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They say that the profile is the easiest face angle to draw, but knowing exactly where to start can still be a bit of a mystery…

In this quick tutorial, I’ll show you how to construct face side views in a fast and easy way that works for all kinds of styles and character types!

💡 Quick tip: Draw on Vector Layers 💡

They’re easy to edit with Line Correction tools, and your lines won’t lose quality when resized or adjusted:

🟧 How to Draw a Face Profile

🟨 Basic Principles of Profiles

Start with a circle divided into quarters. Divide both halves of the horizontal line into thirds, and then do the same for the bottom half of the vertical line:

The second third mark on the front half of the horizontal line is the most important because it gives you the position of the eye.

 

The other horizontal mark will roughly show you where to place the tip of the ear.

 

The marks on the vertical line set the position for the tip of the nose and the angle of the jaw, while another mark halfway between them sets the mouth and the bottom of the ear.

Now, draw a curve determining the basic shape of the face.

Its specific position and curvature depend entirely on your character design:

Where this curve meets the guides, place the facial features. This is the foundation of how a basic face is constructed.

🟨 Let’s Try a Character!

If you have a mugshot of your character, you can use it to transfer the proportions to the side view:

Follow the same marks and guides to place the eye, ear, nose, mouth, and the angle of the jaw.

 

Sketch the skull according to your character design. My characters don’t have much brain space, so their skulls are a bit smaller compared to classic anime styles…

For the hair, sketch the hairline and the minimum volume guide:

You can find more tricks for drawing hair easily in my Hair tutorial:

🟨 Characters With Various Facial Proportions

This basic construction can be applied to all sorts of characters by just tweaking it a little. You can deform the guide into a lower shape for children or a taller shape for adults.

Follow each character’s unique face curve. Lower the nose, add a bigger chin, make the forehead more prominent, and so on, to fit your design.

🟨 Mouth

Teeth start a little beyond the lips and should actually end below the corner of the eye. However, this character has a huge mouth by design, so his teeth go almost all the way to the ear.

If your character is yawning or screaming, remember that the jaw doesn’t just move straight down, but instead rotates around the hinges located at the ear:

🟨 Eye From Side

The pupil and iris aren’t actually on the surface of the eyeball. The iris forms a concave shape, so the pupil appears sunk into the eye when seen from a side view… unless you’re drawing eyes popping out of the head in surprise!

The eyelids cover the eye, and the eyelashes form something like an eave above it:

Unless you are going for an Egyptian style, avoid drawing the eye too wide.

🟨 Neck

The head isn’t just jammed down onto a cylinder…

Instead, the curves of the neck connect smoothly to the head both under the jaw and at the back.

 

Don’t forget to add the Adam’s Apple on adult male necks if that fits with your stylization.

🟨 Other Side Angles

For up and down views, draw the guides as curves that follow the ball-like shape of the head. They will show you where to place the facial features:

Remember that the eye shape also follows the angle:

When the head starts turning toward the camera, notice that the first thing to appear is the eyelashes of the hidden eye:

🟧 Clip Studio Paint’s 3D Head Model

If you still feel lost or just want to try a different approach, Clip Studio Paint offers a handy feature with customizable 3D heads.

 

With the Object Tool active, open the Sub Tool Detail palette. In the Head Model tab, you can play around with settings that mix cartoon, anime, and realistic styles:

In Facial Features, you can define each part of the head to come as close to your character as possible.

When tracing the model, remember to take creative liberty and always keep your own stylization in mind. Especially with heads that are slightly tilted or turned, avoid tracing everything exactly. Otherwise, the drawing may reveal its 3D origin and not fit the rest of your work:

Notice how a perfectly traced face often lacks the natural flow of freehand drawing:

Be especially careful with the back eye by making sure the eyeball stays well within the silhouette of the head to avoid the uncomfortable impression that the eye is about to fall out.

🟧 Stylize and Tweak!

You are the artist — the laws of physics cannot hold you back!

🟨 Face

Don’t be afraid to deform the character’s face to fit the situation!

Simplified rounded shapes, or "chibi", work great for comedy. The degree of deformation is up to you, but it usually involves simplifying the complex shapes of the nose, lips, and chin into one single curve:

The overall shape can also reflect emotion and muscle tension: a rounder shape for a focused expression, or a taller, less curved shape for a “long face” expression:

🟨 Hair

Even if your character’s hairstyle includes bangs or side strands that would logically hide the eyes in profile, feel free to tweak the hair to keep important facial features visible:

Drawing the fringe puffier than it should be, arching like an umbrella over the nose, makes a character look cuter because it completes the round shape of the head:

🟨 Mouth

Regarding mouths drawn on the side of the face that do not follow strict physics, you may hear people say, “This is wrong” or “This is not a style.”

 

But hey, who cares? You’re the artist, so you decide what is right for your work.

Don’t get worked up about what others claim; instead, follow your instincts and draw what you enjoy. If you feel like a mouth on the side of the face fits the scene and the emotion of your character, go for it!

 

The ancient Egyptians made their art the way they felt was right, and they made history.

Personally, I draw both "physically correct" and side mouths depending on the situation. Sometimes the "correct" mouth works fine, but other times the side mouth simply provides more emotion and visual clarity.

🟧 Conclusion

With these principles, you can construct clean, expressive profiles for any character, or use them for practicing various character designs. Sketch, experiment, and most importantly, have fun!

Many thanks to my friends who tested and helped me improve the technique, and to Jo and Lin for encouraging me to make this tutorial!