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How to Draw the Nose – Tutorial

Jul 26, 2009 Drawing, Tutorials

Here is my latest tutorial: how to draw the nose! I have already covered general tips on drawing the nose, now here is a step by step guide to my approach. Hope you enjoy!

1. Start with a good reference photo, as clear and detailed as you can find. Grid it, either digitally or by hand, and grid your paper to correspond. If possible, make a grayscale copy of your reference. This makes it much easier to see differences in tonal value.

2.  With an ‘H’ pencil, Lightly draw in all the shapes and contours you can see. Include the outlines of major shadows and highlights. Carefully erase your grid lines with a kneaded eraser.

3. Use your ‘B’ pencil and start blocking in the darkest areas. Don’t think detail yet, just work on filling in some of the space. The shadows right underneath the edge of the nostrils will always be darkest, fading as they move away.

4. Now that you’ve done the shadows, start shading the midtones, working carefully towards the highlights. Try not to get any graphite inside the areas of the highlights, but get a nice smooth transition.

5. Now you can use your blending stick to blend together the different tones. Use short, regular strokes and work from light to dark so you don’t dirty your highlights. If your blending stick gets too dark, wipe it off on a sheet of scrap paper or roll it in your kneaded eraser.

6. Intensify some of the darkest shadows with your ’2B’ pencil and blend it in.

7. As a last step, use your kneaded eraser to clean up your highlights and lighten any areas that look too dark. Don’t forget about the highlights on the bottom edge of the nostrils!

Related posts:

1. How to Draw Lips – Tutorial
2. How to Draw the Ear – Tutorial
3. How to Draw Eyes – Tutorial
4. How to Draw Hair – Tutorial
5. How to Draw a Portrait – Tutorial Part 1

Tags: draw nose, portraits, Tutorials