Basic Head Tutorial

This is for my friend Jessa. Just a simple, basic head tutorial.

1. Draw a circle.

2. Make a vertical line through your circle. I put this one so the character will be in about a 3/4 view. If you want a straight-on pose, a straight line exactly down the center will divide the head.

*If you want their head leaning back or forward, you can put the line at a different angles.

3. Make a horizontal line near the bottom of the circle. Curved upwards, will make your character looking up. Curved downward, will make them looking down.

4. Draw the basic shape of the eye socket. This is not the size of the eye itself, but merely where the eye will sit. The very top part of the eye socket is where the eyebrow will go. The inner corner is where the corner of the eye begins. If you aren't too sure, use your fingers and feel your own eye socket to get the general shape. It is slightly hexagonal with roundish edges.

If straight on, there is an eye length between eyes.

5. The 3/4 view is one of my favorites because the eyebrow and nose almost connect. The nose is generally an eye in length. The nostrils come into line with the inside corner of the eyes.

6. Make your eye shape. The eye is not almond shaped but more oval-shaped with tapered edges. Look at different ethnic photographs. The folds of the eye, the shapes, all vary between peoples.

7. The orange line represents a slight planar shift. The face isn't one dimensional. It has planes. Feel your skull just above your temple. There's a slight ridge there that begins about your outer corner of your eyebrow.

I also drew in what I call the "soup spoon". It's the little dippy part just under your nose. Tear drop shaped.

8a. Really crappy lips. General rule of thumb is to have the corners of the mouth extend out as far as the beginning of the iris. They can be thin, plump, whatever. I'm horrible at men's lips but I gave it a shot.

I made all of the 8's with the same basic head structure..the only thing I changed were the ears and the shape of the jawline.

Ears: They begin at the bottom of the eye, extend to the top of the eye and end at the bottom of the nose.

Eyes: The iris never touches the bottom lid unless looking down or sleepy, etc. The top of the iris is partially covered. The only time you ever see the full eye is when it's opened wide in anger or surprise.




Hope you enjoy Jessa. Keep practicing!