Oh drawing a face I begin with a distorted oval. But if I were to draw this skull without instruction I would begin with a very very light rectangle type box – lines mostly indicating top, sides, lower sides, and bottom. Then I would just make a contour drawing of what I am seeing.

Now, I’m not saying it would be good or even better than what I’m drawing now, it probably would lessen the incessant questions and complaints about the circle and line while drawing. So I’m going to do that now. Wish me luck 😁

Hi Matt,
Thank you for your kind reply. It’s strange and surprising to me how much I dislike this exercise and how just flat out terrible I am at it.

I begin with a sort of distorted oval into which I place the elements of the face, unlike what I’m doing now – erasing the circle and the line because they are in my way and in no way related to what I’m drawing 🤣

I’ll keep exploring. I might keep trying this, I may not. And maybe just maybe portrait drawing isn’t for me.

Thank you for your response, I wish you well and thank you for your excellent teaching.

Hi Kathy,
The circle that is drawn usually represents the cranium. This initial shape allows us to build the rest of the head – no matter what angle the head is viewed from. By starting with a circle, we can create the drawing working outside in. If you start with details (working inside out), you leave yourself open to distortion and potentially lots of erasing. This approach to drawing a head is the most common way of drawing a head. In this video, the first line that is drawn from the circle is used to determine the length of the head, indicating the bottom of the chin. I am curious, you mentioned that you would not start with a circle if you were drawing a skull. Where would you start?

That would be helpful information:)

Hi John,
White charcoal will not cover the graphite. When using these mediums together, you must gradually build up the range of value. Start with very light graphite applications before addressing the lighter areas with white charcoal. Then you can go back and darken areas with the graphite and then lighten the highlights even further with white charcoal, applied with greater intensity.

Hi Cay,

You can certainly substitute charcoal over graphite if you wish.

For the skull, how is the distance between the chin and skull measured? Is it 4/3 proportion?