you’re in the mood.

If you’re already into pencil drawing, or you want to learn, check out some pencil drawing tutorials on the web. You won’t be sorry. The presentations are professional and informative. You’ll be an accomplished pencil artist in no time at all.

Of Course You Can Draw Realistic Faces – Here’s How…

How To Draw Realistic Faces

Do you remember the last time you were at the mall? And as you were strolling along, you walked by a kiosk where they were selling framed pencil portraits of various celebrities did you wonder vaguely, how to draw realistic faces and make them so true to life? But then, you figured most likely it’s all done with a computer, and you walked on, forgetting all about them.

But, they’re not done by a computer. Well, maybe some are, but it is actually possible for a person to draw, using just a pencil, a “close to perfect” likeness of any face they see. Believe it or not, you could actually draw a picture of Brad Pitt or Marilyn Monroe, or yourself. It just takes some education and practice.

To the untrained eye, each and every face you see looks different. True, they all have eyes, noses, and mouths. But as you begin to really learn how to draw realistic faces, you discover that each one is unique.

A trained portrait artist knows that there are only a few basic shapes and standard measurements that all faces are made up of. Once you learn what they are, it only gets easier. Then, all that’s left to do is practice.

And practice some more…..

While you’re practicing, you can draw realistic faces of those you know, or you can simply copy faces in magazines or newspapers.

The five standard shapes of people’s faces are the same basic shapes you learned in kindergarten; Square, rectangle, oval, circle, and triangle. The variables really lie in the size and proportions of each. And, the shapes are not hard and fast. What I mean is, you may look at a face and see a circle. I could look at the same face and see a triangle. As they say, it’s all in the eye of the beholder.

And, as far as the standard measurement guidelines go, here are a few of them:

When drawing a face, most people will put the eyes about 1/3 of the way down on the face. But when you learn how to draw faces the right way, you’ll see that what you actually want to do is place the eyes in the middle of the shape, and line the ears up with that. Don’t believe me? Go try it. While you’re at it, place the mouth in the middle, between the eyes and chin.

Another standard measurement when drawing the nose is that the distance from eyes to nose, and between the eyes, will almost always work out to be an upside-down, equal-sided triangle. And normally, the center of the eyes will line up with the edges of the mouth.

These are just a few basic tricks that will not only get you started, but make you see that it really is easier than you may have originally thought.

Mind you, I’m not trying to take away from anyone’s talent for drawing. It does take special talent to be a great pencil portrait artist! However, I just want it to be known that there are certain rules that can help you learn how to draw realistic faces right now. Give it a try and happy drawing!