Face profile - amazing shapes that can convey the whole essence of the individual, create a sketch of the whole human appearance. But this is a painstaking and complicated matter. Therefore, to draw a profile of the face, a novice artist needs to know how to do it.
The relationship between human race and the shape of his head
Being interested in how to draw a face in profile, the artist should first determine the type of shape of the head of the person whom he chose as a nature. Often this fact depends on the race of the individual whom the draftsman is about to portray. What is this expressed in?
Facial angle
This angle is determined between imaginary lines, which are auxiliary in the figure, the horizontal and the line connecting the point directly under the nose with the protrusion of the eyebrows.
For Caucasians, this angle is almost right, for Mongoloids sharper, somewhere around 75 degrees. The most acute angle is the Negroid, it approaches 60 degrees.
Neck shape
In Caucasians the shape of the nape is rounded, almost close to the correct circumference. In Mongoloids, it is more elongated, resembles an oval. In Negroids, the nape in profile has the shape of an even more elongated oval than even in Mongoloids.
Although racial affiliation may not always serve as an accurate criterion, these data are fairly generalized. Individual traits are inherent in each individual person: there may be a European with a significantly sloping forehead, and an Uzbek with a Caucasian shape of the skull. Negroids can also be different: the shape of the head of representatives of one nationality of Negroids can be approximated to the Caucasoid, and for another nationality, the shape of the skull resembling a Mongoloid will be characteristic.
Master class: “We draw a profile of the child’s face”
In order to portray something correctly, an artist must not only have the skill of drawing, but also carefully study the structure of what he is trying to convey to the viewer. For example, when portraying the profile of a child’s face, a draftsman needs to know that in children the front angle differs from that in an adult. In particular, in a boy of the Caucasian race, this angle will not be straight, but obtuse, that is, the line connecting the point of the eyebrow protrusion to the point under the nose with the horizontal forms an obtuse angle.
- Before you begin to portray a child's face in profile (pencil drawing), you need to make auxiliary constructions. First draw a circle.
- Then they draw three horizontal lines, they should not be absolutely parallel to each other, but the angle of inclination upward is very small. The lower line is the tangent circle, and the upper one is the diameter.
- Now you need to build vertical lines: one is the diameter, and the second is the line of the front angle, component with a vertical diameter of 115 degrees (its value depends on the boy’s age and his individual characteristics). The line of the obverse angle is the tangent circle - this is important.
- You need to draw a profile line so that the chin and forehead lie on the line of the facial angle, the ear is located between the upper and middle auxiliary horizontal, the nose is between the middle and lower.
- The eye is depicted at approximately the same level as the ear.
- The auxiliary lines should be removed with an eraser, and the main contours should be outlined with a pencil. You can finish the hair, put shadows on the face - it already depends on the artist’s skill and the goals set for him.
Girl profile
You need to draw a female face profile in almost the same way as a male one, only the shape of the nose should be more elegant. Auxiliary constructions are made like constructions for the image of a child’s profile: a circle, three horizontal lines, three vertical ones. Moreover, the extreme vertical and upper horizontal are the diameters, and the lower horizontal and the extreme vertical opposite to the diameter are tangent circles.
It should be noted that the vertical tangent is the line of the front angle. And if the artist set himself the task of depicting the profile of a girl of European appearance, then this angle should be as close as possible to the straight line. The younger the girl they draw, the dumber the front angle will be.
Nose line in human profile
You can conduct such an experiment: make a person count, and then quickly, without hesitation, give an answer to the question: “What is the part of the face!” 98% of respondents will answer that this is a nose.
This is because this part of the face determines almost the entire image. You can use your cosmetics to enlarge your eyes, give a different shape to the eyebrows, draw lips, but changing your nose without surgery is almost impossible.
It is not surprising that it is precisely the image of the nose in the profile that artists attach the greatest importance to. The nasal line is also associated with the nationality of a person. Physiognomists argue that facial features, and nose in particular, can tell more about a person’s character than he knows about himself.
For example, a long nose gives a person a conservative, highly intelligent, often arrogant. And open, sociable and friendly people have short noses.
The pointed tips of the nose indicate a vengeful person, with sloth. The long tip of the nose, hanging over the upper lip, betrays a traitor, a hypocrite and a liar - physiognomists say so. However, as in all statements, generalized and approximate results are also given here, and people who do not meet the specified characteristics are often found among individuals.
Drawing a face in profile, each artist should be attentive, study the structure of the human skull, know the rules of his image - this article is devoted to this.