How to Draw a Realistic Face with this how-to video and step-by-step drawing instructions. Simple drawing for kids and beginners.
Please see the drawing tutorial in the video below
You can refer to the simple step-by-step drawing guide below
Step 1
face sketch
Start your drawing by deciding how much paper you want the face to take up. Using a ruler, draw a horizontal line at the top and bottom of your paper with two vertical lines about an inch apart on either side. In the middle, draw another horizontal line. This will form a square in the center of your paper with three horizontal and vertical lines extending beyond it.
Start drawing a rounded curved line at the top of the page, bringing the two vertical curves down to the midline. Both of these should lie just outside the outside lines of the square. From these side lines, draw a slight curve on either side of the bottom of the page, below the center square, bringing the two together at the bottom horizontal line. This midsection should be a bit flatter to form the chin.
Step 2:
Add ears and hairline
Draw the top of the circle inside the original curve at the top of your page. This will create a hairline for you to work on later. From here, draw a lightly dotted line about a third of the way up from the center horizontal line to mark the guide line for the top of the ear.
Draw a curved line down each side of the face until about halfway down the bottom half of the drawing (down the middle of the cheeks). Inside each ear, draw a few ovals and lines to create the inner part of the ear.
Step 3
Mark the tutorial and start drawing eyes
On the middle horizontal line, draw five bright rectangles. Inside the second and fourth rectangles, draw an oval overlapping the midline. In each oval, draw a large circle and a small circle for the eyeballs, and a slightly curved line on each circle for the top of the eye. At the top of the guide rectangle, draw the eyebrows as a curved rectangle. Along the bottom of the guide rectangle, outline in curved lines to outline the nose with the tip resting on the bottom of the guide.
When you are learning how to draw a face, drawing the right eyes is one of the most important factors in making your drawing more realistic. Start by redrawing the circles of the eyeballs with a dark pencil to frame them before adding a lighter shade inside. After you’ve shaded the entire eyeball, erase a few small spots around the pupil to give the eyes a slightly glassy look. Add shine to the corners of your eyes to start creating a more three-dimensional look.
Take your pencil, shade around the outside of the eye around the oval and up to the bottom line of the eyebrows. Shade in different shades to create depth for the eyes. Once you’ve added this shadow, draw longer and shorter lines along the top and bottom of the eye to create the lashes.
To complete the eyes, paint very short lines in the curved rectangle of the eyebrows. Start with a much darker and darker shade at the inner corners, gradually lightening with pencil strokes as you move towards the outer edges. Since eyebrows are usually thicker near the nose, this makes your drawing more realistic.
Step 4
Complete the nose
Continue shading from the eye down along the center guide and the rough outline you created for the tip of the nose. Shade along the contours of the two small ovals for the nostrils. Start painting a slightly lighter shade as you move towards the center of the nose from the left side to create the shadow.
Repeat the shading on the right side of the nose and in the center, but make sure your pencil is lighter on the right than on the left to maintain the shadow you’ve created. You can also use an eraser to add a lighter line in the center of the nose to create a contrasting look with the shadows.
Step 5
Drawing in the lips
As you did with the nose, start redrawing the pale outline you drew earlier for the lips and teeth. Shade between the teeth with the darkest pencil you have on hand. With your next lightest pencil, start painting from the bottom of your upper lip and work your way up to the top of the lip, getting a little brighter as you shade.
Using different pencils will help you create the realistic look you’re after.
Using different pencils will help you create the realistic look you’re after.
For the lower lip, use a dark pencil to paint around the outer edges and fade as you move towards the center of the lip. You can use your eraser to help keep the center part brighter. Once the lips are completely shaded, draw short, bold lines from the center of the lips and move outwards to create the illusion of full lips.
Step 6
Finish the skin shadow
Start from the left side of the face and work from the outside to the center. This will help keep the shadow effect you started with on the left side of the nose. Use the darkest pencil to paint along the outer edge of the face, moving lighter as you get closer to the underside of the center of the eye. Keep the shade here until you start to reach for the existing shadow next to the nose.
Brush up to the forehead, keeping the shade bright as you move up to the outer edge above the left eyebrow. As you shade towards the hairline in the top center of your face, keep your pencil as light as possible. The middle and right part of the forehead should be some of your brightest colors to bring out the shadows that fall down the left side of the face.
Continue buffing lightly across the right side of the face, adding a little darker shade just below the center of the bottom lip. As you move up the neck, shade from left to right, keeping the shadow for about 3/4 of the neck with a small triangle of lighter shade on the right. Finally, cover the insides of the ears on both sides in both light and dark patterns to reflect where the light comes naturally.
Step 7
Add hair to your face drawing
Finally, draw individual curves from the center of the top of the head curving down around one side of the face. The lines should be darker in the center and lighter, before darkening again along the left side of the face.You will repeat this on the right side of the face with a lighter color, drawing lines around the edges of the shoulders and face to complete your drawing.