Home / Resources

Perfect Your Portraiture by Learning How to Draw a Face Step by Step

By Sara Barnes on November 7, 2019

How to Draw a Three-Quarters View of the Face

Photo & Art: Sara Barnes / My Modern Met

Once you understand the process for sketching a face, you can tackle the three-quarters view in the same way. There is, however, more to keep in mind when drawing from this point of view because the face is partially obscured. The eye closest to the viewer will be larger than the other, and you'll likely only see one nostril. Additionally, you'll only see a single point of the lips.

Photo & Art: Sara Barnes / My Modern Met

Rely on the vertical and horizontal guiding lines to help you determine where and how large to make the facial features. Remember, because we're drawing something that's rounded, the guiding lines are going to be rounded, too.

Photo & Art: Sara Barnes / My Modern Met

How to Draw a Side View of the Face

Photo & Art: Sara Barnes / My Modern Met

While the straight-forward point of view might be the easiest to understand, the side view is the easiest to draw. You're only sketching half of the features!

Photo & Art: Sara Barnes / My Modern Met

You won't need to draw a vertical middle line of the face. Just sketch a rounded horizontal line to determine where the eye will be.

All of the features, especially the eyes, will first be drawn in a sideways cone shape. You'll want to refine it beyond that, of course, but it's a simple starting point that makes this view very approachable if you're a beginning artist.