It should come as no surprise that if you want to draw really amazing characters you have to know the anatomy of the figure. This is especially true when it comes to the portrait. Humans are designed to seek out faces and itβs incredibly jarring when a portrait doesnβt look quite right.
You can forgive a lot of anatomical mistakes on the figure but the same doesnβt hold for the face. You need to make sure that you draw it well.
Most teachers would teach you the proportions of the skull and how to draw them, but the ideal measurements of the head will only take you so far. What you want is to make that knowledge flexible so you can mold the skull into any structure. That way, you can create the characters that youβre visualizing in your head (no pun intended).
Get a feel for proportion
Here are three of the most basic head poses that youβll see: the front, profile (or side view), and three quarter. What you want to observe as you look at these skulls are the three masses that stack on top of each other:
- The forehead
- The cheekbone
- The jaw
When you think of the skull structure like this, itβs a lot easier to break down the individual components. You donβt have to worry about proportion. The unique pieces of the skull simply play within the areas that youβve designated in each slice. For example, youβll never make a major screw-up like drawing the eyes where the jaw should be. You know those are two different masses of the skull structure.
If youβre still worried that proportion will be your arch enemy, know that youβll get a feel for it over time. Itβs the same way you get a feel for driving a car or balancing on a bike. With enough practice,Β proportions will become second nature.Β Itβs understanding how these forms move in space that will trip you up the most. Thankfully, thereβs a solution for that too.
Add complexity for flexibility
The only way to become extremely flexible with your knowledge is to test it in a variety of ways. If youβre drawing skulls, draw from all sorts of different perspectives and positions. Turning the skull and trying to draw it from below or above will test your knowledge of those forms. The more you understand, the easier it will be to draw a portrait in any pose you desire.
There are some unique poses when learning about the skull on its own. Youβre not going to see the underside of the skull when you start drawing a real head because the neck will be there. Itβs still good practice for visualizing turning forms in your head. And youβll get more familiar with how each slice of the skull works in concert with the others.
Proportions are overrated
The reason I focus on learning the masses of the skull over proportions is that I donβt think theyβre necessary. George Bridgman said it best:
βThere are many conceptions of measuring, scientific and ideal, and they all differ. If given proportions were used, even though these proportions were the ideal average, they would result in a drawing without character.β
If you use the same proportions every single time and you master them perfectly, your faces will all look the same. It would be a drawing without character. There would be no life to it.
Itβs the same way I feel about using shortcuts for straight lines. You lose the character in your linework if you let the computer make all your straight lines for you. Youβll do the same thing for your characters if you memorize and regurgitate the same proportions for heads. Youβll have the same head every single time.
If you learn the masses of the skull, you can mold them into different shapes that create unique characters. You can always find proportion references if you need them.
Design the skull to create unique character designs
When you have a grasp on the masses of the skull and youβve tested your knowledge in various positions, itβs time to draw / design a skull of your own.
Iβm using the knowledge I have of the three sections of the skull to sculpt my characterβs head with unique characteristics. You can see Iβve given my character a robust jaw, made the forehead a little more round, and gave him chunky cheekbones. The skull itself almost looks muscular. In my head, Iβm starting to visualize a strong male portrait.
You can see how this starts to develop and turn into its character. You would never get here if you just drew the same skull proportions over and over again. Iβm able to design a character because I know the forms. I know what it looks like when they overlap because I studied the masses of the skull in various positions. My understanding of the forms is solid enough that I can make unique iterations on my own.
Thereβs more to learn
This is just the basics of how to learn the skull and sculpt it into character designs from your imagination.
When you start moving into rendering, with light and color, youβre going to need to know the planes of the skull. That can become a little bit more complicated. But if you take it one step at a time, youβll find the skull a lot easier to learn.
Learn the skull the right way to bring flexibility and freedom to your ability to draw amazing character designs and portraits.
Β
About James Joyce
James is an artist from Maine and resides in California. Heβs been drawing for over 10 years and knows that learning to draw feels like a long and hard journey. Thatβs why he created ZephyerΒ β to give artists a healthy creative process that nurtures their growth. He aims to create a new educational framework designed to help you discover the best ways to learn to draw. James uses traditional tools along with hisΒ Wacom Cintiq 16Β andΒ WacomΒ Intuos Pro to improve and create his designs.
