How to draw a heart-shaped face: a narrow jaw under a full skull

A heart-shaped face is usually described as a wide forehead over a pointed chin. On the drawn heads measured here, neither part is extreme on its own. The heart-shaped head has a skull of ordinary width, a chin that's flat along the bottom, and a jaw that is narrower than usual from the ear lobe down, most of all just above the chin.

All ten heads come from the free head rotation reference. On each front plate we divided the jaw's width a sixth of the head's height above the chin by the skull's width at its widest. The lowest figures are the full-lips head at about two thirds and the deep-folds head a little wider. Five heads sit between about seven tenths and three quarters. The hard-plane, gaunt-planes and heavy-jaw heads come out at about five sixths, partly because their skulls are the three narrowest. Divided by the head's height instead, the full-lips and deep-folds jaws are still the narrowest, at just under half the height against a little over half for the rest. So we take the full-lips head as the heart-shaped one: a jaw at the narrow end under a skull at the wide end.

The figures compare it with the heavy-brow head, which sits in the middle at nearly three quarters and has the same skull, within 1 percent of its width. The two heads are only one and a half percent apart in height, so their widths can be compared directly. The numbers describe these drawings, not people: distances are compared as shares of each head's own height or width; the outlines are easier to read than the sides beside the ears, so treat the widths as rough measures.

From the front

Just above the ears the two faces are the same width, within 1 percent. Below that they part. Here is how much narrower the full-lips face is at each height above the chin:

• A third of the head's height above the chin, about the middle of the ear: about 7 percent narrower.
• A quarter of the height above, near the bottom of the ear lobe: about 8 percent.
• A sixth above: about 9 percent.
• Just over a tenth above: about 8 percent.
• About a twelfth above: about 12 percent.
• A twentieth above: about a quarter narrower.
• Just above the chin, where both chins flatten out: about 10 percent.

From the middle of the ear to just over a tenth of the height above the chin the full-lips face is a steady 7 to 9 percent narrower, about half of that on each side. A twentieth of the height above the chin the gap jumps to about a quarter.

Lean the sides at the usual rate

Below the ear lobe both heads lean in about one part on each side for every four parts down. Eight of the ten heads lean in about a fifth to a third of the distance they drop; only the hard-plane head, at about a sixth, and the heavy-jaw head, at about a seventh, run nearly straight down. So the heart shape doesn't come from a steeper lean. The full-lips face is already narrower at the lobe and keeps leaning at the usual rate from there.

Don't carry the width into the chin

The bigger difference is just above the chin. On the heavy-brow head the jaw comes down steeply, at about 50 degrees from the horizontal between just over a tenth and a twentieth of the height above the chin, then bends to about 20 degrees into a broad chin. On the full-lips head the jaw comes in at about 40 degrees and only flattens to about 30, so it reaches the chin already narrow, with no bend to read as a corner.

The chin itself isn't a point. Allowing for a slight unevenness in the line, the full-lips chin runs flat along the bottom for about a tenth to an eighth of the head's height, against an eighth to a seventh on the heavy-brow head. A pointed chin isn't what makes this face heart-shaped; the narrow stretch just above it is.

At three-quarter

At 45 degrees the far side of the face shows the shape best. From a third of the height above the chin to a fifteenth above it, the full-lips contour comes in about 3 parts for every 10 down. Over the same stretch the heavy-brow contour comes in about 1 part in 8 and the heavy-jaw contour less than 1 in 10. Draw the far side of a heart-shaped face as a slant from the cheek to the chin. A profile can't show width, so the front and three-quarter views carry the shape.

Drawing it

1. Set the head's height and the skull first, as in drawing different face shapes from one construction. Keep the skull at a full width, a little under three quarters of the height.
2. Narrow the face below the middle of the ear, to a little over half the head's height at the bottom of the lobe, a quarter of the height above the chin.
3. Lean each side in at the usual rate, about 2 to 3 parts for every 10 down, to just under half the height at a sixth of the height above the chin.
4. Bring the jaw into the chin steadily, without a bend: at a twentieth of the height above the chin, the face should be only a little over a quarter of the height across.
5. Flatten the bottom of the chin for about a tenth to an eighth of the head's height.
6. At three-quarter, slant the far side from the cheek to the chin.

Common mistakes

• Widening the skull. It stays at the usual width; the jaw does the work.
• Sharpening the chin to a point. The chin stays flat along the bottom.
• Steepening the lean. It's the usual lean on a narrower face.
• Letting the jaw bend into a broad chin. That's what keeps a face square.

What else is going on

The two heads set their eyes at nearly the same height, a little below halfway down from the crown, so face length doesn't separate them (see how to draw a long face). The full-lips head's mouth has a guide of its own in how to draw full lips. The deep-folds head has nearly as narrow a jaw on an older face. These heads are bald, so the hairline, which often carries a heart shape in a portrait, isn't covered here. They are ten drawings in one style, so try the steps on other heads before you rely on them.

A short exercise

Trace the heavy-brow head at 0 degrees lightly, keeping the crown, the skull and the bottom of the chin where they are. Bring each side in about 2 percent of the head's height all the way from the middle of the ear to a twelfth of the height above the chin, then about 4 percent at a twentieth above the chin and about 1 percent just above it. Compare it with the full-lips head at 0 degrees, then try the far side at 45 degrees.

The jaw's corner is placed in how to draw a jawline, and an outline that keeps bending in how to draw a round face. The full-lips head is Study Pack 08 and the heavy-brow head Study Pack 10, both in Volume 2.

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