Figure Drawing For Dummies
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If you want to build your figure drawing confidence, put down the drawing tools and use the freehand method to draw the basic structure of the head. Just follow these basic steps:

  1. Draw an oval shape that resembles an upside-down egg.

  2. Draw a horizontal line and a vertical line to form a cross that divides the oval evenly.

  3. Place two small circles along the horizontal guideline for the center of the eyes and lightly draw an arc above each circle; the width of the arc shouldn’t be more than 1⁄5 of the width of the head.

  4. Draw a slightly larger arc above each eye to indicate the eyebrow; make sure that each arc slightly angles down toward the center of the guidelines.

  5. Draw a small concave arc for the nose so that the bottom of the arc is about halfway between the horizontal guideline and the bottom of the chin; make the width of the arc about one eye width.

  6. Indicate the mouth with a line halfway between the bottom of the nose and the bottom of the chin; place the line symmetrically along the vertical guideline.

  7. Draw a C shape on each side of the head for each ear; the top of the ear shouldn’t go past the top of the eye and the bottom of the ear shouldn’t go past the nose.

  8. Draw two short parallel lines for the neck, starting each line from the bottom of each C ear shape; the length of each line should be half of the length of the head.

About This Article

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About the book author:

Kensuke Okabayashi is an award-winning professional artist. His work can be seen in everything from comic books to graphic novels to advertising storyboards. Okabayashi has taught illustration courses at Mercer College of New Jersey.

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