How to Draw a Profile of a Boy

Use a grid to keep the features of the boy's face in proper proportion.

Drawing a boy in profile represents a common pose for the artist who draws portraits. If this is your current drawing task, understand that many artists find it difficult to draw the features of the face in proper proportion. However, to move ahead with the project you need only to use one common method of drawing, which allows you to draw a portrait with relative ease. It requires a bit of setup before you begin, but the resulting drawing of the boy in profile will possess accurate proportions when you have finished.

Things You'll Need

• Photos of boys in profile
• Ruler
• Pens
• Pencils
• Drawing paper

Instructions

1. Shoot some reference photos of the boy in question in profile. Take pictures of him that feature light qualities that enhance the image of his profile. A shot with him standing in front of a light source would highlight this.

2. Print out an 8-by-10-inch copy of the picture.

3. Create a grid on the photo. Make 1-by-1-inch squares. Use pen to draw the grid lines if you've printed the picture out on photo paper.

4. Make a grid on your drawing paper that's as big as the grid on your photo and possesses the same number of squares. Draw the grid with light pencil lines.

5. Locate the square that features top of the boy's forehead on your picture.

6. Count the number of squares from the top and the side until you reach that grid square. For instance, the grid square is positioned four squares from the top of the picture and three squares from the left side.

7. Notice the details of the boy's profile in that square on your drawing paper. See how the line forming his forehead curves within that square. Notice how the lines of his face intersect the lines of the grid. Review that angles at which the lines intercept each other.

8. Draw lines in your grid square that look like the lines you observed on your photo. Sketch the lines the way the boy's forehead curves within the square. Draw them at the angles you see them. If you draw a line and the curve of it isn't quite right, erase and draw it again (see Resources).

9. Fill in the rest of the grid squares on your drawing paper until you have completed a line drawing of the boy in profile. As you draw, pay particular attention to the way the lines of his nose, upper lip and chin curve within each square. Capture the strength of his jawline on paper.

10. Get rid of the grid on your drawing paper; erase carefully so that you don't destroy the line drawing of the boy in profile.

11. Add the lights and darks to the portrait through shading. Position your pencil so that the side of the lead shades the paper. Move your pencil in steady strokes, going back and forth or in a circular motion. First place a general layer of shading all over the picture so that you establish a visual map of the shaded areas on the drawing. Darken the spots that require more shading. Observe your reference photo carefully; draw what you see.

References

• "Sketchbook for the Artist"; Sarah Simblet; 2005
• "Learning to See and Draw"; Art Instruction Schools; 2006
• "Keys to Drawing"; Bert Dodson; 1985
• "How to Draw Lifelike Portraits from Photographs"; Lee Hammond; 1995
• "Colored Pencil Portraits Step-by-Step"; Ann Kullberg; 1999
• "Drawing Realistic Textures in Pencil"; J.D. Hillberry; 1999

Resources

• Window to Art: Gesture Drawing
• Portrait Artist: Drawing the Portrait
• Learn to Art: Shading Techniques: Hatching, Scribbling, Pointillism
• How to Draw and Paint: How to Draw Faces
• Art Made Easy: Drawing Using a Grid
• All About Drawings: Grid Drawing