A pencil portrait drawing from life starts with the “striking” of the arabesque. Striking the arabesque means drawing the outer contour of the head with the correct proportions, shape, and the appropriate symmetry.
Once you have drawn a reasonably correct arabesque it is time to place the main landmarks of the face. That means that we will correctly locate the most important points of the head. These points will then be used as references for mapping out the rest of thefacefeatures.
Here is something that may help you with this undertaking: work with your eyes somewhat out-of-focus. This is called seeing with a “soft eye”. Somehow this makes it easier to correctly determine shapes and proportions. It also helps you to repress the fixed notions we all have of certain objects.
Let us assume that we are working from a three-quarter head profile.
* The Brow Ridge – is the first important landmark. To locate the brow ridge you must first take your best guess at where you think it is then to check it by sighting.
Note that to teach your eye it is better to first guess lengths, angles, etc. and verify them second. There is nothing to gain from pre-measuring.
Sighting means to use your pencil with locked arm and marking lengths along the pencil with your thumb and index finger (starting from the tip down) and one eye closed.
So then, first sight from the bottom of the chin to a point on the brow ridge (just choose a random point on the ridge, but once chosen you should stick with it).
Now raise your pencil straight up so that your thumb is on your point on the brow ridge and note where your pencil point is. It should be a small distance above the top of the face. Mark on your drawing where you can best place that point above the head. This point is called the “check point”.
Note that whenever there is a choice, you should always measure the smallest distance because doing so tends to be more precise.
Your point on the brow ridge should, if it was placed correctly, be exactly halfway between the bottom of the chin and your check point. If it isn’t – then changecorrect the position of your brow ridge.
* Jaw Hinge – Now you can determine the width of the face. In the three-quarter view the hinge of the jaw is a critical landmark. Again, take your best guess then check by sighting horizontally from the jaw hinge to the far edge of the cheek bone and vertically relating that measure from the bottom of the chin.
* Top Nasal Bone – Since we have already established the brow ridge we now only have to estimate a small distance to fix the top of the nasal bone. If you placed the jaw hingecorrectly, it should equal the distance from bottom of the chin to the nasal bone. If you’re off a bit, then correct the placement of the hinge of the jaw. Again, assume that the smallest distance estimated is the correct one.
Now that these primarylandmarks are placed you can further work out the arabesque. I find it best to resolve only the back, least intricate, part of the face at this early stage.
* Facial Angle – Finally, you need to ascertain the facial angle which is the center line of the face. Draw a slightly curving line from the middle of the mental tubercle up through the center of the brow ridge.
The precise positioning of the facial angle is very significant. You have to feel your way through this since as there is no way to accurately measure it.
Once the facial angle is drawn continue resolving the arabesque carefully observing the shape of the mouth area, the forehead, and all the other elements that are expressed in the shape of the arabesque.
With this, we have drawn all the basic landmarks that will help us to map the rest of the features such as the ears and teeth.
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Remi Engels is a pencil portrait artist and oil painter and expert drawing teacher. See his work at Remi’s Pencil Portrait Web Site.
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