March 12, 2015a standard female face I've drawn from scratch

Okay Everybody, if you want to know how to draw noses, here is a quick tutorial for how to draw a simple nose. It is a very generic nose looking straight ahead.

Step 1: Sketch the Basic Shapes

Think about each of the major parts of the nose as a shape. Lightly draw these shapes to serve as your guidelines. Draw a long, narrow oval for the bridge and a circle at the bottom for the tip, overlapping the oval. You can draw two half-circles (or overlapping circles) for the nostrils. I often think of the nostrils as “parentheses” when I draw them!

Step 2: Define the Bridge

Remember to think of the bridge of the nose as three surfaces. You are going to define the two sides by drawing two light lines down the oval, and the front should take care of itself. The lines should curve away from each other at the top. Decide where the light is coming from. For this drawing, I decided it is coming from the right (our right). Sketch some heavier shading on the left side and some very light shading on the right.

Step 3: Form the Nostrils

Start forming the nostrils by darkening up your (parentheses) guidelines. I usually don’t make perfectly formed parentheses, because the nostrils tend to flatten out at the bottom where they meet with the face. Start drawing along the bottom part of your circle to begin the nasal passages. You have to remember that that circle represents a ball of cartilage, and there is a little cartilage between the nasal passages too.

Step 4: Finish the Tip and Touch Up

So for the tip of the nose, I added a little shading to round out the ball and the top of the nostrils. Then I erased most of my guidelines; you know, those shapes we began with. Since this is a sketch, I sometimes like to leave a few guidelines and stray marks in. It can add style to your artwork.

So there you have it…the basics for drawing a basic nose! Remember, noses come in many shapes and sizes, just as all facial features do. Still though, you can apply these basic techniques to fit any type of nose you want to draw! Keep practicing!