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THOMAS SANTEE
Whether its attempting to become a police sketch artist, writing a pithy web comic, or creating
a self-portrait, sketching faces can be a challenging, yet rewarding, skill to develop. No one
comes out of the gate with perfect drawing skills, and if youre just starting out, its important
to note that technique comes first, while any style develops later. These instructions are going
to take you through developing the skull that the face will rest on, creating guidelines, and
adding details to make a face. There is no set time for how long this process should take, as
everyones skill levels vary. As a guideline, try not to spend more than ten minutes on each
section to start, as these instructions focus more on developing the technique. Make sure to
draw on a clean flat surface, otherwise it could affect your ability to draw clean lines on the
paper.
REQUIRED MATERIALS
Pilot G-2 Mechanical Pencil with plenty of correct graphite, or similar erasable pencil
Clean 8 by 11 computer paper
White Staedtler Mars Latex-Free Eraser, or similar block eraser
OPTIONAL MATERIALS
Overhead Lamp
Ruler
ADDING EYEBROWS
Start from the upper points of the
nose and shade rectangles that are
about the size of the eyes. The
rectangles should slope upwards by
no more than an eighth of an inch
and stop at the edge of each eye.
Shade triangles that have their base on the outer edge of the rectangle and point
downwards. The slope of the triangle should be a decrease of about a quarter inch in
height while extending a quarter inch outwards.
Round out all corners and connections to make the eyebrows more natural looking.
Keep the ear curved and taper it to follow the jawlines inward curve.
Match the details shown in the figure above if having trouble.
FORMING HAIR
Visualize a hairline that is a
quarter of an inch below
guideline A that extends from
the left side of the left eye to
the right side of the right eye.
Do not create any hair below
this line.
Note: Since there are
practically no wrong hairstyles,
tips will be listed to explain
guidelines for adding hair to a
head.
Tips: