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Drawing & Painting Life Portraits

Lesson #2

DRAWING THE FEMALE HEAD IN PROFILE

Again we begin with a two-inch square divided into four one-inch squares. The process is much the same as for the male profile except that the forms are softer, so try using more curved lines than straight. The lifesized head of a female of average height measures 81/4 inches from the tip of the nose to the back of the skull, and 8 1/4 inches from the top of the skull to the bottom of the chin. Again, this charted female head is a more or less "ideal" classic Caucasian.

• Place the eye on the halfway mark. The line would be through the center of the pupil if the eye were looking straight ahead. The front edge of the eyelid may be drawn approximately one-third of the distance from the left side of the square, A to F, to the center vertical line 2 to 4.
• After dividing the left edge of the two-inch square into seven parts, draw the brow and skull projection at C. In females the brow is often higher and more curved.
• Put the base of the nose at E, halfway between the brow and the bottom of the chin. The top of the ear is on a line with C, the bottom of the earlobe and the base of the nose are at E, and the front of the ear is at center vertical line 2 to 4.
• Note that her forehead is much more curved than the male's. Draw this line from C curving to the top of the skull at 2, around to the back of the head at 3, still curving to a point level with E, the base of the nose.
• Place the mouth between E and F.
• Drop a curving chin line to G. Sketch a jawline from g to the base of the skull.
• Since the female neck is more slender and often longer than the male neck, try drawing a slightly curved diagonal from C at the brow, back and down, so that the pit of the neck lines up under the earlobe.
• Parallel to the line you've just drawn, draw a slightly curved diagonal from the top of the skull at 2, touching the top of the ear to the base of the skull for a guide-line indicating the back of the neck.

FURTHER PRACTICE

After making several charts, put tracing paper over the head, drawing the woman with some hair as shown in the top two drawings to the right. Change her hairstyle. Note how these changes affect her age and personality. Try at least ten different looks. Draw her middle-aged, then make her eighty years old.

Study the features in the drawings to the left, then draw the woman as Black, then Oriental. Begin to really look at the heads of the people around you.

Remember, there is no substitute for thoughtful observation of life.

DRAWING THE INFANT HEAD IN PROFILE

An infant's head is quite different from an adult's. The face itself (eyes, nose, and mouth) takes up a relatively small area of the head, the face is much flatter, and there is virtually no chin. The infant's face is sometimes nearly lost in fatty tissue. In profile, the cheeks can totally obscure the corners of the mouth. The distance from nose to chin is quite short, since there are no teeth. The eye appears very large in the tiny face because the eyeball is nearly the size of an adult's. Very little of the white of the eye is visible, but that which is observable is blue-white. The skull is sometimes flatter and longer rather than round. The infant usually doesn't have very much hair. You can try drawing the heads of babies of different races, but you'll find there are considerably fewer differences at this age.

• Most babies have almost invisible eyebrows, but place a small eyebrow mark on the halfway line 1 to 3.
• Divide the lower half of the left edge of the square, at the face, into four segments.
• Draw the eye at A, also a very shallow bridge of the nose. The eye is very round.
• Make a small bump of a nose between A and B, and a projecting upper lip at B. Very often this upper lip protrudes even beyond the nose.
• Pull way back and place a very tiny lower lip at C.
• Add a round receding chin, very small, between C and D. A curving fold of fat rather than a jawline is evident here.
• Place the ear, halfway back on the skull, from brow line 1 to 3 down as far as the base of the nose.
• Add a very round skull curving from 1 up to 2 to 3. At the back its base is on a level with B, the upper lip.
• The infant's and child's head sits on a straight neck, but it is very short and not easily seen until the little one sits up at about six months. The head does not project forward as does the adult's.

FURTHER PRACTICE

THE CHILD: When the child is four or five, the face is till quite small in proportion to the entire head, but the eye has "moved up" from the infant proportion. This is because there is more mass in the lower quarter of the face. - there are now upper and lower teeth and a jaw that has grown to accommodate them. This lengthens the facial mask. Study the illustration here and see if you can draw a child's head with similar features.

THE PRETEEN: As the child matures, the eye "moves up" until it reaches the halfway line at adulthood. The above child is eleven or twelve years of age. Baby fat has gone and is replaced by more clearly defined features. It is quite difficult for an artist to get a child's age right at any stage of life, but from age eleven to fifteen this becomes a challenge to the best of us. Extra careful observation is the key.

Work very carefully on what we have discussed this week. Remember, repetition is the key so allot as much time as possible to charting and drawing faces in profile. See you next week!