How To Simplify Small Faces- Easy Sketching Steps!

Hi I'm Scotty and thanks for joining me. In this tutorial I'm going to show you how to simplify small faces using my easy sketching technique. So what's the difference between sketching a small face and a large face? So usually I sketch smaller faces between about one inch and half an inch. And the second thing is that we simplify the details which we're going to go into a lot today. So these smaller faces are a lot more impressionistic and there's a lot less line work and the context of doing this is usually sketching a figure so the face has to be quite small or you might be sketching a group of people and you're just adding small faces onto those heads. Okay before we go on to sketching all of these references here with the technique I just want to go through quickly the process. Step number one is usually the main shapes. So with observational sketching we start out with the bigger shapes, we build the shapes and then we go into the detail. Step number two is the proportions. So when we have that face shape we can still think about splitting the face into three parts. Okay thirdly the most important part of this tutorial is the facial features and the big tip here is when you're looking at a reference and you're putting these features on the page we're looking more at the shadows or the darker areas. So we're starting with this reference here we're going to do the main shapes. So first shape here from the top down is the hair. So always start at the top and then make our way down it's much easier. Okay so I'm going around that shape down there and around the top of the forehead and so it goes in for the eye then comes down coming out there and then that scarf wrapping around so just that big shape there. So we've got the main shapes it's very quickly quick to do that so now we're moving on to those facial features and as I said before between the hairline and the chin we need to break up this face into three. So that'd be a third down is where the eyebrows go and then another third down would be the bottom of the nose and then let's draw the eyebrow in like that and then we go down to the corner of the eye which is only a little bit and then come across and you're drawing the top eyelid there that's the one we focus on and then from that point there we just go down just a little bit to show a bit of the dark of the eye there the iris then coming down like that and back across and then go down a little bit again and we just go and follow that shape there that I've shown you there. So with the mouth the first line we do is that split between the lips and then that is the top line and then we draw the bottom line around the teeth like this. You just put a little shadow line underneath that bottom lip to finish it off and the fifth step is to then when you've done those main lines is to add in some support lines so we can start with the hair going through this way showing some of the strands the scarf so let's add a few loose lines like that texture you could add in some lines and then on the face just to make it a bit more like her we add a little light line just under the eye there has a nice line there like that those little simple lines can add a lot. Okay next reference so let's start the same way we start with that top main shape so I'm just going around and then complete the shape now with faces that are slightly to the side like that and you have facial features that are almost touching that side edge I tend to leave that blank I don't draw a line through there because I need that space there for the facial features forehead is there you can see the red line up there and then starting with the chin down there so the hair comes in the back like this looks a bit big there cascading down the front the neck there you can see the shoulder comes down and then coming across here for that eyebrow curve around like this and we can make it quite thick and then we add the other eyebrow eyelash there just by eye comes right out there a little shadow under this bottom lip to show that and some lines there and then we have a very small face but we can see those features quite easily now move on to this reference here so let's draw that top shape first the beanie curves back up and then around like that so let's just follow that shape there around the jaw comes up somewhere there that's the collar of his jacket and then away there now the face so we can't see the hairline be up there somewhere but with this kind of sketch you can just draw it visually from the distance that you can see on the reference so we can see that eye coming in and then a little space little eye there and then come across for the top eyelid so just focusing on that shadowy line underneath the nose like that arches like this has a little curve and then a line for the bottom of the lip there and now we can add some support lines to here so we'll put some lines underneath his eye thinner loose lines okay now this older lady here and she's looking quite straight at us so let's do the outline of this what so that shape there try and outline the face now that's the chin i wouldn't connect it too much there then the neck comes angling down like this comes in now we have this face here eye here and then across again eyelid bottom of the nose so coming up this way she looks a bit younger because we haven't added any support lines we'll draw these lines like this like this some nice waves in the hair crossing me now this girl here we have the main shape okay so we have this beanie coming up like this i'm just going around just doing my best line that curves around and we're leaving that side of the face we can draw the chin in below the chin now we can add those facial features comes around like that and then the eye in there let's start the other eyebrow and it almost touches the beanie then we come across a little bit of an eye there so just drawing the bottom of the nose there following those dark areas and we're drawing that curve for the top of the mouth like that the teeth in and then the bottom lip there and there's some hair going down this way now we're coming to our last two to make this one easier we can draw this shape that goes around his forehead first so i just thought of that as i was starting main shape there like that chin like that and we've got that shape there side here curves down like that and we have that first eye shape a little bit of a darker section there for his eye do that eyebrow down like that just following that shape the bottom of the nose like that you come up and then curve back down like that and they're very simple lines and we've got the whole face in now let's work out the support lines just impressionistic a thin line underneath the eye very light stubble that in there around the top lip so this reference he has a broad-brimmed hat so let's start with this top shape again outlining the hat and then another line on this the forehead would be about there and then that line comes all the way down there so now we've got some basic main shapes the eyebrow we can't see the hairline so we can't go down a third so i'm just doing it visually off the edge of the hat there and then the other one comes down there put an angled line like that bottom shape of the nose see there it goes back like that so that will help define that side of the face facial hair going up to meet the hair so that's the side view little triangle there for the eye was a little point on that one i wanted to show you so we've got this main shape here if you're drawing this quickly you wouldn't think you would just have a guess and the hoodie comes like that and we do that eyebrow across and then it comes down and then we've got that top eyelid just add in the iris there try to follow that contour of the split between the lips and then we have that bottom lip here could draw the lines here like this and then we add in some of the details in the angle of the nose so that's how i simplify small faces using my ink technique i'd love to hear from you in the comments if you found that helpful and as always the full version of this tutorial is over on my patreon page where you can get all the references a template and all the explained steps in more depth otherwise there's another tutorial here on youtube thank you so much for watching and i'll see you in the next one