CHAPTER 2 | NOSES
There are many ways to draw noses. In this chapter I will show you a few.
SIMPLIFIED NOSE STRUCTURE FROM THE FRONT
Exercise 1: Draw the structure of a nose in three steps as in the first picture. Feel with your own nose whether this structure is correct.
Step 1 (left): The nose starts between your eyebrows with a hard bone. Feel this with your own nose. The bone is drawn very straight here for convenience. .
Step 2 (middle): At the bottom of the bone your nose becomes soft, in the middle drawn as a ball. That is ‘the tip of our nose’. The nostrils appear on either side.
Step 3 (right): A little shadow gives the nose some volume. The light side of the ball is erased.
Exercise 2: Draw a nose this time with visible nostrils (picture). Here the nose bone has taken on a little more shape. Feel/look at the shape of your own nose bone.
In the diagram below, the nose is divided into planes, almost like a building: front, sides, and bottom. This allows you to determine where shadows will appear under a given light direction. With light from us as viewers all receding areas would appear darker than the front (right). This schematic approach can be useful but is also very strict, and ultimately, every nose is unique.
This ‘cast-in-concrete’ nose diagram made me want to play with it. Transforming is one of the things I love about drawing. Maybe you do too… See also the lesson Drawing Game Part 3, Level 3
THE NOSE FROM THE SIDE
When drawing a nose from the side — here, an upturned nose and a crooked nose — straight guide lines could be helpful.
Exercise 3: Draw a profile with a crooked nose and one with an upturned nose, looking at each other.
OTHER VIEWS
Exercise 4: Try a nose in three-quarters as below. Clearly show that the nose has a front. That front side is often forgotten. You can lighten those lines later. The shadow lines (hatching) nicely follow the shape/roundness of the nose.
EXTRA: there are of course many other ways to draw noses. Maybe you’d like to draw some of the following noses below or make noses up yourself.
Especially in comics and cartoons you’ll come across special noses. Big Nose from Pink Panther has indeed a very big nose and Pinocchio gets a long nose when he tells a little lie.
