How to draw faces: female
Here's a quick tutorial on how to draw a face. (Also see our male face tutorial).
Please check out these tips before you read any further:
(If you've done one of my tutorials before you don't have to check the tips again).
I used Photoshop to draw this picture, but don't worry, it's the same on paper with a pencil and eraser. Doing it on paper is easier actually! Get your, pencil, paper, eraser and ruler ready.
First you'll need a reference picture. I found this one on Fotosearch.com.
You'll note the face is oval shaped. We are going to use that as our base shape, a big oval. Please note that faces are not round! Unless the face is on a soccer ball...
Here's the oval. The top horizontal line basically cuts the oval in half and gives you an indication of where the eyes are going to go. The bottom horizontal line cuts the bottom half in half again and gives an indication of where the nose is going to go. (Use tricks like this when you study any picture. Proportion is your ally!)
Step 1. Now draw the oval on your paper. Cut your oval in half horizontally and vertically. Add the bottom horizontal line. (Feel free to use a ruler, but don't press too hard – we are going to erase these guide lines later. If we don't it will look as if she's going for plastic surgery... which is NOT what we are going for.)
Step 2. Add a guideline for the mouth, halfway between the nose and chin. This is for the lower lip.
Place the nose. Refer to your reference picture to get an idea of what the bottom part of the nose looks like. It has a half circle in the middle and two skewed half-circles at the sides. Don't worry about detail at this stage.
Step 3. Use the nose as a guideline for your eyes. The outer edges of your nose (the two skew half-circles) indicates where the inner corners of the eyes go. Draw guidelines for yourself.
Tips:
1. Eyes: When you draw your eyes keep in mind that the space between the eyes should be wide enough to fit in another eye.
2. Irises: When drawing your irises remember that the whole iris is rarely visible (unless the subject saw The Terminator show up at his front door). In this case the top part of the iris is behind the upper eyelid.
3. Eyebrows: Even though one eyebrow is lifted, both eyebrows have the same starting height on the inside (the points closest to the nose). To get an idea of how high the eyebrow should be add another imaginary eye above the left eye – that should give you more or less the correct height for the brow.
Step 4. Add the mouth. Use your previous guideline as an indicator for the bottom lip. The upper lip's line is about halfway between the lower lip and the nose. To work out how wide the mouth should be draw two lines from the inside of the irises vertically downwards. (In some people this guideline should go to the center of the iris/pupil).
Step 5. So... at this stage we have a freaky-looking puppet on our hands. Chucky is coming to get you! But in all seriousness, the hard part is over, believe it or not. Now we just prettify the picture, add details – all the fun stuff.
Erase your guide lines and give your face a shape. Pay attention to the cheekbones and the shape of the chin. This lady has a strong chin, but try not to make it too strong, otherwise you'll end up with a man.
Step 6. Clean up the lines. Fix the mouth and nose shape, add the inner corners of the eyes.
Step 7. Finish up the eyes.
-
- 1. Clean up the lines.
2. Add lower lid.
3. Fill in the pupil and eyelashes
4. Add highlights and some detail on the iris.
Here's a quick process animation:
Step 8. Do the same with the other eye. Your face is basically done, but to give it depth it's a good idea to add some shading. I will do a tutorial on shading at some point, but if you know how to shade, please feel free to add some shading to your drawing.
You have reached the end of this tutorial. To improve your drawing skills act like shampoo and Rinse and Repeat! Practice, practice, practice and you'll be in league with the pros before you know it!
Here's a hair tutorial that goes with this. And here's an eye tutorial some may find helpful. Face from the side tutorial.
Admin note: I found a cool online course called Pencil Drawing Made Easy that specializes in taking beginners and teaching them how to draw in a realistic style. The course itself is online video, so you can access it from anywhere in the world. I will do a full review of the course soon, but for now I just want you to know that I think it's definitely worth checking out, and you're sure to get better at drawing if you follow the lessons. I'm already learning a lot from it! The course teaches you how to draw ANYTHING realistically in pencil - from onions to hands to hyper realistic portraits. The teacher explains everything really well, so you'll understand exactly what you're doing and why. Click here to check it out!
About The Author:
BarakiEl's favourite things to do include creating digital art, listening to music, playing computer games and spending time with her husband. She works from home as a freelance desktop publisher, colourist and illustrator.
(Read more posts by BarakiEl)
Posted in: Art by BarakiEl on May 17, 2010 @ 11:57 am
Tags: drawing a face, drawing faces, how to draw a face, how to draw a person, how to draw faces
I've never been able to draw females... they always end up looking like males. I think I now know why. 🙂
And why is that I wonder ? 🙂 the jaw thing ?
Yup, I always make the jaws too blocky and wide.
that is wuird because everye time i try to draw a male it alwys looks like a female
Mee 2.. hehe..... same like u.. male lyk female
My person looks totally ... ehhh . 🙁
Aww, don't worry too much. Just keep practicing! Draw another and another and another 🙂 Each time try to pinpoint what looks weird and improve on it the following attempt 🙂 You can do eet!
good but could be better 🙂
Hi BarakiEI ,
I am a teacher writing a Beauty therapy leaflet for students in year 11 (16-17)doing Distance Education. Would I be able to use this face drawing to get them to do examples of eye makeup? I would do an acknowledgement beneath each picture if you like : ShareNoesis( BarakiEI 2010)
Regards, Margaret mcdonald
wow... i drew THIS? what an improvement. geez my other work compared 2 dis is is trash..
Congrats! Do you have a link where I can see your sketch? 🙂
thank you so much for this link i have never been able to draw faces and now i have lol needs a bit improvement but still a good sketch thanks do you have anymore links like this
Thanks I used to suck at drawing chick faces this really helped me thanks
mine looked more like a drag queen then a girl
Cheers that very helpful you should try animals or cityies lol
Ezio auildtore.
it looks like garbage when its finished to me
It might not look great the first few times, but keep on practicing. You'll get it in the end. It takes some will-power and endurance, but you'll get there 🙂 GL
I've looked at several face drawing sites, but this one has brought everything together in a clear, concise & easy to understand way. I certainly feel inspired to draw now. Thanks
Frank (London UK)
I am glad you found this helpful 🙂
mine looked like some kind of bratz/barbie doll...
that sounds nice - i like how bratz and barbie dolls look, lol
(i would however be worried if you made this comment on the male tutorial, haha)
Okay,mine looked like a freaky, monster puppet on steriods. But i would like all you people reading this that this guy/girl gave me horrible instructions it was me, because actually these instructions were easy to follow i probably just f***ked it up because i freaking suck. So...well...umm...goodbye!
Don't be so hard on yourself! I'm sure it looks fine. No one gets it right the first time, or the second, or the third. It takes practice to get better. So just look at what looks weird and try again - paying special attention to the weird part next time. You can do it 🙂 Believe in yourself.
I meant you know that this gave girl DIDN'T give me horrible instructions. Sorry f***ked up...again!
hahaha
Okay... yeah i keep messing up so just know that this guy/girl didn't give me horrible instructions It is just me i am f***king up so much right now! Sorry...for the second time...
I'm going to go now... Goodbye!
cheers ^^
mine sucked afterwards! it looked like a.... a weirdo
Don't worry if it doesn't look great the first time. The key is practice. Look at what looks wrong and pay special attention to that part next time 🙂 That's how we get better!
THE SOCCER FAE IZ CEUT!!!!!! FRUM TAMANTHA!
cool i shall start drawing like that
although im just nine
Good luck 🙂
my one looks rubbish
Just practice, practice 🙂 You can do eet!
mine picture came out looking like a wierd whatchamacallit with eyes! it would be a lot easier if you had a video and we could pause it and we would be able to see how it is done. other than that it was very fun! (JUST MAKE IT EASIER)
Which parts did you find too hard? I would gladly like to make it easier and would love to do videos, tho I;m not quite sure how to actually make videos. I'll have to look into it! Thank you for commenting 🙂 And don't worry if your pic doesn't look like mine, or even if it does not look like the original - the key is practice. Get the method down, become comfortable with your pen and paper and create your own style. 🙂
I always have a hard time with the shape of the face. I also seem to overdetail the eyes.
I see the problem. I'll try to give some advice on that issue. If you have a look at step 5, note the way I changed the plain oval. The changes were minor, actually. Working from the top, imagine where the cheekbones should be, then taper the lines gently inwards toward the jaw, and then toward the chin - taper the lines inward more sharply. I think the trickiest part here, with a frontal view, is to have one side of the face mirror the other. If you don't quite succeed, you can always use hair to cover the parts that look weird 🙂
In what way do you over-detail? I'm not sure there is such a thing as over-detailing, lol. I also tend to put more effort into the eyes, because for me that's the focal point. Most artists seem to have a part in a picture that they tend to pay more attention to than the rest.
I hope this helps.
Thanks, that helped a lot with shaping the face. I guess what I mean is that I darken the lines to much around the eye, and that I'm not quite sure how to draw eyelashes. I've been trying to draw a female face about 5 times now, and I can see some major improvement! I also erase a lot which becomes very frustrating when your trying to draw an eye's or lips.
I did a quick tutorial based on this question. Hope it helps.
The main thing I can recommend based on how you described the problem is to not press hard on the pencil, use soft lines. Try not to darken anything until you are completely satisfied with it, draw cautiously, but confidently.
It's wonderful that you are actually practising! And I'm so glad that you are able to see the improvement! 🙂 If you upload your sketches anywhere I'd love to see 'em. Also, congrats on being able to tell where the problems are in your previous sketches. That's one of the best ways to improve - self-crit and fix it next time 🙂 Good job!!!
Thanx for this. I suck at drawing faces that aren't from observation but this will help me draw faces whenever I want :). I found this link late at night so here is my start llz (i plan to fix it up & add features of course) http://i55.tinypic.com/jh9fme.jpg <--link
Aww, that is lovely! The eye is beautifully detailed. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
p.s. I changed the eyes & nose ... & eyebrows from your original haha sry
All good, looks great 🙂
mine is kinda good well not the eyes
great lol :0 thanks alot now i kno wat 2 do
Can you do one on how to draw if the person is looking to the side??? But this really helped thanks!!!
I will do one like that in the future. Thank you for the comment and suggestion 🙂
huhuhuhuhuhhhhh
thanks you.
this is my most successful female face yet though it still needs practice. I particularly liked the eyes but i can't get them right.
Here's a link to an eye tutorial I did, maybe it will help. I'm glad you found the female face tutorial useful. I'm sure you'll get the eyes right, don't give up! You can do it!
omg! the one I drawed looks like a dragqueen. I think I really need to practise
lol, well at least it looked semi-female? With more practice you'll get it right! 🙂 Don't give up!
omg! myne looks so bad
1:the eyes look funny
2: the nose is ugly
3: the lips are strange
4: the eye brows are silly
5:the eyelashes are so ugly
luv BG
I would recommend you try again, but pick one thing that looked off (like the eyes) and focus on getting that right. If you try and fix everything at the same time, it might get overwhelming. Good luck and ty for commenting 🙂
Thanks for this! Mine looks absolutely nothing like the original, however, it *does* look like a female human face, which I consider quite the achievement! The nose and mouth are a little off, but I will keep trying. 🙂
I'm glad you found the tutorial useful. Yeap, practice is the key, few people get it on the first try. The main thing is that it looks female, lol 🙂 Good luck!
very informative can see where i went wrong, will practise,the face i'm drawing is turned to the right and makes things a bit more complicate, but won't give up.
Ah yes, I understand. It's a bit more complicated when the face is turned. At least the same principles apply for the location of the nose and mouth (when one looks at the horizontal guide lines), but as for the position of the eyes, nose and mouth in relation to the sides of the face, well that's the hard part. If you have a reference I'm sure you will be able to do it! 🙂
Well, mine looks like Jennifer Lopez :D, yeah, i thought the world is my oyster now and tried to search for another pic, but i guess i´ll just have to draw it again and again.
I kinda feel in need of techniques that help to make the drawing look more realistic..the shades and everything..
That's good to hear! lol
I understand what you mean. Shading is basically just coloring from dark to light with one colour, but there is some technique involved, so I'll do a tutorial on it some time. Mean time keep practicing! Fotosearch.com has some great pictures, you could look for more faces on there 🙂
mine looked really outstanding, seriously
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 :):) 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Good to hear! 🙂
This has helped me alot !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've never been able to drag a face -- male or female -- before. It never turned out right. With this, I was able to draw something that resembled a woman. It's defiantly the best site I've ever used! I'm going to keep on practicing! 🙂
That's great! I'll put up more tutorials later on, like a face from the side, an so on. 🙂
I do not get how you got your eyes so good. mine are horrable.
Here is a link to a quick tutorial on how to draw eyes. I hope it helps.
its a great help im only 11 years old but i love drawing like most kids its great pass time and its great fir me too do in the summer holidays
This is very helpful, thanks, my first attempt at something like this was with my first crush and it was horrible lol now i know how to draw good faces. The only problem i had was the hair, i think my drawing was ok but could've been better, im going to keep drawing now, it's one of my favorite hobbies but i lost the essence for it like 5 years ago, thanks again for the inspiration.
This site is so great and helpful! I have a little trouble with getting the over-all shape of the face. Could you give me any suggestions? Thanks a lot!
I'm glad you found it useful. Well, I would just suggest that you study facial shapes and practice, but that's not really helpful, lol. So here's an idea, have a look at this hair tutorial and see if you can use a hairstyle to disguise the face shape, or at least the parts you don't like. Like if the problem is the cheekbones, then use long hair or a bob to hide the cheek shape.
(If that's not really what you are looking for all I can say is a face is a rectangular and oval shape that tapers off to the bottom toward the jaw and then tapers in steeply toward the chin. It really is just observation and reproduction.)
Good luck, hope this helped. 🙂
Thanks alot!!!! Im a medicine students, but I love drawing as a hobby I was more into cartoons, nature etc but not realistic drawing, and let me say my drawing turned out soooooo good Im so thankful for this I truly love this!!! thanks a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<3
That is great to hear! Keep up the great work! 🙂
thanks a lot for this drawing tutiorial, its my frustration to draw but unfortunately it ended so miserable...but i still keep on practicing until i get it perfectly..hopefully i can do it! thanks again and God bless:)
Don't worry if it doesn't look great the first time. Each time you draw it, it will improve, so just keep going and fix the things that look wrong next time. And most important: Remember to enjoy yourself 🙂
i dont really work on faces but i tried it looks UGLY i sometimes just draw random stuff but im tring new things but it looks weird i have to much eyelashes the lips are to big and the hair doesnt even look like hair and if i try again and it looks the same i will quit i dont know if i should quit now or keep going
You shouldn't give up. Try and pinpoint what exactly looks wrong, like the "eye lashes are too much", next time draw less, if the lips are too big, next time make them a bit smaller and always refer back to the example (your reference), use measurements. You can do it, it just takes a little practice. And remember to enjoy the process! Otherwise what's the use? 🙂
oh if anyone wants to comment on my last message go on and comment i really want to read someones comment thank you
Hi i just did this and my person looks a lot better!!! i've been drawing people for awhile but it never turned out that great but now... haha thank you!!! 😀
That's great! Keep it up 🙂
mine waz horrible
the face was too lonh and uneven
the nose is huge
eyes are just WTF
The lips r fat
Try again and pay special attention to those parts! You can do it! 🙂
i did it but just now the eyes are to big and fat why can't i do it i just have a hard time doing the eyes cause their like weird i can't do this but i want to be a artist when i grow up but if i give up i'll never get it right
uh.....my person looks......uh....OK i guess???
i dont know how you draw that good but it looks simple
mine looks like a man
I have not seen your picture, but a common mistake people make is to make the jaw too blocky. The female jaw tends to be round, small, while the male jaw is blocky, angular and wide. Another feminine feature is thin eye brows, beware of making those too bushy. Bushy, thick eyebrows is a distinct male characteristic. Also if you drew the neck in, it might be too thick. Maybe you could try again and pay special attention to these areas? Anyway, good luck! 🙂
Wow, mine turned out pretty good. Even the shading isn't too bad. Thanks for the great tutorial!
That's good to hear. Keep it up!
i have never been able to draw, let alone a face, the one i've done is almost presentable so now i know i just have to practice practice practice .. thank you
omgg! heckss nawl!! brah! brah!
ogl,lcjhxgazXSTDJY57DUJVCQQG5FU7FCsdfgbv
this look so cool but show us how to draw a smaller face and body that would fit in a small piece of paper
LOL (notsureiftroll)
nice website you did really cool
My person looks rubbish -_- ehhheehh
Ok mine just looked plain scary. And im not quite sure if this will get any better even with practice......
It will, it will! I suggest getting some inspiration before you try again. Look at some of your favourite models or art pieces with people in them and study the eye shape, jaw line, etc. You can do eet!
i love this thanks im in art and i cant draw a face but now i can i made guide lines but the eyes are a little off but gracias!
You're welcome. Now you know what to look out for next time (eyes). Good luck and remember to have fun 🙂
omg ive just drew it and it looks readiculus hahaha
wow this tutorial is great ive done the best face drawing i have ever done with the help
That's good to hear! 🙂
i like the way that girls eye lashes flare out. it definately gives it a very woman like feature
Yeap, that is a very womanly thing. Too bad men have eye lashes too, 'cos it complicates things when you draw 'em! lol
i did it i draw it
mine tooo it was relli ugly
Mine looks like a monkey! 🙁
Pay attention to the parts that look odd and then try drawing it again, taking extra care with those areas. That way you'll learn to critique yourself. Hope that helps 🙂
awesome- wish i could sketch as good as that:) mine does not even vaguelly resemble a human!!
Mine came out weird the eyes were crossed and the nose was to low 🙁
Excellent! You know what's wrong with it, so do it again and pay attention to those areas! 🙂
This tutorial is awesome! I love the humour thrown in! 🙂
yay! 😀
Mine sucked, i dont think the site worked to well
Oh and i dont want a reply from anyone of "comfort" seriously whats with that, so lame
Im not the same one as above pervious anonymus'
i can finally draw a face (thank god this has spell check)
this is so cool 🙂
:p this is the easyist
yay i can draw a face whoot whoot!!!!!!!!!
booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 🙁 🙁
mah heads shape turned out horrid. it belonged in a trashcan. i no ur goin to say keep practicing tho, barakiel.
Keep practicing!!!
(you must be psychic! 😉 )
What......I can never ever do that
Yes, you can! Anyone can draw, it just takes practice, motivation and more practice. 🙂
Very nice tutorial! My first drawing turned out kind of lame, but the second one turned out splendid. When will you have a shading tutorial? May I also add, I could not draw for the life of me, but your precise explanation helped me out really well. My daughter even likes my drawing. She used to ask me 'What in the world is that?' No longer! Thanks to you.
Glad I could help 🙂 I plan on doing many more tutorials, including shading and drawing a face for the side. But due to personal problems I've had to put it on hold. Hopefully things will quiet down in the near future. Keep up the great work! 🙂
when i draw the face, i can never get the eyes the same shape or across from each other...also i can never get the nostrils just right...the lips i am getting better at...but this little ideal is a big help...i love to draw angels...and having the right angles for the eyes and nose is really an important part of drawing angels....thank you for this little helper.,,,
I'm glad I could help a little bit. Don't hesitate to use a ruler as a guide to get the eyes the same height, to measure their width and heights and compare it against each another. I even use my pencil to measure. It can be tricky! Happy angel drawing!
that helped so much!!!!!
I'm glad 🙂
thanks!!!! it reaally helped with my self portrits
Glad I could help.
I will stick to what I normally do but you really helped me with the face shape! I am good at drawing but I can't do face shapes
I'll be sure to try I loveeeeeeeeee art. 😉 I just needed pointers on the eyes eyebrows and shape of the face. It's never just right. Can you also do a tutorial on the entire person?
Male body tutorial:
Female body tutorial ("The technical team" is working on restoring that page, so please check it out later.)
Good luck! 🙂
Hey is there any tutorial in which you draw the face with a horizontal incline for the face.I mean like a face with a a left profile ,not looking straight.
There isn't one YET. I'll make that one next. Ty for interest 🙂
Do you think you can email me a tutorial on a picture i send you?? desperate need of help to draw!
I mailed you the tips. Let us know how it went 🙂
GoIng to try it
Let us know how it went.
OMG! I tried it and it turned out beautifully! IT'S AMAZING! Thank you so much!
You are most welcome. Keep up the good work 🙂
that is stoped.
why u fuckng r awesome at drawing? u have skill i don't
dam it!!
mine lookes like a hor strippin lesbian!!!!!!
(is the lady in the photo lesbian?)
Thanks a lot! I liked your tutorial. This was the first time I've been able to draw a realistic face! I drew (this came about accidentally) the evil step mother of snow white. 😀 Definitely an accident. But I'm happy that it turned out as something rather than nothing. Thanks again, I'll continue to use this as I practice. 🙂
lol! Oh well that is Something as you say! Practice makes perfect. Good luck.
it really helped me with my drawing skills. It looks so realistic! I would recommend this site to a lot of people
Aww ty!
this helped a ton!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good to hear!
l think it is very good because it did help me for doning my home work on faces
That's good to hear!
well... mine turned out like justin beiber/ an old man 🙁
lol! Let's pretend that's what you went for! 😉
lol when i finished it came out like fiona the ogre from shrek but i love how you did it it looks great i have improved but no quite maybe if i practice a little harder i can finally get this, i think its because i always make the face round and i never shade that makes it look cartoonish by the way you just made a new fan thank you for existing!LOL! you rock!artists rock!together we all rock:D
We sure do! 😛 Glad I could be of help. Just keep on practicing!
by the way check out dragoart.com its an amazing website for children to adults
a i find it to come out better if u slow down catch your self and guys catch your self when u get a little happy with your art it will make want to go fast wich will screw up your work same for girls
i love art and always have since i was 4
i have drawn every person i know a picture
I LOVE ART