Facial
Features
Now that you have an understanding of the “foundation” for building a human head, you can
move on to giving it an identity. After all, a portrait should convey an ample amount of specific
information about the subject.The subjects of this section are two beautiful Degas por-
traits, which will be used to help explain some particular
points when you observe and draw facial features. It is
important to stress, however, that the principles being dis-
cussed about human facial features are not meant to be
rules to draw all features but rather a guide to help you see
more and better understand the particular features of the
people that you will draw.
All of the copies in this book were copied by the authors.
This is a practice that they urge you to follow because it is
an excellent way to discover how a master artist resolved
issues that you will be dealing with in your own art.
Note:It would not be practical in this book to show each facial fea-
ture drawn from every angle. However, you will find many different
portraits in this chapter that you can study.
Copy after Edgar Degas’ Head of a Man,
by Dean Fisher