How to Draw Faces: a Step by Step Tutorial for Beginners
Hi! Welcome to my blog! This blog is a tutorial on how to draw faces. Today, I’ll draw both male, and female faces with different variations in features, such as eyes, nose, jawline or lips. I’ll show you how to draw any kind of face, step by step, and then I’ll show how every feature affects the whole face. This blog is based on my Youtube video, found below.
How to draw Female Faces
First, I’ll begin with the female face in this how to draw faces tutorial. To make the construction lines to draw faces, draw a circle, a horizontal line and a vertical line like on the picture below. Then, draw a rectangle using the horizontal line in the circle as the top line. Let the vertical lines go slightly towards the center. On the bottom draw a triangle. Draw a circle at the bottom of the triangle, and at the bottom of the big circle. Then, draw two lines at the sides of the vertical line in the center, along the borders of the two little circles. Afterwards, draw two horizontal lines below the center of the big circle. Finally, draw two vertical lines next to the borders of the rectangle.
The construction lines to draw a face are finished and can be seen above. Now we can begin with the first feature – the eyes.
1. How to draw female Eyes
1.1 Big Eyes
I will draw big eyes like on the reference picture below.
I always begin with a soft circle to define the placement of the eye, then I sketch the whole eye, beginning with the inner corner.
In real life, the human face is never 100% symmetrical. So, don’t get discouraged when your eyes don’t look identical.
1.2 Asian Eyes
Now we will draw asian eyes. There are many variations of asian eyes. The most recognizable feature is the mono eyelid, and a hidden or slightly hidden inner corner. As usual, I begin with the inner corner. Draw a sharp inner corner, pointing downwards. While drawing the rest of the eye, you can decide what kind of an eyelid you want to draw. Sometimes it’s completely hidden, but often you see an eyelid showing up at the side of the outer corner. Just like on the example below.
1.3 Downturned Eyes
The next eyes are the downturned eyes. The outer corners of this type of eyes are pointing downwards, they are often hooded and can look sad in some cases. As always, I begin with the inner corner, I draw an upper eyelid that begins and ends, more or less, at the same height. You can give your downturned eyes a more drastic effect by drawing the lower eyelid more rounded, but I chose to keep it subtle, as you can see.
1.4 Small and Round
The last eye example I will show you is the small and round type. This is a basic eye type, and I think that it could be the easiest one to begin with, so I wanted to include it as well in this tutorial. Remember to always use references when you are a beginner. Even if you want to develop your own style, you need to know the basics before you can play with them.
2. How to draw female Eyebrows
2.1 High Arched and Rounded
The first eyebrows I will demonstrate are high arched and rounded. The shape is well defined and upturned. I draw it slightly lighter at the beginning, and make a sharp and dark end, working my way from the center of the face outward. To give it a more natural look, you can draw a few hairs at the start of the eyebrows.
2.2 Straight and Dark
2.3 Thick and Hairy
Now we will draw the dark, thick, hairy eyebrows. They often have a lot of extra hairs that can be a bit messy.
3. How to draw female Noses
In the same way that I started with construction lines to draw faces, when you draw noses, always try to draw some slightly visible guide circles. I draw a big one in the middle, and two smaller ones at the sides. Their composition depends on what kind of nose you will be drawing, but I’ll show you a few of them.
3.1 Straight
Now I’m drawing a nose that is relatively straight and the nostrils are not too visible. I keep it simple and define only the bottom of the tip of the nose, the nostrils and the edges of the nostrils. At the end I will erase the guidelines a little.
3.2 Upturned
This nose is a bit more upturned, which makes the nostrils more visible. Also, the overall shape is relatively straight.
3.3 Downturned
The next nose is downturned, which makes the nostrils invisible. This nose shape is easy to sketch because it does not have many details.
3.4 Pointed
The last nose I wanted to show you is also downturned and has a really pointy bottom
4. How to draw female Lips
In the same way that I drew construction lines to draw faces, I begin with two light circles, to define the size of the lips. Then, I mark the corners of the mouth with two dots. Sometimes I will add some extra shapes to define, for example, the bottom lip.
4.1 Defined Cupid's Bow
These lips are even and have a pretty, defined cupid’s bow.
4.2 Bigger Upper Lip
Now I will draw lips that have a bigger upper lip
4.3 Bigger Bottom Lip
Now I will draw lips that have a bigger bottom lip
4.4 Thin Lips
And thin lips, but this time with a very subtle cupid’s bow.
5. How to draw female Hairline
Now I’ll show you two ways of drawing the hairline. If you want me to make a more specific video about face structure, let me know in the comments!
5.1 Caucasian
The first one is a simplified shape seen mostly in white women
5.2 Ethnic
The second, the rounded one, is more common in women of color. Of course, there are a thousand variations of these two, and these examples are incredibly simplified.
6. How to draw female Jawlines
6.1 Big and Pointy
The first jawline is big and has a pointy chin.
6.2 Oval
The second one has an oval shape.
How to draw small and pointy jawline - female faces.
6.3 Small and Pointy
This jawline is smaller than the others, also with a pointy chin.
6.4 Small and Short
And the last one, also has a slightly smaller jawline, but with a shorter chin.
6. How to draw female Ears
7. How to draw female Hair
I will show you two examples of the hair: Thin, straight hair and thick straight hair. I have a fully detailed tutorial for how to draw hair on my Youtube channel, click here to see it! Or, click here to read my blog on the topic!
When I draw hair, I try to erase some areas slightly, just to make it look less heavy.
We are finally done with the woman’s face. You can add some details like eyelashes or some shadows if you want.
How to Draw Male Faces tutorial step by step
How to Draw Male Faces
When we begin with the male face, we will, of course, also draw some construction lines. They are basically the same, only the male faces are often slightly longer and more angular, so keep that in mind. As you can see, I draw the jawline bigger than on the female.
1. How to draw male Eyes
How to draw eyes - male faces
1.1 Gender Neutral
I begin with an easy shape. These eyes are gender neutral, they are not too hooded and could be used for a female face as well.
1.2 Hooded
Male eyes are often hooded and have larger eyebrow muscles which make the biggest difference between male eyes and female eyes. The reference below is a good example of that. The eyes are hooded, and the eyebrows are really low. The eyes are turned downwards, so the outer corner of the eyes is at the same height as the inner corners. You can see that these eyes also have a long and exposed inner corner.
1.3Big and Hooded
For the next reference, I chose a pair of hooded, big eyes. They have almost no space between the eyes and the eyebrows, and the bottom eyelid is thick and well defined. It can make your character look a little bit sad at first, but after adding eyebrows and some shading, it should be okay.
If you want me to make more specific tutorial about the eyes or some other facial feature, let me know in the comments! Also, if you have enjoyed the blog so far, give it some love with a like or comment!
1.4 Asian
Now it’s time for the last eye shape. The Asian eyes. They don’t differ so much in male and female. From what I have seen, the only difference that I could instantly see is that they appear to be narrower.
2. How to draw male Eyebrows
How to draw hairy eyebrows on female faces?
2.1 Hairy
I begin with the really hairy ones, that have a small gap between them.
Male eyebrows will always be darker, more uneven and are located lower than the female eyebrows.
To get the structure right, I make sure to follow the right direction while drawing every single eyebrow hair.
2.2 High Arched
Those eyebrows look similar to the previous ones, but the point of arch goes upwards, and the end of the brow follows on the same height.
2.3 High and Rounded
The last eyebrows I will show you are located higher and have a round shape. You can probably see that the reference picture is Leonardio Dicaprio. I chose his eyebrows because they differ the most from the other male eyebrow types.
3. How to draw male Noses
how to draw faces - noses
3.1 Wide
I use the same construction lines as the one shown earlier in this blog. This one is wide and has strongly defined and visible nostrils
3.2 Downturned
This nose is also quite wide, but the nostrils are not as visible because the tip of the nose is more downturned.
3.3 Angular
The last nose is thin and angular
4. How to draw male Lips
First, in the same way that I draw construction lines to draw faces, I draw soft circles to help me define the size and shape of the lips.
4.1 Big and Even
These lips are more on the big side and are pretty even
4.2 Thin and Even
In this next example, the size of the lips are even too, but they are thin.
4.3 Thin, Bigger Bottom Lip
This one has thin lips but also a bigger bottom lip
4.4 Big and Uneven
And the last one also has uneven lips, but this time they are both on the bigger side.
5. How to draw male Jaw
How to draw faces tutorial example procreate easy tutorial
5.1 Oblong
The first jaw is oblong.
5.2 Short and Angular
This one is shorter, and very angular.
5.3 Short and Rounded
And the last one might seem almost the same, but the lines are a lot more rounded.
6. How to draw male Hair
6.1 Elegant
6.2 Messy
6.3 Buzzcut
And the last one is pretty easy. Try to avoid drawing hair in the middle at least while sketching. The outline of the hair is mostly important here.
This concludes this blog post. I hope you guys have learned how to draw faces and have gotten ideas to experiment with! The tips here can be applied to any drawing style, so feel free to use them the very next time you draw faces. Thank you all for your continued support, don’t forget to leave a like or a comment on this blog, and share it with your friends. If you would like to buy the brushes I used to make this video, you can find them here, along with other brushes and coloring templates. As always, you can find me on Instagram, Facebook and Youtube. Until next time!
This is great!
This is great!
This was so good i haven’t drawn in over 20 years. thanks
Brilliant thank you
In lock down and decided to learn to draw and this had been so helpful and fun
how did you drawl the face in the fast and easy hair tutorial?
good job girl nice drawing
pretty darn amazing!
Great info there.
hello
LOVE IT
Thank you for this tutorial! It’s great!!!
This is amazing! Thank you! You make it so simple!
Bruh ?
SO SIMPLE!!!!!!!!!!
SO SIMPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!
i was looking all over the internet for something to help my drawing look more realistic this was a big help, awesome!
loved it! recommend to any unconfident drawers out there
loved it! recommend to any unconfident drawers out there
Very informative and you made it so simple to follow and draw. Thank you!
Very informative and you made it so simple to follow and draw. You are great
nice??????
Hey, which brush did you use in this tut? THX~~
Love it
sucks
Amazing loved it!
Amazing loved it!
Love this tutorial! You keep it simple, to the point very easy to follow. Out of all the tutorials I’ve watched there’s a chosen few (ur one of them) I can learn from without getting frustrated giving up ending up in stack of incomplete. Please keep them coming! Your work is very much appreciated by all of us. Thanks til next time,,,,,