When you are painting a portrait of a person...what facial feature do you begin with?

Question

ya know...whether it be the eyes, nose...etc....! Thank you!

Answer 1

you draw the size of the head first, so that the facial features such as the eyes, nose, ears, etc. will have special spots---if you wanted to be ordinary or even be Picasso---it would work first.

Answer 2

I certainly can't speak for other artists, but I always start with a general sketch of the portrait I want to paint.

I paint the background first, then sketch out on the canvas the portrait. Then I do my 'test' shading and shadowing, still as part of the sketch. If these look right to me only then to I think about the actual painting. When the actual painting begins I start with eyes. These have to be just right with me or I won't go any farther.
Once the eyes are right I move down to the nose (to me always the hardest part, then the lips (to me the easiest part). If these are right the rest (chin, forehead, cheeks, ears) is easy.

Answer 3

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Answer 4

The traditional way that they teach in art school is to start with the oval of the head. But that is the slow way and very hard to get a good likeness that way. I start with the eyes, which are at the center of the head, and work out from there. There is a method of drawing a portrait this way which is a very fast way to get a good likeness. It's too much to explain here, I have taught classes in it. It is the method I and other artists used for doing quick sketch pastel portraits at Disneyland.

Answer 5

Step 1:- Create a quick sketch to define the composition and the pose. The overall appearance of say, a tilting head, slightly sideways pose or a straight one.
Step2:- A rough outline of ears, eyes, mouth & nose are gradually determined in relation to the mood of the face. The laughing, crying, moody, etc are described at this level.
Step3:- The fun of painting begins with application of colour and tones in relation to shades and light.

Answer 6

I quickly jester draw the entire person. Then I map out the entire face using basic a mapping technique. I never concentrate on one particular feature. This is a mistake many beginning artist make. If you concentrate on one particular part of the body or face you will end up making mistakes on perspective, relative size or overall placement. Use a neutral color to loosely draw the entire figure then after you have determined your placement, size and perspective is correct, then start drawing in details.

Answer 7

After outline the facial shape, I would draw in the hair first followed by the eyes, down to the nose and lastly the mouth (the hardest feature for me to capture accurately as I am not Leonardo).

Answer 8

Hi,
Although I m not a painter, I draw cartoons.
So for drawing, I start with the eyes. As eyes are the centre of attraction and what many people do is they start drawing nose first then eyes and the lips. So different people have different styles and they specialise indifferent areas of art.

Answer 9

outline the melon, make a vertical line where the nose would be, then make a horizontal line for the eyes and mouth.... In other words the nose. but art is not that exact.......you may be inspired to start with a cheek or an ear. Are you drawing with your artistic side or your mathematically correct side of the brain?

Answer 10

I work from the back to the front.Background, body and head , facial features then hair and final touches.You have to at least position everything at once to get the spacing correct.