How I draw faces (tutorial) (Patreon)

So I had this question come up on Instagram, and after further questions in my story it turns out that a lot of people have problems with drawing hands and faces.
Since I am not a pro and never properly learned any of this, please take this with a grain of salt. This is how I go about drawing faces. And it does look messier when I do it as well but I tried to keep it simple. Usually there is a lot of erasing (digital as well as traditional).

I'll put some more detailed descriptions here to go with the pics, even though I think the pics are self explanatory. Since I am no teacher I don't know what people are struggling with so please let me know if I missed something or if you have specific questions.

1. Starting off with a circle or ball. Thinking about it as a ball from the beginning makes it easier to give your face a three dimensional shape. The circle/ball is a guide for the upper part of the head, NOT for the whole head. I then slice the ball in quarters. These guiding lines help with where the eyes and ears should go. It also shows where the face will be facing and help you with the faces perspective.

2. I then draw the jawline and sketch in details like where the nose and everything should go. I usually don't add an expression when I just draw faces for warm-ups. But you can already sketch in the expression now if you know how you want them to look. It's also important to notice that certain expressions change the shape of the face. Like smiling makes rounder cheeks. Great practice for this is to just sit in front of a mirror and make different expressions and watch your muscles around the chin, mouth, eyes and nose.

3. Erasing the guiding lines is my favorite thing to do! It's like it suddenly reveals the face. If you're happy with where everything is, now is the time to start doing some shading and finish it off. I am usually really lazy when it is just studies or random faces to loosen up before tackling a bigger project.

Next one is the same process just for the front facing portrait.
4. I start with a circle again. This time it is okay to say it is a circle because there is no three dimensional shape to look out for. I quarter the circle again for the guiding lines, draw the jawline and sketch in where the eyes and everything go. At this point I also cut off a bit of the circle on both sides because faces from the front are not round. I chose to go with a different jawline for this face, because I usually have very angular faces and wanted to show how different a face feels if you change small things even though you work with the same base.

5. Time to erase some lines! I changed the face shape around a bit in these last two steps. First, it was a bit broader on one side and second, last minute I decided to not give her as much of an triangular chin. I felt like the rounder chin suited her better. Between pic Nr. 4 and this one you can see how I build the nose. When I came back to drawing humans again I struggled with the nose a lot. As somebody who initially came from a Manga background as a teen I never really cared about how you draw noses but this time around I wanted to learn it. How you draw the nose makes such a huge difference in how people perceive your style, so I looked at how people whos art I admired make their nose. And I found a small tutorial where the artist started with three circles, one big one for the tip of the nose and two smaller ones for the nostrils. It helped me out a lot and it is never bad to look at other artists work and make it work for yourself, as long as you don't straight up copy work. I can make a more detailed description or nose tutorial if people need it.
After some shading (I was lazy, not a lot of shading going on) this one is done as well.

So when I am lazy or have drawn a lot of faces in a short amount of time I don't really use guiding lines.
6. I always start out with the circle because it also helps me to estimate how big the head will be. This is not really needed in digital art since you can always resize but it is a habit I picked up from doing traditional work for 20 years. I try to always draw the jawline next as well, but sometimes I have an idea for an expression or for how I want one specific thing to look, so it could very well be that I just start with the whole thing and add the jaw later.

7. I don't indicate a lot and put in the shapes how I want them right away. In the end this way is often prone to mistakes so I have to change a lot of stuff in the later stages of the face.

8. So this was just made as an example to show how small changes can completely change how a face is perceived. Like the shape of the nose, eyes and jaw.

9.&10. This last bit is just an example on how where you position the eyes and nose and everything can make a big difference as well. This is not a prime example because I feel like I should've worked on that face a bit longer. It has its wonky bits but it works for this I guess? So yeah, the nose is longer and the face itself is a bit more angular. I don't really believe in a "male" and "female" face, so it is hard to describe what I mean when I say it looks different. Maybe more serious. Like somebody who would sell insurance, hahaha. Hope that makes sense.

11. So yes, just some more weird faces. The advice I can give is if you want to get better at drawing faces just draw them. Draw a lot of them, quickly, use reference and be sloppy.

Sometimes you don't have the time to do a long winded study or look for the right reference or obsess over getting the nose right. If you learn something from the face you did draw then it is fine, move on and don't erase it over and over. You don't have to show the bad examples. This is a mindset that we get with social media, but you don't have to show your work to anybody. Just enjoy the process and you will grow!

I hope this was not too long winded, if you have questions or need clarification please message me, I'd love to help out!

<3 Sarah