Female Face Tutorial

This is a more detailed step by step tutorial for the female face. It splits the video tutorial into individual phases for you to follow along with and help you draw the face. This is a good way to see the evolution of the drawing in each of its phases. You can use this with my video to see how I do it. For this drawing you will ned a 2B or 3B pencil, or a pencil set, an eraser, an A4/A3 sheet of paper and a blending stub or tissue (or you can just use your finger). This tutorial draws all the skills learned from the other tutorials together! (no pun intended)

Good Luck!

Step 1: Outline phase 1

For the first phase of the outline, we start with the basic shape of the face. start with an oval as your guideline and marke the centre lines. ( the lines that run along your eyes and nose). Then draw in the outside shape for the face. The cheeks should be relatively parallel to each other and the cheek is slightly rounded. Draw in the nose along the centre eyes and then draw in the eyes were the bridge of the nose rounds out. draw in a mouth with a slight smile. These techniques were all explained in my other tutorials.

Step 2: Outline phase 2

After you have drawn in the main outline, start to draw in the details for the eyes. Start with the pupils, which will be in the centre because she is looking forward. Add in eyelashes after wards, which will grow bigger as you go outwards towards the edge of the face. Remember to add in slight light reflections.

Step 7: Shading - Nose

After shading the left side of the forehead move down to the nose and the area around the eye. The nose will have a light area on the right edge and a darker area on the left. The area around the eye will also receive some shadow.

Step 4: Shading - Left phase 1

Now start to add in the basic shading shapes. These will give you a general idea of how the face will look before you blend everything in together. The left side of the face will be darker since the light source is coming in from the right. Add in the eybrows where the nose starts to curve outwards. Use short and sharp lines to do this.

Step 3: Outline phase 3

Then fully shade in the eyes. Add small black lines to accentuate the details. Remember since the eyes are small you do not have to go into as much detail as you did before with my previous eye tutorials. Only use basic shading techniques.

Step 5: Shading - Left phase 2

To start with the mouth draw a small 'v' where direcctly underneath the indent. Continue with the shading downards until you reach the mouth and the chin. The edges around the face will alos be quite dark. Under the ye there will also be a shadow, and on the left edge of the nose.Blend the shades together using an assigned blending tool and then use an eraser to highlight any white areas.

Step 6: Shading - Left phase 3

Blend in the shading around the cheek a bit more using a variety of shades and gradients and then move on to the forehead. There will be some shadow cast from the hair so shade that in and then blend it together.

Step 8: Shading Right - phase 1

Complete the forehead by adding more shadow on the top near the two lines (that indicate the start of the hair). Create a gradient going downwards. then add a very dark shadow running along the right side of her face. This is the shadow she will be receiving from her hair. Add some lighter shading under the eye and around the cheek. Give the nose a more prominent edge using some darker shading.

Step 9: Shading - Right phase 2

Once the majority of the face is done, shade in the mouth. The bottom lip will be darker. Using an eraser create any light highlights you see. Shade the area around the chin by making it darker. Create a gradient from the corner of the mouth downwards and outwards.

Step 10: Shading - Chin

Now shade in the rest of the chin. The left side of the chin will be slightly darker. On the left side of the chin the shading will go into the shape more. Create a gradient to make it more naturalistic. Leave the majority of the chin white.

Step 11: Shading - Neck phase 1

To start the neck, draw two slightly curved lines starting from just below the cheeks. There will be shadow cast from the head onto the neck. Use extremely dark shading to this and create a gradient when shifting to another shade of grey. Use an eraser for the fine white highlights arund the edges of the neck

Step 12: Shading - Neck phase 2

Shade in the rest of the neck, making sure the left side is darker. The edges will have a fine white lining. On the right side there will be some dark areas but not as dark as the left side.

Step 13: Hair - phase 1

Draw in the hair now. Try to add in curs and flowing locks of hair to get the general shape. You do not need to copy what I did here. You can use your own visual reference if you would like, and then copy that.

Step 17: Final Outcome

This is the completed face. If you do not like the hairstyle then I encourage you to get your own visual reference and try it out. The techniques learnt here should be applicable to any other drawing you do. I encourage you to keep on practicing with other visual references and check out my other tutorials if you liked this one.

If you would like to see a better demonstration of drawing and shading hair as well as another face, please click here.

Step 14: Hair - phase 2

Finish off the hair so it goes off of the page. The hair should be flowing and smooth looking. Use long lines to make it look more elegant.

Step 15: Shading Hair phase 1

Using the blending stub, pencil and eraser, create the general shades for each individual lock of hair. Use lines to bring out the indivual strands of hair more.

Step 16: Shading Hair phase 2

Continue this process until the whole head of hair is completed. Remember to use your visual reference to see how to shade the hair and where the light source is coming from or just copy this hairstyle and shading style.