Heads and faces are the most recognizable objects for humans. We have developed an acute sense of the silhouette of the head and features of the face to recognize fellow humans.

Today I’m just going to talk about the silhouette of the head. At a distance the head aids the most in recognition, and when developing an illustration or drawing of the head, the silhouette should be kept in mind. If the silhouette is not “right”, the viewer will have the feeling of something being wrong, although they might not be able to articulate.

At a distance the head has an oval shape over a cylindrical neck column, which rests on a round but longish base of the shoulders. Something like this …

The upper part of the shape is framed usually in hair, unless you’re losing some of the mane like some of us 😎.

The arrangement of these four can create almost infinite varieties and people are usually able to recognize their near and dear, and people they have seen many times simply by their unique shape.

Remember the head will twist and turn based on the actions of the person and based on your viewpoint, however the silhouette still retains its character most of the times. For most of our near and dear we are able to recognize them even from the back.

This is the sense of recognition in design we must first work towards when beginning drawing heads.

I’ll leave you with this thought and come back for further discussion on this topic soon.

Artfully yours,

Abhishek (art noob)