On Friday, we covered how to get started with drawing the profile. We broke the process down into a few specific steps, outlined below:
Step 1 - Draw a box.
Pretty simple. Do it lightly, make it almost or actually a SQUARE. Most profiles fit neatly inside a square. Then divide your box in half TOP/BOTTOM.
After that, MEASURE the height of your model's head, and COMPARE it to the width. Adjust your box to show this relationship. Then divide your box in half LEFT/RIGHT.
After that, MEASURE the height of your model's head, and COMPARE it to the width. Adjust your box to show this relationship. Then divide your box in half LEFT/RIGHT.
Step 2 - The Blank and Marking Proportion
Draw a "Blank" (a mannequin style generic head shape - "blank" is a lot easier to say and type...) over your box:
Next, you need to mark proportions. Here's how:
- Start on the bottom corner of your box that is on the same side as the model's chin.
- Draw LIGHTLY straight up the side of the box, and when you get to 3/4 the way up, start to gradually curve into the box so that your line just touches the MIDDLE of the TOP of the box.
- Then keep that curve going so that it just touches the MIDDLE of the BACK of the box.
- Keep the curve going, but when you get 3/4 of the way down the box, curve in a bunch and come straight across until you hit the vertical divider line. This represents the BOTTOM OF THE SKULL.
- Now, start at the MIDDLE of the box, draw a sweeping curve down and to the front corner where you started, this represents the JAW LINE.
- CONGRATS! You just drew the "Blank." A generic shape that represents the human head.
Next, you need to mark proportions. Here's how:
- Measure the distance from the CHIN to the EYE LINE (middle of the eye).
- Compare this to the distance from the EYE LINE to the TOP OF HEAD. See that they are the SAME.
- LIGHTLY mark this on the drawing.
- Compare the chin/eye line distance to the distance from the CHIN to the BOTTOM OF NOSE (where it connects with their face).
- See that the bottom of the nose falls HALFWAY between the chin and eye line.
- LIGHTLY mark this on the drawing.
- Measure from the NOSE LINE to the CHIN.
- Compare this distance to the distance from the MOUTH LINE (literally where your model's lips meet) to the CHIN. See that the mouth falls ONE THIRD (1/3) of the way down from the NOSE to the CHIN.
- LIGHTLY mark this on the drawing.
Step 3 - The Silhouette
You're almost there. Now, using your measurements as a guide, sketch in the silhouette:
Here are a few more from our demos on Friday, using the same steps and procedure:
- I like to start at the brow, since I have the eyeline as a guide and the strong diagonal of the nose to work with.
- Look closely at the EDGE of your model's profile, and begin to sketch in the silhouette.
- Remember to use your measurements as a GUIDE, you didn't do all that work for nothing. Each feature on the profile edge should fall where you measured it, don't second guess, that just makes the drawing harder.
- The NOSE, LIPS, and CHIN will probably be OUTSIDE of the blank. Don't try to cram them inside the square you drew in step one, it'll just look weird.
- Remember to look at the profile and the rest of the head as EDGE and SHAPE.
Here are a few more from our demos on Friday, using the same steps and procedure: