How do you draw faces?

[Lensing]

Do you construct before you do the outlines?
Do you have a step by step process that you follow
or do you use a method like Loomis or the Reilly method?
How did you learn it and what are the difficulties for you
when you draw faces?

I´m also interested in seeing examples from your comics
or step by step examples or templates that you use.

The background of my question is that I´m teaching kids how
to draw. They are 10 to 14 years old. One thing that I observed
is that some kids leave out some facial features like not drawing
ears (very common), not drawing noses (also very common) and
being very focused on eyes (giant eyes). I´m currently putting together
the material for the next course (how to draw a face) and I´m collecting
ideas how to make it easier for the kids and what people are interested
in when they learn how to draw faces

[JoshRaed]

I use the loomis method, giving the character whatever jawline they're supposed to have, then add a nose line, then I draw two lines, the top one bigger and thicker, and then an oval for the eye, and I add a single line for the mouth and sometimes an under lip line.

[pablo-costa]

Somewhat similar, how do you draw shoulders and then move on to the arms without making them look like minecraft golem arms

[BoomerZ]

I always start with shapes and refine from there. I draw cartoony for my comics but the principles carry over for more realistic faces.

[Lensing]

I love videos like that, very helpful

[kyupol]

I do an outline first. Circle then fill in face little by little...

But oftentimes tho, I skip steps..

[enderdragon]

I have a gag strip that updates VERY frequently (I'm aiming for daily updates, believe it or not), so for that reason I have to draw as quickly as possible, so I pretty much always draw lineart first.

To draw heads, I draw a circle, then I draw a half-oval thingy underneath the circle for the jawline, and then I draw the ears, the hair, and the body. After that I erase any extra lines, fill in with colors, and then draw the eyes and facial features.

Weird technique, I know, but hey. It's my own way of doing it.

[Leyelle]

My way probably won't help much, since I'm still learning myself, but I draw the outline of the face shape. Then I'll add eyes first, nose, and mouth, in that order. After that I'll adjust cheek bones and jaw lines to try to make all the angles look more natural, then I adjust the eyes to make sure they're spaced properly and proportionate to each other (if not real human anatomy) and make any needed edits to nose and mouth. Ears usually come last right before I start drawing hair, since they'll have a weighing on how the hairstyle looks

[Lensing]

That helps me a lot actually. It´s always interesting that people have totally different approaches when
they draw faces. There will only be a few kids with drawing experience in the course

[Lensing]

What do you mean by outline first?

I usually just use the term "outline" when it´s the final outline and no sketch

[sophialyn]

HELLO! I love faces and character work!
Here’s a speed drawing:

Worst Case Scenario comic on Instagram: "Pinterest reference w/ these...

I learned best when watching others so I hope my work can help you!

Few other tips:
1. References! Tracing is okay for practice just don’t post/claim as your own!
2. Don’t put too much pressure on your tool(pencil, pen, etc.) you’ll be more okay with making mistakes you can erase
3. Draw what you see before stylizing!
4. Don’t make people “pretty”! Sounds weird but only drawing aspects of a face that you personally find more attractive will limit your growth and curse you with some same face syndrome!

Hope this helps! I’m happy to answer any questions!

[llobucervallince]

oh you know...

[kyupol]

Stick figure first. And/or very rough chicken scratch sketch. My hands are very loose when doing it. Polar opposite of being steady.

[Lensing]

Thanks for the answer, yeah that´s sketch before outline for me.
I never did a sketch until I turned 40, always final outline first.
My brother still draws like that

[kyupol]

Interesting how we have different terms... I was taught to draw very rough sketch in art class. Only later on when I started cutting corners

[Lensing]

It´s the better way to do it how you described it, first sketch, then outlines and maybe
only outlines one time you don´t need the sketch anymore.

I just didn´t have a clue about drawing theory and never learned it, that´s why I always
skipped the sketch phase and I did my first sketch before outline at the age of 40

Kim Jung Gi was drawing without sketching but he probably was doing sketches before
he learned to do the outlines without the sketches. But I´m not sure because he probably
was very good at the start

[lizardlullabye]

(1) Roughly draw the head shape
(2) Outline where the character is looking -- can add jaw, ears, hairline and/or the bisecting line showing the middle of the face.
(3) Add the eyebrows, eyes, nose and mouth in whatever order you like.

But honestly, I pretty much draw the same simple face where the nose, eyes and ears are in roughly the same place while the shape changes. So there's not any need to complete the same steps each time -- I don't. You can start with the nose and beard, the snarling mouth, big eyes or whatever :)and draw the rest of face from there. Mixed results below.