The drawing of kids demands freshness and directness of purpose. Regrettably, there are not too many quick and ready rules. Let us just say that kids’ portraits demand a keen and patient eye.

For those who intend to do commercial portraiture the good news is that kids’ portraits can be lucrative. There are very few artists who can capably draw kids.

Soft lighting works best for portraits of kids. The kid could be looking towards a bright light source. This sort of light source will light up the kid’s face and produce an introspective facial appearance. The tone stretch goes from light to medium with the eyes very dark.

Addressing the facial proportions of kids in a general sense is somewhat of a waste of time. Their facial proportions change dramatically within a six month time span.

Suffice it to say that the younger the kid is the smaller the face in relation to the head. The eyes also appear larger although this can be deceiving. A kid’s nose can be very difficult to draw – there is nothing really to hold onto. And the mouth is very delicate and sensitive not to mention its constant motion if you draw from a model.

If you do want to list some general proportions you can say that whereas an adult face is about 1/2 the size of the frontal head side, a kid’s face is about one-third of that size. Also, note how little an infant’s neck is compared to the size of the head.

At its widest segment, a baby’s face is about five eye widths wide. The width between the eyes is a tiny bit more than the width of an eye. Both the mouth and the nose are about the same width of an eye. Again, we must stress that these proportions are only a general rule and individual face proportions can be different. The above general rules can be utilized for comparison purposes when you do your own careful observations of a particular face.

As always, start your rendering by striking the arabesque and then correcting the height/width proportions as necessary.

After establishing the primary facial proportions (i.e., the brow, nose, mouth, etc.) block-in the major light/dark patterns. Then, stump down the graphite using your fingers or a stump. To render and re-shape the lights make use of a clean kneaded eraser.

Now the features are carefully placed, measured and partially rendered. There are two points to take into account here:

1. Your pencils must be real sharp, and

2. At this point, you should never fully complete a feature. Draw each feature no more than 50%.

Once the features are sized and positioned as best you can, you can now further expand them. Do not neglect the hair and sides of the face. Everything should be advanced together. As you proceed to draw you should always be on the lookout for mistakes in proportions and tone.

In closing, the fundamental procedures utilized to draw a kid’s portrait are of course always the same. Above, we listed most of the differences in proportion and form between an adult head and that of a kid. Your mood when drawing a kid should be one that reflects the innocence and the softness of a kid.

Do you want to learn the secrets of pencil portrait drawing? Download my brand new free pencil portrait drawing course here: portrait drawing tutorial.

Remi Engels is a pencil portrait artist and oil painter and practiced drawing teacher. See his work at pencil portraits.

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