A pencil portrait drawing from life starts with the “striking” of the arabesque. Striking the arabesque means drawing the outer contour of the skull with the accurate proportions, form, and theappropriate symmetry.

Once you have drawn a reasonably appropriate arabesque it is time to place the main landmarks of the skull. That means that we will correctly place the most essential spots of the skull. These spots will then be used as references for mapping out the rest of the skull features.

Here is something that may aid you with this task: work with your eyes a bit out-of-focus. This is called looking with a “soft eye”. Somehow this makes it easier to correctly resolve forms and sizes. It also assists you with suppressing the preconceived notions we all have of certain entities.

Let us assume that we are working from a 3/4 skull profile.

* The Brow Ridge – is the first significant landmark. To locate the brow ridge you must first take your best guess at where you think it is and only then check it by sighting.

Note that to coach your eyes it is better to first guess lengths, angles, etc. and test them later. There is nothing to gain from pre- sizing.

Sighting denotes to use your pencil with fixed arm and checking lengths along the pencil with your thumb and index finger and an eye closed.

So then, first sight from the bottom of the chin to a point on the brow ridge (just select an arbitrary point on the ridge. But once chosen you should stick with it.

Now raise your pencil so that your thumb is on your point on the brow ridge and note where your pencil point is. It should be a tiny distance above the top of the skull. Mark on your drawing where you can best place that spot above the skull. This point is called the “check-point”.

Note that whenever there is a choice, you should always size the shortest distance because doing so tends to be more accurate.

Your point on the brow ridge should, if it was placed correctly, be precisely halfway between the bottom of the chin and your check-point. If it is not – then change the placement of your brow ridge.

* Jaw Hinge – Now you can tag the width of the head. In the 3/4 view the hinge of the jaw is an important landmark. Again, take your best guess then check by sighting horizontally from the hinge of the jaw to the outer edge of the cheek bone and vertically relating that measure from the bottom of the chin.

* Top Nasal Bone – Since we have already placed the brow ridge we now only have to estimate a small distance to find the top of the nasal bone. If you placed the hinge of the jaw correctly, it should equal the distance from the bottom of the chin to the nasal bone. If you are off a little, then correct the placement of the hinge of the jaw. Again, assume that the smallest distance estimated is the accurate one.

Now that these main landmarks are placed you can further work out the arabesque. I find it best to further resolve only the back, least intricate, part of the skull at this early time.

* Facial Angle – Lastly, you need to place the facial angle which is the center line of the face. Draw a slightly bending line from the middle of the mental tubercle up through the center of the brow ridge.

The placement of the facial angle is very significant. You have to feel your way through this as there is no way to correctly measure it.

Once the facial angle is placed proceed with drawing the arabesque carefully observing the form of the mouth area, the forehead, and all other features that are expressed in the form of the arabesque.

With this, we have placed all the fundamental landmarks that will assist us with the mapping of the rest of the features such as the ears and nose.

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

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