How to Draw a Self-Portrait in Pencil

To draw yourself, you must first discover yourself.

Even for a talented artist, drawing a self-portrait can be challenging. While it might be easy to capture a model's every nuance, it can be more difficult to draw yourself. In many ways, people are so familiar with their own faces that it is hard to notice the things that make them unique. Drawing a self-portrait is about seeing the tree through the forest. You must ask yourself what makes you unique and what expressions are most present on your face.

Things You'll Need

• Mirror that can stand on a table
• Dry-erase marker
• Drawing paper
• Fixative spray

Instructions

1. Study yourself in a mirror placed on your work table. Notice every nuance on your face. Notice the way the light bounces off your corneas, the scars you haven't seen in years, the curve of your jaw and the shape of your eyebrows.

2. Trace your face in the mirror using a dry-erase marker. This will allow you to feel the way your face is shaped. When you are done, erase with a wet paper towel.

3. Draw the outline of your face and hair on your drawing paper using the lightest pencil you have. You might want to start by drawing an oval, then adding the specific dimensions of your face later.

4. Draw very light lines horizontally and vertically in the middle of the oval face, making four equal quadrants.

5. Draw the eyes, typically on the horizontal line halfway between the vertical line and the edge of the face. Eyes are shaped a little differently on everyone, so look closely at your eyes to get them right. On the bottom eyelid, notice that there are two visible lines: one touching your eyeball and the other where your eyelashes grow. Make sure to include both. Your eyes always reflect the light, so make sure this is captured by drawing the pupil black with dark graphite or charcoal, but leaving a small spot paper-white as the reflection. If you accidentally mess up your white spot, use Blu-Tack to pull up the pigment.

6. Draw the nose, typically on the vertical line halfway between the horizontal line and the chin. Noses are difficult because they are all shapes and sizes. Noses are more about shadows than hard lines. Draw the shadows around your nose as you see them in the mirror, and your nose will start to take shape. Don't be afraid to make the shadows on the inside and outsides of your nostrils as dark as they really look.

7. Draw the mouth, usually halfway between the nose and chin. Notice the way your lips are shaped. You might have a dip in your top lip, you might not. Your lips might be thin or full. Draw what you see. Remember that the top lip should always extend a little over the bottom lip on each side. The top lip also is typically darker because of shadows. Make sure to include the texture of your lips by adding the wrinkles. If glossy, lips also might have a reflection. This can be illustrated with the white of the paper or just a less shaded area.

8. Draw your ears if they are visible. The bottom of the ear is usually on the same horizontal line as the top of your top lip. The top of the ear is usually on the same horizontal line as the top of your eye. Ears are tricky, but try to focus on the shadows which are often more precise than many parts of the face.

9. Draw your eyebrows using short strokes that go in an outward direction from your nose. Then add your hair. Usually, the top 1/3 of your oval is hair. First, block off that top 1/3 that will be the hair on your scalp, then determine your part. It could be a straight line front to back. Someone with short, full bangs might have a second part in a half circle shape across the hairline. In this case, the hair will obviously cover the forehead making nearly half of the oval covered in hair. If you brush your hair straight back, your part might be the same as the short bangs, but without the bangs. A part also can be a single point on the crown of the head with hair coming out from it in all directions like a round fountain.

10. Draw in the hair strand-by-strand, starting from the part and going in the direction the hair falls. A straight-line part will look like two parallel lines with hair coming out of each going in opposite directions. Fill in hair by using various hues and thicknesses of lead, or outlining the shape of the hair and drawing only a few key strokes. This minimalistic approach is best for blonds.

11. Once all of your main features are in place, erase whatever is left of the horizontal and vertical guidelines. Change the bottom of the oval to the actual shape of your jawline. This might be more squared, more pointed or more rounded. At this point, add your chin, which is basically just shadows.

12. Give your face life and fullness with shadows. You likely could start by shading all of your skin lightly, just to differentiate it from the white of the reflection in your eyeballs. The darker your skin, the darker the shading. If necessary, darken nose, eyes and mouth shadows, and don't forget about the cheeks and neck, which also have shadows.

13. When you are done, look over your work and ask yourself if it looks like you. If not, try to figure out the reason. It often is because the way you perceive yourself is not the way you see yourself. If you aren't sure, ask a friend or family member to take a look. Once you have it right, erase any stray pencil marks and lock in the graphite by coating it in a fixative spray, which can be purchased at an art store. After this, you will no longer be able to erase or smudge anything.

Tips & Warnings

• These are general guidelines for drawing a face -- your face might not be perfectly proportional and, if drawn without regard to your specific features, your self-portrait will not look like you.

• Add shadows by smudging or lightly hatching. Shadows typically fall in the hollows of the eye sockets, cheeks, chin and neck.

• Do not remove a feature you don't like about yourself if you want the portrait to really look like you. For example, if you have a chicken pox scar that has always been there but no one ever notices, someone might look at your drawing and think "something is a little off." Even if someone doesn't mentally take notice of it on a daily basis, it is still a part of your face and your face will look less distinct without it.

References

• Portrait and Figure Drawing, Marvin Bartel
• "Pencil Drawing Techniques"; David Lewis; 1984
• Art Teacher on the Net: Portrait Drawing-Facial Feature and Proportion Guide