How to Draw a Woman's Face

I'm sure a number of you draw humans and perhaps find drawing female (or male, which will be covered in another article) faces difficult? I'll try to give you some tips and tricks to help you ^^

This article follows up on the series about faces where I had addressed the subject in detail, focusing on how to draw a man's face, so feel free to check it out as well.

FACIAL PROPORTIONS OF A WOMAN FOR DRAWING

I will discuss here the proportions for what is considered to be standard. Obviously, in reality, very few people embody all of these characteristics, there can be differences, and you are free to vary according to your personal tastes. This is a beauty norm, so a kind of "ideal," I encourage you to try changing some features here and there to create more original or more realistic faces ^^

THE FRONT FACE

 

The face fits within a frontal oval. The eye line is located roughly in the middle of the head (not the face). We are talking here about female faces that are very close to the standard norm for humans (for men there are many more variants).

The nose is located on the line halfway between the eye line and the bottom of the face. To find out how to draw a nose, there is an article about it on our blog, in case you're interested!

And the mouth on the first third between the nose line and the chin.

The ears are attached to the face along the line of the eyes and nose. This enables us to wear glasses ^^

The eyes are placed symmetrically and in such a way as to allow the placement of a third eye between them. If you wish to draw an eye, I recommend you check out the dedicated article on our blog!

 

The iris inside occupies half of the space. Women tend to have slightly longer and fuller eyelashes (with or without makeup). The eyebrows are positioned relatively high (again, this can vary).

The higher the eyebrows, the less the eyes are sunken into the orbits, and the more open the face is. The eyebrows are as long as the eyes. For it to be feminine, it is considered that they should start roughly in line with the nostrils of the nose.

The nose is rather small, without any extravagant shape.

The mouth is generally fuller in women than in men. For both, the lower lip is usually more prominent. In terms of width, it does not exceed the position of the inner edge of the iris of each eye when looking straight ahead.

Regarding the shape of the face itself, there can be relative variations. It is considered that a round face or one with soft curves is more feminine. It is best to avoid overly emphasizing the chin or cheekbones.

Generally, for women, it is better not to overly emphasize wrinkles, folds, bumps and hollows of the body.

The last thing is the neck. Women generally have a thinner neck than men.

THE FACE PROFILE

 

 

The profile of humans is relatively flat.

The same characteristics can be observed: the line of the eyes, nose, mouth, and the position of the ears in height, of course.

The shape of the jaw follows the same principles as from the front: it is considered that a face with soft curves is more feminine. The neck remains very thin, starting slightly below the eyes, at the middle of the profile view of the face (I did say face and not head, be careful).

The ear is positioned slightly past the middle of the neck.

The nose sits on the face, with the nostrils facing towards the inside of the face.

A little beyond the straightness of the nose, we can position the eyes. In profile, they have a triangular shape and are tilted forward (for a whole bunch of biological and ergonomic reasons ^^).

We must not forget, the lower lip is generally thicker than the upper lip. And in terms of length, it goes up to the alignment of the eye.

The forehead is generally quite straight or slightly inclined, and, as always, the eyebrows are placed quite high.

SOME TIPS FOR DRAWING A FACE

If we want to style all this, we can enhance or reduce certain characteristics.

Features to highlight:

• The size of the eyes
  
  
• The length of eyelashes
  
  
• The mouth (notably marking the shape of the lips and their thickness)
  
  
• The delicacy of the neck

Characteristics to reduce:

• The nose (in length and / or width)
  
  
• The mouth (yes, you can do both, look at mangas, it works very well)
  
  
• The eyebrows
  
  
• The ears
  
  
• Nose-mouth gap to be reduced, the lower the mouth is placed, the more it masculinizes the face

Of course, all these are general principles that also vary depending on the character’s ethnicity, age, whether they are supposed to be attractive or not, their own tastes, etc.

Note that if you want to create an androgynous character, mix masculine and feminine characteristics ^^ This is something that is still frequently found in manga, with male characters having faces very similar to their female counterparts, where others have more pronounced features J

EXAMPLES OF WOMEN'S FACES

I have put together a small selection of female faces considered beautiful with various features but which always follow these major principles.

To make characters less beautiful, simply unbalance the proportions for example.

Astrid from How to Train Your Dragon 2:

 

At first glance, one might think that she has almost all the classic features: a round face, big eyes, marked eyelashes, a small mouth, and a slender neck and nose. But she also has a very long and thick nose at the end as well as fairly prominent ears. That's what makes her so charming ~

Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite:

Her face is a bit more distinctive here, more pointed with more pronounced cheekbones. Nevertheless, she has big eyes, full lips, a rather discreet nose, a very slim neck (also due to her young age) and very long eyelashes.

Kida from the movie Atlantis: The Lost Empire:

Her face, and those of other characters in the movie (especially the female characters), is quite atypical. She has a square jaw and a very pointed chin, thick and dark eyebrows, and large ears. But she also has very large eyes with big eyelashes, a rather discreet nose, and full lips, not to mention her very slender neck.

Megara of Hercules

Here too, her face is atypical. She does have big eyes with long lashes, fine eyebrows, and a rather plump mouth, not forgetting the classic very slender neck. But she also has very prominent cheeks, a very pointed chin, and very long eyebrows.

Tsipora from The Prince of Egypt

 

This is the one with the most atypical face because it disregards certain proportions (the eyes in the middle of the head for example, which here are placed much higher). She has a very long nose and eyes that are further apart than average, and a very square face. But she also has large eyes, emphasized lips and a very thin neck.

All these characters follow certain characteristics and not others, which results in varied designs, but always feminine. So, feel free to experiment with combinations to create varied feminine faces.

Illustrator and Writer: Rakjah