How to Draw a Face

Seven steps from a circle to a character with feelings. Works for any style, from stick figures to Sunday pages.

A cartoon face is a circle with a few decisions on it. The decisions are what make it somebody. Here's the construction cartoonists use, followed by the part that actually matters: making the face act.

1. Draw a circle

Lightly draw a circle — the cranium. It doesn't need to be perfect; cartoon heads are rarely round anyway. Add a slightly tilted vertical line down the middle: that's the direction the face is looking.

2. Place the eye line

Draw a horizontal line across the circle. In a realistic face it sits halfway down; in cartoons it sits lower — the bigger the forehead, the younger and cuter the character. Charlie Brown's eyes are almost at the bottom.

3. Add the jaw

Hang the jaw below the circle: a small U for a child, a longer one for an adult, a square for a tough guy. The circle plus the jaw is the whole head shape — make it distinctive and the character is half designed.

4. Eyes on the line

Put two eyes on the eye line, about one eye-width apart. Dots for a minimal style, circles with a pupil for expressive ones. Pupils close together read as focused or cross-eyed; far apart reads as vacant or goofy.

5. Nose, then mouth

The nose goes on the centre line halfway between the eyes and the chin — a single curve, a hook, a button, a triangle. The mouth sits between nose and chin; a simple line is enough, and its curve does most of the emotional work.

6. Ears and hair

Ears sit between the eye line and the nose, on the sides of the circle. Hair is a single shape that sits on top of the head like a hat — draw the outline, not individual strands. Hair shape is the most recognisable part of most characters.

7. Eyebrows last

Two short lines above the eyes. Angle them down toward the nose for anger, up for worry, raise both for surprise, flatten them for boredom. Move nothing but the eyebrows and mouth and you can draw every emotion.

Now make it act

Draw the same face six times. Change only the eyebrows and the mouth:

  • Happy: mouth curves up, eyebrows relaxed and slightly raised.
  • Sad: mouth curves down, inner ends of the eyebrows up.
  • Angry: inner ends of the eyebrows down hard, mouth a flat line or a snarl.
  • Surprised: both eyebrows high, eyes bigger, mouth a small O.
  • Bored: eyebrows flat, eyelids half down (a line across the top of each eye), mouth flat.
  • Scheming: one eyebrow up, one down, mouth curled up on one side. Calvin's whole personality.

Drawing different people

The old version of this lesson covered the differences between drawing men and women. In cartoon terms it comes down to shape language, not anatomy: rounder, softer shapes and longer eyelashes read as feminine in most strips; squarer jaws, heavier eyebrows and stubble read as masculine. Age works the same way — a big cranium and low eyes for children, a smaller cranium and lines beside the mouth for adults, a sunken mouth and glasses for grandparents. Push the shapes and skip the detail.

The profile

Same circle, but the centre line runs down the front edge. The nose sticks out from it, the mouth tucks in beneath, the ear sits in the middle of the circle. Profiles are where a strong nose shape pays off — Dagwood, Popeye and Andy Capp are all instantly recognisable side-on.

Back to cartooning lessons · next up, drawing techniques.