Hi Everyone!
I am very pleased with all of the self portraits that were shown on FFO challenge. We will have to do this again. I have received a ton of emails with a lot of remarks and questions. First I want to clear something up. Baili, commented on how good I look for 60.
Uhhh that is my first S.P.
The second one is of me now at 73. Eekkk.
Disclaimer..... I am in no way an expert on drawing portraits. However, if I have some knowledge to help others I always will.
More than several people talked to me about proportions on drawing portraits. There are SOOOO many ways to accomplish this. My Nan taught me, when I was a kid, to draw an egg shape then from the top of the head to the hair line measure 1/3, measure features in thirds. Something like this. In addition she would say, "Draw what you see."
the outer part of the nose should line up with the corner of the eyes. The ends of the lips should line up with the middle of the eyes. The cheek bones should line up with the outside of the eyes. Something like this.
You notice that this person measures by fourths until the bottom of the nose and chin. Like I said there are so many ways to draw proportions.
There is also the square up or grid method. This always kind of confused me, and I have heard this form other artist who are dyslexic. You draw what's in the squares.
I want to reiterate that tracing is a perfectly acceptable form of getting started. You can see my post on this here
If you look on google you will find a plethora of information on how to get started. You just have to use what works for you.
There is also the circle method. Draw a circle for the top of the head and then sketch in the jaw line.
Once you have found the starting point that works for you. I encourage you to look at the structure of faces. Check medical images, oh and don't forget skulls. LOL Both of these will help you lay out bone and muscle structure. It's not like a study unless your are going for hyper realism. But to get an idea of what a face is made of so you can add tension in the face you are drawing.
When I first started drawing faces, I tried to make everything even. If this eye was round the other one had to be exact. However, it's almost impossible to sustain this. So for years I look at peoples features. No one has a perfectly symmetrical face. Unless you have some deformity you want fixed, really who wants a face like that?
For art though, a little normal off balance makes a drawing more interesting.
Like this. ha ha ha
One of my practice pieces with colored pencil. 
Back
when I first started drawing faces, an art teacher friend of mine, told me to draw at
least one face a day for 100 days. The improvement was amazing.
What I'm saying is draw with joy, make it fun, laugh at yourself when you make a mistake or you will give up drawing. 
If you are that person who can just free draw, do it! Find your style. What is so wonderful about any art is that we are all individual. If I put 5 people in a room to draw the same face I will have 5 different drawings of that same face. I think that is the beauty of art. No matter what level of artist we are, there is a gift we give ourselves in every stroke we make.
I hope this has helped in some way.
Nicole
