Drawing a face isn't as hard as it looks. To draw a realistic human face, it takes mapping out the face correctly before you fill in the finer detail. If you would like to get the most out of this article, I recommend sitting down with a pad and paper and drawing each step as you read it.

To begin, start with an egg shaped oval. Draw a line down the center of this egg. This line will give you a midpoint for measuring eye separation, nose width, etc.

Next, separate the egg shape into 3 equal portions (horizontal lines) with 2 lines. The top of the egg will be be the top of the hairline and the bottom of that segment will be the eyebrows. The second segment goes from the eyebrows to the bottom of the nose. The third segment goes from the bottom of the nose to the bottom of the chin.

Two of these segments turned sideways will give you the measurement sideways from cheek to cheek.

The measurement of one eye should be equal to the distance between the two eyes. The corner of each eye should line up with the wings of the nose.

If you divide the third segment (under the nose) in half, with a horizontal line, you have the line for the bottom of the bottom lip. The corners of the mouth should line up with the middle of the pupil of the eye.

The ears should be visible from a front view as they do not sit flat on the side of your head. These points can be found by finding the middle segment from the eyebrow to the bottom of the nose. The ears should only stick out about as far as from the center line of the head to the wing of the nose.

The hair can be drawn by drawing the hair from the edge of the ear up. The top of the hair is ¾ of one of the segment lengths up from the hair line.

Adam Reeder is a professional artist who is currently working on a masters degree at The San Francisco Academy of Art University.

Many beginners of art tend to forget one of the most important aspects of composition: negative space. Negative space is the area void of drawing around and between the subject. Used correctly, negative space adds interest to your subject and allows the eye to travel around the finished composition. When starting to learn to draw, however, there are exercises that can teach about negative space and allow a lot more expression then pencil alone.
For this exercise you will need the following: some good light weight sketch paper, soft dark black charcoal, a kneading eraser, a plastic eraser, and a picture of the subject you wish to draw. You can find all these items at any art supply store or even retail outlets like Walmart. The idea is to use the erasers as your drawing tools and create an image with negative space.
To begin, black out your paper using the dark charcoal. Don't press to hard, just enough to cover the page in charcoal dust. Next, use your fingers to smudge the charcoal all around your paper, making a nice smooth consistency throughout. Now, begin by using your plastic eraser which will erase just about anything almost completely, and create an outline of your subject. Next, look at the picture of your subject and decide where the strongest highlights are and erase those out as well. Finish by using the kneading eraser, which you can form into any shape you like, and create the middle tones. Leave the black charcoal in your design for the dark shadows. Use either of the erasers to clean up your drawing and your finished.
Using this method, you'll create a composition by erasing out negative space rather then trying to draw positive space. This is an effective exercise for learning to see shapes and patterns in your subjects as well as becoming familiar with your erasers which are just as important as your pencils and charcoal. Its also a great exercise to develope shading skills. I used these methods to create the image seen with this article. With a little practice, you can turn out drawings like this in no time.