The features

We have looked at how to construct the human head and relate its elements both to each other and to the head as a whole. In the next few posts we will explore how to draw the various features of the face. These are especially fascinating because through the features we express a great deal of our humanity. Getting precisely the right angle of the mouth or glint in an eye can make the difference between an effective drawing and a weak one.

In essence, one person’s face is much like another’s. The vast majority of faces have the same complement of two eyes, two ears, one nose, and so on, balanced more or less symmetrically. On the other hand, no two faces are identical. We study features in general, to have the tools to draw them in particular. To capture an individual human being we have to observe their own unique take on a universal set of elements. We have to understand the individual features and how they work in combination to physical or emotional effect.

The facial features can look quite different depending upon what angle you see them from. This is a very good reason why we begin with the basic construction of a head, putting it upon an axis and choosing the direction it’s facing before we try to add any features. When we do add the features, they too have to be carefully constructed, based upon the viewpoint, and put into a proper relationship with each other. It is an important technique when drawing to begin by sketching the whole and build up levels of detail gradually. We should have sketched out all the features on a head before we try to render any of them in detail. It is the combination of particular features that makes a head drawing work.

Once we can draw the features correctly within the context of a well-constructed head we are well on the way to drawing convincing, expressive portraits.