What to draw first???

[Mr Man]

At the moment im practicing my portraits, but i never know what part i have to draw first.:confused:

[AnarchyAo2]

Heres my process:
1) Draw a line of symettry that goes through the face, vertically.
2) Draw a general outline of the face. Nothing detailed.
3) mark where the eyes, nose and mouth go. (Basically mark the proportions)
4) Draw a vague outline of the hair.

This next part is just adding details and can be worked on in any order. Atleast, I do.

5) Draw the detailed outline of the face.
6) Work on the facial features. eyes, ears, mouth, etc
7) Draw the hair.

Now, do the shading. Sometimes I use a white conte pencil to lighten things up or add glare.

This method may not be the best method for you. I've tried plenty of methods. Mine is a altered version of FredFlickstone's method.

[sly_26]

for me the first part is almost like Anarchy's steps. i'll start off with a circle and then a cross to define the eye level and center point(depends wheather its front view or 3/4 view...

then i'll draw soft outlines to work on the proportions (simple shapes)
1>eyes
2>nose
3>mouth
4>face
5>hair

then i'll proceed to adding details to the the eyes, nose,mouth and some shadings.Then i'll proceed to shading the face and finish off with the hair~~

i usually shade with a 2b pencil~for highlights and glare~~ i used art erasers.

[DramaticDigital]

I start with the eyes too, and then I draw the basic features of the inside of the face then outline of the face. But if I’m drawing a profile of a face then I start with the outline.

[Tanika]

I'm a little wierd when it comes to portraits I guess:

*I first make a circle, doesn't matter if it's the right size, I normally make it bigger or smaller, but it's a good guideline for me, I make it very very light.
*Then I make the line of symettry that goes through the center of the face vertically, after that I use the circle and the line as guidelines and I lightly outline the face.
*After that I make a horizontal line to show where the eyes should be.
*Then I map out the following: ears, nose, lips, eyes&eyebrows, hair, and anything else I missed (wrinkles, accessories, scars, etc)
*After that I add details, shading, color, whatever.

Yes....I am odd, but I prefer starting with a circle.

[DramaticDigital]

That circle idea doesn’t sound too bad. I’ve seen variations of that technique around. It seems like it would speed up getting the proportions down so you could have more time to add details. Maybe I’ll give that a try next time I do and portrait.

[Hedge-o-Matic]

Another way to go, after the basic shape is blocked out, is to block out the major shadows and highlights. Within these, then, the details of the eyes and mouth will be placed later, but looking for just shadow and highlights gives you a much bigger shape, and improves in the overall placement of features. This helps likeness quite a bit. Also, the nose is generally nothing but such distinctions, with details like nostrils and creases relatively minor additions. This will get you in the habit of establishing the large visual volumes, and not get lost in the details.

[DramaticDigital]

That’s what we've done in all the art classes I’ve taken. We usually used charcoal and had only 5 minutes or so to block in the shadows. There seems to be a fast learning curve with that method.