How To Draw A Human Male

This tutorial explains how to proportion and draw a male face. It includes detailed explanations and illustrated examples for each step and can apply to whatever medium you choose to draw in.

This tutorial covers the following step of drawing a male face:

Drawing the Head
Drawing the Detail of the Head Shape
Dividing the Face Proportions
Placing the Eyebrows
Placing the Nose
Placing the Ears
Placing the Eyes
Placing the Mouth
Drawing the Face Shape Details
Drawing the Details of the Facial Features
Drawing the Hair
Drawing the Hair Details

In addition to providing instruction on drawing a male face the tutorial also provides instructions on how to approach the drawing process in general in the correct way.

If you are going to be following along with pencil and paper be sure to make light lines for the initial part of the drawing process so that you can then easily erase any guide lines.

Defining Features of a Male Face

Some defining features of a male face compared to a female one are more pronounced features and a rougher overall shape with sharper corners.

Males also tend to have longer faces and bigger and wider jaws.

Male Facial Proportions

Before you begin drawing it's good to have an idea of where the different facial features are generally located though this will also be covered in each individual step.

Different heads and faces can vary in shape and size as well as in the shapes and sizes of their facial features. There is no one proportions guide that will perfectly fit every face.

With that said this guide does provide a good foundation that can help you avoid making major mistakes when drawing a face. Just remember that it's flexible, meaning that the proportions and placement of some facial features can be adjusted based on different face types.

How to Draw a Face

Draw the biggest shapes first and work your way down to the smaller shapes and details.
Sketch out simplified shapes of the facial features and refine them after you have positioned all of the major parts of the face.
Keep different parts of you drawing in roughly the same state of completion. For example you do not want to fully draw out one eye and then find out that it looks off when you place the second eye. The correct way to draw is to first place both eyes by drawing the outline shape of each.

Step 1 – Drawing the Head

Start your drawing by making a vertical line in the middle of your drawing area. This line will help you insure that both halves of the head and face are of even width and that the facial featuers will be placed symmetrically.

Make a circle for the top of the head. From that circle draw two lines going down towards one another followed by two curves and two more lines. Finally join these with yet another curve to to create the bottom of the chin.

Step 2 – Drawing the Detail of The Head Shape

Refine the shape of the top of the head based on the above example. In this case we will crop some of the circle around the sides of the head and make the top area a little less curved. Afterwards draw in the outer shapes of the cheek bones.

You can erase the circle guidelines after you are done with this step.

Step 3 – Dividing the Face Proportions

Divide the face into four parts using horizontal lines. Draw these lines starting from the hairline (placed slightly below the top of the head) down to the chin to create three evenly spaced portions of the face plus the fourth smaller one at the very top.

Step 4 – Placing the Eyebrows

Sketch the eyebrows directly below the second line from the top. As the eyebrows are not a very complex shape you can draw them without too much simplification.

Step 5 – Placing the Nose

The nose starts near the inner tips of the eyebrows. You can first sketch out the nose as a simplified shape with flat planes for the front, sides and bottom. Draw the nose narrower as it gets closer to the bridge and from there it should widen again towards the mouth area.

The nose will go down slightly past the middle portions of the three even divisions of the face. Longer noses can go farther down while shorter noses can be closer to the actual line.

Step 6 – Placing the Ears

Draw the shape of the outline of the ears inside the middle portion of the three evenly spaced divisions touching the second and third line from the top.

Step 7 – Placing the Eyes

Draw another line directly through the middle of the head and on it draw the outline shape of the eyes (don't draw the pupils at this stage). Place the eyes far enough apart that you can fit another eye in between them. Be sure to also leave enough space on the side of each eye. This will usually be slightly less then the width of an eye.

Step 8 – Placing the Mouth

Draw a line between the bottom of the nose and the bottom of the chin. This line will represent the very bottom of the bottom lip. Above that you can draw two more lines to indicate the mouth opening and the top of the top lip. The bottom lip will usually be "taller" than the top lip so space the lines accordingly.

For more on drawing lips see:

How to Draw Different Types of Lips

Once you place these lines you can draw four more lines going from the sides of the bottom and top line to the sides of the middle line to create the rough shape of the mouth.

After the facial features are placed you should have a fully proportion sketch of the face.

Step 9 – Face Shape Details

Draw a set of lines to indicate the inner parts of the cheekbones. From there draw a pair of lines going directly down the face and curving around the mouth towards the upper half of the chin. You can draw the upper part of the chin with a curved line just a little bit below the bottom lip.

You can also indicate the forehead with just a few curved lines. Keep in mind that in the front view this area sort of curves outwards around the eyebrows.

Step 10 – Drawing the Details of the Facial Features

Based on the placement sketches of the various facial features you can now create more detailed drawings.

Step by Step Male Eye Drawing

Male eye front view drawing step by step

The irises of the eyes will be covered by the top eyelid and often very slightly by the bottom eyelid as well.

With that said don't forget that in this view the irises are basically circles. You may want to fully draw them out over the top of the eyelids and erase the covered parts later just to make sure you draw a proper circle.

Fore more on drawing eyes also see:

How to Draw Eye Expressions Step by Step

Step by Step Male Lips Drawing

Male lips front view drawing step by step

Draw the top lip as a sort of flattened "M" shape.

One important thing to note about the lips that may not be so obvious is that the bottom lip is actually composed of two light curves (more obvious in some people than others).

Step by Step Male Nose Drawing

Male nose front view drawing step by step

The nose is can be a little tricky to draw as its a fairly irregular shape. Generally the tip will be close to a circular shape. The position of the tip can vary from person to person. You can indicate the sides of the nose with two curved lines.

Step by Step Male Ear Drawing

Male ear front view drawing step by step

The ears are very irregular in their shape. You may want to see the ear drawing tutorial for more on drawing them.

How to Draw an Ear From the Front Step by Step
How to Draw an Ear Step by Step – Side View

Generally in this view you will have an inner shape inside the ear that sort of warps out around the ear holes and slightly sticks out to the sides . It then branches out in two towards the top.

Eyebrows

The eyebrows are fairly simple to draw so you can simply go over the shape you drew earlier and refine it as needed.

Step 11 – Drawing the Hair

Start drawing the hair by first outlining the hairline. After that outline the top shape of the hair.

The hairline tends to go up from the ears curving to above the eyebrows. From there it curves again towards the middle of the forehead. Near the middle of the forehead the hairline starts curving down.

Step 12 – Drawing the Hair Details

For the final step you will want to add some details to the hair.

For this particular hairstyle (combed back short hair) the hair will sort of fan out from the center of the head and curve downwards and point even more downwards as it progresses towards the ears.

Indicate the different hair clumps and hair by drawing some lines in the directions described above. Try and vary these in length and distance from one another as well as their start and end points to give the hair an uneven and more natural look.

For more on drawing different male hair styles see:

How to Draw Male Hair Step by Step

Conclusion

It can be very difficult to correctly proportion and draw a face but hopefully this tutorial has given you some good insight into drawing male faces. If you would like some more tips on drawing various facial features you can check out the Tutorials section of the website.

For drawing a female face see:

How to Draw a Female Face Step by Step Tutorial