How to Draw the Perfect Proportions of a Child's Portrait, by Artefacto Learning Platform on YouTube. 7 min 17 s.
- Video length
- 7 min 17 s
- Time to do it
- 30 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 8
What you need
Steps
Draw a light oval for the head. Make it wider and rounder than an adult face, since a child's skull is large compared with the jaw.
Mark a vertical centre line down the oval and a horizontal line halfway down. On a child the eyes sit at or slightly below this halfway point.
Divide the lower half into smaller sections. Place the nose about halfway between the eye line and the chin, and the mouth about halfway between the nose and the chin.
Space the eyes roughly one eye-width apart. Draw them large and round, since children's eyes look bigger relative to the face.
Keep the nose small and short. Sketch just the tip and nostril curves rather than a full adult nose with a strong bridge.
Draw a small mouth with full lips close under the nose. Leave a short gap between nose and mouth to keep the face youthful.
Set the ears between the eye line and the nose line. Make them small and rounded.
Check the whole face against your reference. Adjust the jaw so it stays soft and narrow, then darken the final lines.
Tips and common mistakes
Measure with your pencil held at arm's length to compare eye width and face width.
Children's faces have almost no cheekbone shadow, so keep shading light.
Draw all the guide lines faintly so you can erase them without smudging.
Questions
Why do my child portraits look like small adults?
You are probably using adult proportions. Make the eyes bigger, the nose shorter and the jaw softer than you would for a grown-up face.
Do I need a proportional divider?
No. It helps for copying a photo exactly, but a pencil and your thumb work fine for measuring basic distances.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
