Themes > Arts > Drawing > Silhouettes Drawing > Drawing the Portrait
People's faces come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors. Round ones, thin ones, smiley ones, frowning ones. There are literally thousands of combinations of the basic structure of two eyes, one nose, one mouth and two ears. But there are also some generalities common to the facial structure of male and female heads.

Generally speaking, a man's head has straighter lines, thicker neck, eyes closer to the eye brows, longer nose meeting the forehead at a sharp angle.
A woman's neck is narrower and usually longer, her silhouette has more concave curves, eye sockets wider, eyebrows trace more of a wing like arc, lips wider and eyes larger.

Children's heads follow more of a square format with larger foreheads, less definition of the nose, smaller chin. The eye's move up the face as the child grows older, in the younger child the entire face is in the lower ½ of the head.

It is the proportion of the features and the relationship of the negative spaces between the positive feature shapes that make up the likeness of the portrait. The expression and the lifelike portrayal of the portrait will be discussed in future articles.

To begin with, the artist must learn to draw these features and understand the basic structures of each portrait. Some basic proportions are: the space between the eyes is equal to the width of the eye, which is quite often the same width as the nostrils of the nose. The top of the ear lines up with the bottom of the eye brow and the bottom of the nose. The eyes are half way between the top of the head and the chin. The bottom of the nose is half way between the bottom of the eye brows and the chin. The bottom of the lower lip is halfway between the bottom of the nose and the chin. As the head turns sideways or up and down will greatly affect all of these proportions. One must remember that the head is round and has dimension, therefore, the line-up measurements must also continue around the shape of the head.

It has been said "The eyes are the windows to the soul". They are the most expressive features of the face, yet we tend to look at the lips when we are speaking or listening to another person. Lets look at the eye construction. First the eye ball is a sphere held inside an eye socket. The upper lid slides up and down over the eyeball, the lower lid moves very little. Both lids have thickness, the lower eye lid is mostly seen as a highlight as the light falls on this ledge. Even though we see very little of the eyeball itself, the part we do see must give the impression of roundness, therefore, we should indicate the cast shadow over the eyeball from the upper eye lid, a slight shadow on the lower portion next to the lower eye lid and the lightest area in the center of the sphere closest to us. The upper eye lid overlaps the lower eye lid at the outer corner and is joined together at the inside corner by a small pink muscle. The iris and pupil are round. Because the eye is always moist, the light reflects from the surface. The catch light will always be the same shape as the original light source. To create the moist appearance the iris is usually lightest on the opposite side of the catch light. Can the nose have expression? Have you ever turned up your nose at something distasteful? We say that a large nose is a "Roman" nose, a witch has a hooked nose, a boxer has a flat nose.

There is a step down from the brow to the narrowest part of the nose, right between the eyes. The side of the nose is also the steepest at this point. Think of the nose as a long wedge shaped form attached to the forehead by a smaller wedge shaped form with side planes attached to the front of the face.

The mouth is the most flexible of all the features. With every word and emotion the mouth can change its size and shape. The upper lip usually projects above the lower one. The upper lip is generally divided into three sections, the bottom lip in two sections. The center portion of the upper lip is directly under the nose in a small "U" shape, then two wings on either side. The upper lip is flatter and more angular than the bottom lip, which is fuller and rounder.

Ears can project out from the side of the head or lay flat. The ear is somewhat saucer shaped. The center section resembles a bowl. The outside rim of the ear is curved to act as a scoop for collecting sound waves. The flap that protects the ear canal opening catches light and contrasts with the shadowed recesses of the ear. The ear slants the same as the nose. The ear has its own unique identity and needs to be drawn with the same care you give to the rest of the features.

I hope this gives you some insight into the complexity of painting a portrait. Your accurate drawing is essential when creating a portrait. Next time you look at your spouse, begin to notice some of these special features in their face. They sure look different now don't they? Next month we will evaluate the values and planes of the face. God Bless and have a wonderful time drawing.

John Gutcher
 

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