How to Draw Whimsical Faces

Whimsical faces should appear kooky and fun.

To draw whimsical faces, all you need to do is think kooky. Whimsical faces make for great toppers on any pen or pencil drawings, but they also work very well on art created from rocks, wood chunks or other debris. You can draw whimsical faces with a few simple steps.

Instructions

1. Create the head. For a whimsical face, you want an equally whimsical head. This means you are not stuck with the boring old round head, although big, fat circles do work well with the whimsical. Think of a shape and make it wholly exaggerated, like a very fat circle, an incredibly tall rectangle or a random shape with jagged edges. If you are drawing a face on a piece of debris, the debris is going to dictate the shape, so pick something equally whimsical.

2. Make the eyes. Whimsical faces usually work best with two giant bug eyes, not unlike a bumblebee or other insect. The eyes should be stark, with white circles outlined in a thick black and with a thick black pupil. The pupils can be round or swirly patterns, stars or even flowers. The eyeballs don’t have to be the same size and often look best if they are placed askew on the face.

3. Draw a whimsical mouth. A big, toothy grin is always fine for whimsical, using a crescent moon shape on its side filled in with lines or squares for teeth. You can also use a solid line, either straight across or bent up or down at the edges for a smile or frown. A jagged line, not unlike Charlie Brown’s infamous shirt pattern, is also a good bet for a whimsical face. Also outline the mouth in heavy black with white, or even silver teeth, if the face has any teeth.

4. Dab a single dot for the nose. Whimsical faces should not waste time with a prominent nose, and you don’t have to add a nose at all. Try adding a simple dot in black, but you can use a more subtle color. If you want a nose with a little more prominence, use a small triangle or tiny curved line.

5. Put on the finishing touches. Eyelashes, a beauty mark, a fat flower on the cheek and swirly patterns to create hair or the illusion of earrings are good choices for whimsical faces. You can also include smaller faces within the larger one, as long as they are equally whimsical. Butterflies, friendly spiders and other small creatures can also be nestled near the whimsical face you’ve set up.

Tips & Warnings

• You can draw on debris with paint markers or other permanent markers.

• The eyes and mouth should be the most prominent feature on a whimsical face. You can make them both prominent.

• Whimsical faces look best in bright colors, such as neon orange, aqua or a startling green. You can paint or shade the base of the face a striking color then highlight with the stark black outline of the eyes and teeth.

• If you don’t want to use boring old black as the outline color, pick a dark color in the same color family as the base, such as a deep, forest green to border a face in bright lime.

• Whimsical faces look fun strewn all over the yard on rocks, bricks and logs.

• Whimsical faces are also fun popping up where you least expect them scattered throughout the house. Perhaps your doorbell or ceiling fan needs to be adorned with a whimsical face.