Facial Structure

Have you wanted to draw or paint portraits, but don’t know where to start or what to look for? Portraiture can be tricky to understand where all of the features go, especially if the portrait is turned or tilted in space.
Stuart Loughridge is here to break portraiture down in easy to follow concepts. A simple rectangular block can be broken down into general proportions for the eyes, nose, and mouth which can then be easily turned in space to visualize how the features sit on the face.

But what about something more representative of skull structure? The same block can still be used initially to visualize and break down the skull and proportions. Stuart uses simple shapes, like ovals and cylinders, and tilted lines to carve the head shape quickly and easily. Once the overall head shape is placed Stuart shows his trick to strong placement of the features- the inverted triangle. The inverted triangle includes the features of the eyes, nose and mouth, making sure that their symmetry, tilt, and turn are all consistent with each other.

Whether working from imagination, life, or reference, understanding how all of the features work together can get you through the block-in rapidly. Stuart finds it helpful to think of the shapes as chunky wood blocks in order to imagine how they turn in space, going so far as to start from imagination and then having a model come in to sit in the pose he had already established to get more nuanced shapes.