drawing tutorials

How to draw a side profile - tutorial + tips!

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Anoni_

Intro

Drawing side profiles was a constant struggle for me, so I compiled most of what I learned over time in one place in hopes of helping others!

I hope this tutorial is helpful to artists! I’ll talk about basic anatomy, tips for stylization, and expressions!

I also made a youtube video containing everything mentioned so you can check it out here!

so let’s start!

The structure and anatomy of a side profile

first of all let’s learn the basic anatomy behind drawing a side profile, it’s easier than you think!

to make it as simple as possible, we’ll start with a circle

( you can use the ellipse tool in clip studio paint, you can get a perfect circle by holding down shift as you drag it! )

divide that circle into quarters by dividing it in half both horizontally and vertically

( you can use the grid to get straight lines! view > grid )

generally, the face can be divided into equal parts. we’ll divide it into 3 equal parts here.

you can measure the face’s length by adding the same space under the circle ( from the horizontal line to the end of the circle, basically the lower half )

draw a triangle with a slightly inclined line until the point you’ve marked earlier.

Now let’s draw the neck! you can draw it using a cylinder shaper that’s tilted.

Don’t draw a straight line down, as the neck follows the curve of the spine.

Draw a diagonal line! Notice that I drew the back side of the head! it’s longer when viewed from the side!

Now you can draw facial features! Where?

Well, the ears and nose are drawn in the 2nd part of the face!

you can use a triangle for the nose!

you need to know that the face has 4 curves!

1 - where the brow bone is

2- where the nose meets the philtrum ( which is the little dent above the mouth )

3- in-between the upper and lower lips

4- at the end of the chin

you can draw them according to your preference :)

keep in mid that the features shouldn’t extend behind the line shown! which is drawn from the nose to the chin!

the width of the face depends on the style!

but for general anatomy, which is associated with realism, the width is measured using 3 eye spaces from the tip of the eye until the ear

the chin’s size is equal to the lip’s size

to draw the neck you can use the space between the eyes and chin for it's width

for its length you can use the space from the nose to the forehead line

you don’t have to be precise but I personally like those small details, I think it makes the drawing look better!

finally, you can draw the neck muscles and even add an Addams apple based on your character!

the neck muscle is a v-shaped muscle that connects from the ear to the collarbone, when drawing it from the side you’d draw it like this :)

it is usually drawn clearly for male characters, especially when they’re masculine!

you can draw hair to your liking! I drew my oc here :)

I add volume to the front and back but you can change the characters look and personality depending on where you add volume to your hair!

naturally, there’s more volume in the back when drawing a side profile

( as the head is longer when viewed from the side like I said earlier! )

here are some details to keep in mind!

the eye follows a triangular shape, like a pizza! the eyebrows are drawn in a curve instead of being flat as they follow the skull :)

when shading the face you add depth by clearly marking the shadows!

around the eyes
the nose ( especially the end of the nose )
the shadow under the lower lip
the cheekbones ( the slight shadow caused at the side of the face )

Drawing details : face features!

when drawing a face, the features say a lot! they either make or break a drawing! we must remember that we’re dealing with 3d spaces as we draw them!

1- eyes

the eyeballs are spheres inside the skull. the skin around the eyes wrap around this sphere

when viewed from the side, you won’t be able to see the whole eye. you’d see one eye corner only.

as I said earlier, you’ll see it in a pizza shape :)

2- Eyelashes

you can draw eyelashes if you want!

for me personally , I like drawing them for all of my characters!

make sure to draw them in an irregular pattern starting from the water line’s outer part.

you can see the arrows are pointing in different directions

3- Lips

the upper lip bends inwards and the outer lip protrudes outwards

the upper lip is usually darker and it casts a shadow on the lower lip! drawing it makes the lips look more lively!!

4- Ears

drawing the ears correctly makes the illustration look richer and detailed so don’t skip this part!

start by drawing a slightly slanted oval and connecting it to the face

the basic shape is then drawn, almost like a semi circle!

draw the inner line following the ear’s shape, then draw an inverted s shape and connect it the previously drawn part!

then draw a triangle and add a few details!

that’s your ear!

you can shade and render it for depth!

remembering this y shape is key to drawing ears!!

3- Stylization and drawing chibi side profiles!

now that you know the basic structure, you can now break the rules haha

changing the face’s side using eye spaces changes from style to style!

it can range from one space giving a more cartoonish and manga like style until 3 spaces which gives semi-realism and realism vibes!

drawing features and side profiles vary even within anime and manga as you can see!

sd characters ( super deformed character ) and chibis range from super simplified and cute to a more structured version!

some artists use head spaces to determine the chibi style ( 1 - 3 heads, sometimes even 4-6! )

here, I’ll use one of the many chibi styles to draw my oc!

we’ll start with a circle base again!

I’ll divide it in half and then use the lower part to draw the nose, followed by a line downwards!

position the ears and eyes

notice the simplified ear form using the y-shape I talked about earlier!

I marked the lips position as well!

add details by drawing hair in a simplified chunk-like form!

I drew siren eyes here by drawing the eyes half open :)

ta-da! that’s your chibi character done! it’s easy and fun to draw!!

4- Expressions!

now you won’t draw your characters expressionless all the time, right?

to draw expressions, we’ll utilize the eyebrow shape, eyes and the lips!

drawing a happy expression can be achieved by raising the eyebrows, drawing the pupil as it touches both eyelids with a slight curve!
angry eyes are drawn with more curves and wrinkles
sad eyes are drawn using the curve of the eyebrow

the eye shape tends to follow the eyebrows! for example If I were to draw a calm expression, drawing a flat eyebrow with a not so curved eye will do!

now let’s add that to our side profile drawing!

for the angry expression, I change the mouth corner to be slightly facing downwards and by adding wrinkles around the eyebrows!

for the sad expression, I changed the eyebrows to be raised at the front

the mouth corner is facing down here too but is softer compared to the angry one, the corner is more emphasized here as well!

you can slightly open it for an expression of someone trying to hold back their tears! ooh drama haha

tears flow down as they follow the curves of the face! you can draw them at the jawline as well!

for the impression of being happy, raise the eyebrows and make use of the mouth corners!

make sure not to draw the mouth too big, stay within the area before the end of the eye corner! it looks more natural this way

drawing it past the furthest eye corner gives it a cartoonish style!

if you want to draw the mouth open, the key here is the point at the end of the jaw!

the face shape follows an arch instead of opening down vertically

the mouth follows a triangular shape in this position! I emphasized the corner here :) looks like he’s daring doesn’t he ? ^ ^

I achieved this by using the lasso tool and transforming the selected area! move the little cross to the reference point of the jaw then move the area to your liking!

a little tip is not to overdo this! keep the area open to a maximum of the nose’s length so that it doesn’t look weird!