Ever looked at a drawing you did of someone from the side and felt like the face was basically sliding off the skull? It happens to everyone. You nail the nose, the lips look decent, but then the back of the head is missing or the neck connects in a way that looks like a thumb. Honestly, learning how to draw a side profile is less about "artistic talent" and more about understanding that the human head is actually a giant, awkward sphere attached to a cylinder.
Most beginners make the mistake of drawing the profile as a flat, vertical line. Humans aren't cardboard cutouts. We have depth. We have weird protrusions. If you look at the work of classical masters like Andrew Loomis—whose book Drawing the Head and Hands is basically the Bible for this stuff—you realize the secret is all in the initial construction of the "cranial ball." If your circle is wrong, the whole face is doomed before you even pick a pencil for the eyelashes.
The Loomis Method: Why Your Circle Matters
Let’s talk about the circle. It isn't just a circle; it represents the cranium. When you start learning how to draw a side profile, you have to flatten the sides of that sphere. Think of it like slicing the sides off an orange. This flat area is where the temporal muscle sits.
Once you have that circle, you divide it. A horizontal line across the middle marks the brow line. A vertical line down the center of the side-plane helps you locate the ear. This is where people trip up. The ear doesn't just go "somewhere in the middle." It actually sits in the lower back quadrant of that sliced-off circle. If you put the ear too far forward, the person looks like they’re wearing a mask. Too far back? They look like an alien.
The jaw starts right behind the ear. It drops down, angles toward the chin, and defines the entire structure of the lower face. You’ve got to remember that the distance from the brow to the nose-bottom is roughly the same as the distance from the nose-bottom to the chin. Symmetry is a lie in nature, but in construction, these proportions keep things from looking "off."
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Mapping the Features Without Losing Your Mind
Now, let's get into the "S" curve of the face. This is the hallmark of a good side profile.
The forehead usually has a slight outward bump, then it dips in at the bridge of the nose. The nose itself is a triangle, basically. But don't just draw a triangle. Think about the septum and the flare of the nostril. Beneath the nose, there’s a small dip called the philtrum. Then the lips.
The top lip usually hangs slightly over the bottom lip. It’s a subtle "M" shape from the side. The bottom lip is more of a "U." If you align them perfectly vertically, the character looks like they’re pressing their face against a window. Give them some rhythm. The chin then rounds out, usually lining up roughly with the front of the forehead.
- The Eye: From the side, the eye isn't an almond shape. It’s a triangle or a "V" lying on its side.
- The Eyelid: It wraps around the eyeball. You should see the thickness of the lid.
- The Neck: It doesn't go straight down. It tilts forward. The back of the neck starts higher up the skull than you think, near the base of the "cranial ball."
Common Mistakes That Kill the Realism
I see this all the time: the "Flat Head Syndrome."
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People get so focused on the face—the eyes, the nose, the mouth—that they forget there is a whole brain back there. The back of the head needs volume. If you measured from the tip of the nose to the back of the head, it’s often a similar distance as the top of the head to the chin. It’s a big "square" shape overall.
Another weird one is the "Floating Ear." The ear is the anchor. It aligns with the top of the brow and the bottom of the nose. If your character is looking up, that alignment shifts, but for a standard profile, keep those landmarks in mind.
And please, stop drawing individual hairs like a haystack. Hair has volume. It sits on top of the skull line you drew earlier. If you draw the hair directly on the skull line, your person looks like they have the thinnest hair in human history. Give it some lift.
Perspective and Tilting
What happens when the head isn't perfectly level? This is where "foreshortening" enters the chat, and it’s a nightmare for beginners. When someone looks down, the brow line curves downward. The ears appear to move "up" relative to the features.
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When you’re practicing how to draw a side profile, try drawing it from a slightly low angle (worm's eye view). You’ll see the underside of the chin and the nostrils. It’s harder, sure, but it’s what makes a drawing look like a living person instead of a sticker.
Actionable Steps to Improve Your Profile Drawings
Don't just read this and think you've got it. Art is muscle memory.
- The 30-Circle Challenge: Fill a page with 30 circles. Don't worry about faces yet. Just draw the circles and the "side-plane" chops. Practice putting the ear in that back-bottom quadrant over and over.
- Ghosting the Lines: Before you commit with a dark pencil, "ghost" the shape of the nose and jaw. Use light, sweeping motions. Heavy lines are hard to fix.
- Reference Real Humans: Go to a site like Pinterest or Line-of-Action. Look at real people, not just other people's drawings. See how different ethnicities and ages change the profile. A child's profile has a much larger forehead and a smaller jaw. An elderly person's profile might show more prominent bone structure and sagging skin around the neck.
- The Negative Space Check: Look at the air in front of the face. Does the shape of the empty space look right? Sometimes our brains lie to us about the "positive" shape (the face), but the "negative" shape (the air) tells the truth.
Stop aiming for a masterpiece on the first try. It’s going to look wonky for a while. That’s fine. Just keep that cranial ball in mind, remember the ear is an anchor, and give the back of the head enough room to actually hold a brain.
Final Pro-Tip for Depth
Add a tiny bit of shading under the jawline and in the eye socket. Even a rough sketch looks 10x more professional when you acknowledge that light hits the forehead and nose while leaving the area under the chin in shadow. This separates the head from the neck and creates that 3D pop everyone wants.
Go grab a 2B pencil and a cheap sketchbook. Start with the circle. Chop the side. Place the ear. Build the face. You’ve got this.