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Ethel Smyth by John Singer Sargent, chalk drawing, 1901.
Adapted from an article by Dan Gheno |
Facial features can be used and contorted to tell us all
kinds of things in a drawing. But you don't always have to think up dramatic
scenarios for a drawing. Ideas can be subtle, too. Like using the mere tilt of
the head to say something about the figure you are drawing.
It sounds simple, but there are a few easy drawing tips to
think about when making a line drawing or contour drawing of figure with a
tilted head. First, remember to tilt your measurement guidelines running along
the cant of the head. For example, if you want to locate the position of the
mouth in relation to the iris, draw a guideline that slants with the tilt of
the head.
Measuring the position of the eye? Mark a tilted line up
from the outside of the crease of the nose toward the inside of the eye.
If you really want to challenge yourself with drawing
exercises dealing with the human figure and face, try to draw the head from
below. Watch out for making the face too big-truncating the chin and widening
the space between the nose and the eyes.
To prevent this, just think egg. Yep, remember the head's
structure is similar to that of an egg. The chin curves toward you, so it is
going to be much larger than you'd think; and the forehead curves away, making
it appear like the head recedes sharply at the hairline. Meanwhile the nose
goes in the air and seems to jut out in front of the eye in a three-quarter
view.
