How to hatch a face: which way the strokes run

Hatching is shading made of parallel lines. Where the tone goes is half of it; the other half is which way the lines run. It's easy to pick one comfortable diagonal and lay it over the whole face, and then every plane gets the same texture whichever way it faces. This guide measures which way the strokes run on twenty hatched drawings.

The drawings are the tone plates in the free head rotation reference: ten heads, each from the front and at 45 degrees. A script read the stroke direction in a grid of small squares, 32 to a side of each plate, and kept only squares crossed by at least three parallel strokes, so a single outline doesn't count, though a doubled outline can. We drew every reading back on its plate and checked it by eye, then averaged the readings over the temple, the cheek, the jaw and the neck. Every angle here is measured from upright, so 0 degrees is a vertical stroke and 90 a level one, with a word for which way the top of the stroke leans. Single squares scatter around these averages (a standard deviation of up to 26 degrees on the fronts and 37 at 45 degrees), so differences under about 10 degrees between two areas aren't claimed here. The plates are all in one style, so read the numbers as how these drawings were made, not as a rule.

From the front, the two sides mirror each other

On all ten front plates the hatching on the left half of the face is close to a mirror image of the right half. On the cheeks the two sides land within 13 degrees of an exact mirror, and on the jaw within 10. If one diagonal ran across the whole face, the two cheeks would slant the same way instead.

• Cheeks (from just under the eyes down to the mouth line): the strokes stand 7 to 32 degrees from upright, about 20 on average. On all twenty sides the top of the stroke leans out toward the ear and the bottom in toward the chin.
• Jaw (from the mouth line down to the chin, outside the mouth): the same lean, a little stronger, 13 to 39 degrees from upright and about 26 on average.
• Temples (the sides of the forehead and skull, above the brow): 3 to 21 degrees from upright, but the other way. On all twenty sides the top leans in toward the center.

So the tilt changes somewhere between the temple and the cheek; the band around the eyes and the cheekbone itself wasn't measured. Our reading is that the strokes lean with the outline beside them: in toward the crown above, where the skull narrows, and in toward the chin below, where the face narrows. The outline's own direction wasn't measured on the fronts.

Two heads hatch one side more than the other. On the soft-planes head the script found no hatching on the left jaw, and the high-cheekbones head has more than three times as much on the right temple as on the left. Where both sides are hatched, they still mirror.

At 45 degrees, each plane gets its own direction

On these plates the head turns to the viewer's right, so the ear is on the left and the face on the right.

• Temple: seven heads hatch a patch on the near temple, above the cheekbone and in front of the ear. The strokes stand 37 to 46 degrees from upright, tops leaning toward the face. The heavy-jaw, full-lips and heavy-brow heads leave the temple bare.
• Cheek: below the cheekbone, in front of the ear, nine heads hatch strokes 25 to 42 degrees from upright, tops leaning back toward the ear, so they fall toward the mouth. On the six heads with a temple patch and this kind of cheek, the direction turns by 62 to 87 degrees between the temple and the cheek, close to a right angle.
• Around the jaw: the strokes stand 38 to 58 degrees from upright, tops toward the ear. On seven of the nine heads that hatch the cheek this way they lie 10 to 31 degrees flatter than the cheek strokes; the gaunt-planes and minimal heads keep about the cheek's angle. The jaw edge itself stands 60 to 69 degrees from upright on nine heads, so the hatching runs roughly along the jaw, a little steeper.
• Back of the neck: behind the ear and down the neck, nine heads hatch near-vertical strokes that run with the back of the neck. The outline sits close beside them, so we don't give a figure.
• Below the chin: three heads (deep-folds, square-jaw and heavy-brow) hatch a separate patch on the front of the neck, 20 to 37 degrees from upright, tops toward the face. On some others the strokes under the chin run into the jaw hatching and weren't counted apart.

One head keeps a single diagonal

The hard-plane head at 45 degrees hatches the cheek 44 degrees from upright, tops toward the face, the same direction as its temple patch, with almost no scatter. It is the only head of the ten that hatches the cheek this way. Its catalog note describes distinct changes of direction between brow, cheek and jaw, and the angular face guide shows its cheek tone stopping at a firm edge. Six of the other nine turn the strokes between temple and cheek; heavy-jaw, full-lips and heavy-brow have no temple patch to turn from.

Order of work

This order follows these plates. Stroke spacing, length and pressure aren't measured here, and your own light may call for other directions.

1. Decide where the tone goes first. The light and the shadow edge come before any stroke; how to shade a head, one light at a time sets them.
2. From the front, mirror the two sides. Lean the cheek strokes in toward the chin, about 20 degrees from upright, a little more toward the jaw.
3. Reverse the lean at the temples, with the tops leaning in toward the crown.
4. At a turn, hatch the temple about 40 degrees from upright, tops toward the face, then turn the strokes below the cheekbone so they fall toward the mouth, about 30 degrees from upright.
5. Around the jaw, lay the strokes about 50 degrees from upright, roughly along the jaw edge.
6. Run the back of the neck near upright, with the neck's outline.

Checks against the plates

• One diagonal over the whole face. From the front none of the ten heads does it; the sides mirror within 13 degrees on the cheeks.
• The same lean above and below the eyes. From the front the tilt reverses between temple and cheek on all twenty sides.
• Hatching every area. Three heads leave the temple bare at 45 degrees.

Related guides

The planes of the head names the temple, cheek and jaw planes this guide hatches. How to draw cheekbones places the cheekbone between the temple and cheek patches, and how to draw a jawline draws the edge the jaw hatching runs along.

A short exercise

Draw the square-jaw head from the front and at 45 degrees, side by side. On the front view, hatch both cheeks with the strokes leaning in toward the chin, then the temples with the tops leaning in. On the turned view, hatch the temple with the tops toward the face, turn the strokes below the cheekbone, and lay them flatter along the jaw. Then draw the hard-plane head at 45 degrees with one diagonal on temple and cheek, and compare the two turned heads with their plates.

The square-jaw head is Study Pack 07 in Volume 2, and the hard-plane head is Study Pack 01 in Volume 1, sixteen angles in pencil and tone.

This guide is one step in how to draw the head at any angle, which puts all the head guides in order.