How to Draw a Man's Face

 

I'm sure many of you draw humans and perhaps find faces challenging? I will try to give you some tips and tricks to help you ^^

I will talk here about the commonly accepted norm. The famous beauty standard that says if a human has certain proportions, they will be pleasing to the eye. Standards vary over time and culture. Nevertheless, there are many criteria that can be played with to create some really cool male characters without adhering to the beauty standard, just as it's possible to deviate from the classic female beauty standard and still have very beautiful female characters.

 

This article follows the series on faces where I had addressed the subject of how to draw a woman's face, and even draw a manga face, feel free to check them out as well.

 

 

 

PROPORTIONS OF A MAN'S FACE FOR DRAWING

 

The basic proportions of the face are the same for both men and women. We all belong to the human race, so it's natural that there are many common features. Among these are the position of the eyes, nose, mouth and ears, whether seen from the front or in profile.

 

 

 

 

Nevertheless, some differences can be noted at first glance.

 

 

 

 

THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE FACES

 

We are getting to the interesting part. For women, the goal of the game is to have an outcome as smooth and "perfect" as possible. For men, on the other hand, you can draw a lot more without it being bothersome, quite the contrary.

 

 

DIFFERENCES IN DRAWING FACES: THE NECK

 

The neck, for example, is much thicker in adult men (somewhat less in teenagers, and young boys have necks as thin as young girls). In practical terms, the neck is about as wide as the face, sometimes a bit less. This is true both from the front and in profile, not to mention the well-known Adam's apple, which can be fairly prominent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For instance, we can lengthen the nose or make it very short. Just like widening it considerably and giving it more varied shapes without necessarily causing shock. Making a broken or very hooked nose, for example, will be less bothersome on a man than on a woman. If indeed you would like to know how to draw a nose, I recommend you visit our blog post dedicated to it! Just like lowering the mouth (moving it away from the nose) will give a more masculine aspect to the face.

Lips are generally thinner, or in any case, less defined. We don't usually outline the shape of the lips for men, at the risk of feminizing them immediately or giving them very plump lips.

 

 

 

DIFFERENCES IN DRAWING FACES: THE EYES

 

The eyes are often deeper set in the sockets, which has several consequences: the brow ridge is more prominent, this can be seen especially from the side and the three-quarter view. This also shifts the position of the eyes in these two views as well (they are positioned more towards the interior of the face as a result).

 

 

 

 

The position of the eyebrows is also altered. In men, the eyebrows are closer to the level of the eyes, in addition to being thicker and starting closer together than female eyebrows.

Female eyebrows tend to start in line with the nostrils, while male eyebrows generally start at the edges of the bridge of the nose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE SHAPE OF THE FACE

 

Last but not least: the shape of the face. Men's faces are more defined than women's faces. It is possible to easily emphasize the shape of the jaw, cheekbones or chin without making them a caricature or rendering them ugly. Details, information about the volume, etc., can also be added more easily without any issues.

 

 

 

Of course, let's not forget facial hair! Even though many characters are clean-shaven, we can still emphasize a masculine aspect with just the "hair" right in front of the ear, the sideburn. Men can let it grow and trim it as they like, while for obvious reasons, women don't have this option.

 

 

Small clarification: If you wish to create an androgynous character, mix characteristics of both genders and try to stay as close as possible to the mainstream. The same applies if you want to make characters young and beautiful, without being too masculine. The prime example being, of course, mangas, which are full of androgynous characters (but not exclusively). ^^

 

 

As with female characters, you can accentuate or downplay certain characteristics to stylize your character.

 

Features to highlight:

 

• Nose length and shape
  
  
• Mouth height (move it away from the nose)
  
  
• Thickness and/or length of the chin
  
  
• Jaw
  
  
• Thickness and/or height of eyebrows

 

 

 

Characteristics to reduce:

 

• Eye size
  
  
• The thickness of the mouth

 

 

I'll remind you that all these rules are part of the generally accepted beauty norm. They apply only to characters supposed to be attractive, and we can willingly deviate from them and still manage to create a character that is pleasing to the eye as the following examples show. It's a starting point to help you grasp the anatomical differences between the two genders.

 

 

 

 

 

EXAMPLES OF MEN'S FACES

 

As with female faces, I chose male characters with varied faces, but all supposed to be good-looking. Because of course, when the character is not specifically meant to be attractive, we can deviate much more from the beauty standard (it’s even quite advisable :D). And play with a number of parameters to disproportion or accentuate and reduce certain characteristics.

 

Tarzan, from the movie Tarzan:

 

 

 

Personally, I really like his design. He has a face with a super long chin and a marked, square jaw. He has eyes set deep into the sockets (you can tell by the very pronounced brow ridge too). He has a very long but also very fine nose and relatively large eyes. His eyebrows are also relatively thin, which means that despite very marked features, there is also a lot of finesse in his face.

 

 

Phoebus from The Hunchback of Notre Dame:

 

 

He is almost the opposite of Tarzan. His face is much less elongated and much less refined. He too has relatively deep-set eyes, but much less so than Tarzan, however, he has much thicker and bushier eyebrows. His nose is of normal length, but it is very thick and slightly crooked. His eyes are a tad too far apart as well, he has a wide mouth and a fairly square face with a very thick neck. Not to mention the small goatee, of course.

 

 

 

Sinbad from Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas

 

 

 

He is of yet another type. Here the jaw is marked again and the chin is quite long. The nose is of normal length, but has a unique shape. The eyes are once again relatively deep-set into the sockets and the eyebrows have a very distinctive shape, considered rather masculine. The neck is, as always, thick. However, the mouth is very close to the nose this time. Specific features of the face were also emphasized, such as the hollow between the eyes and the nose, and the cheekbone hollows on the cheeks, as well as the neck muscles. Not forgetting the small goatee, of course!

 

 

 

Hanzo from Overwatch:

 

 

You should start to understand which features are emphasized here ^^ Again the jaw, the chin via the shape of the beard in particular, and the brow ridges are very pronounced. The nose is normally shaped but with a slightly quirky form (it adds character) and the eyebrows are thick and bushy. Not forgetting the shape of the sideburns, again typically masculine.

 

 

 

Dante from Devil May Cry 5:

 

 

Last example. This is the character with the deepest-set eyes of all, look at the crazy shadow under his brow. His eyes are a bit too far apart, but the rest of the proportions of his face are within the standard, except the mouth is a bit too low. However, the jaw and chin are well-defined, the neck is thick again, and the cheek muscles have been emphasized. Dark circles are also marked. It should be noted that Dante is one of the few to have rather thick lips, but he also has a very wide mouth.

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

You now have all the knowledge to create coherent faces. And by coherent, I obviously mean within the limits of respectable proportions so that it doesn't shock our brains and eyes xD

From these few rules, have fun experimenting with all possible aspects of male faces. In any case, have fun, draw, and observe. A face is sometimes just a few hairs away from being perfect. So it's your turn to have a go :)

 

 

 

 

Editor and Illustrator: Rakjah