How to draw a jawline from the side: where the corner goes

From the side, the jaw is two lines and a corner: a back edge that drops from under the ear, and a jaw line that runs forward to the chin. Put the corner in the wrong place and the whole lower face looks off, even when both lines are well drawn. It's often placed level with the lower lip. On the ten drawn heads we measured, it sits lower, level with the hollow under the lower lip, on every head.

The heads are the ten bald heads in the free head rotation reference, read on the profile pencil plates, with the ear and lip landmarks from our ears from the side and lips from the side measurements. A script traced the back edge and the jaw line on each plate, fitted a straight line to each, and took the corner where the two lines meet; we checked every fit on enlarged overlays. Lengths in nose lengths run from the eye line to the base of the nose; measure that on your own drawing, and if it's 4 cm, a quarter of a nose length is 1 cm.

The corner is a construction point. Where the drawn corner is rounded, the curve passes a little inside it. Its position holds to about a tenth of a nose length however the lines are fitted. On seven heads the angle moved 2 to 6 degrees across our fits, and a reviewer's own fit came out up to 6 degrees wider on two of them, so read the angles to about 5 degrees. On the gaunt-planes, soft-planes and heavy-brow heads the jaw line is faint or broken, so we give no angle or jaw-line slope for those three. The numbers describe ten drawings, not people's jaws, so use them to check your own drawing.

Level with the hollow under the lower lip

Between the lower lip and the chin, the outline dips in. On some heads it's a real notch, on most a shallow sag; either way, find the point that sits deepest behind a straight line from the front of the lower lip to the front of the chin. That's the hollow under the lower lip, and the corner sits level with it: within a tenth of a nose length on seven heads and within a sixth on all ten, from about a twelfth of a nose length above it to a sixth below. The gaunt-planes and heavy-jaw corners sit furthest below it.

That puts the corner below the lip itself, by about a quarter of a nose length (about a sixth to nearly half), and below the line between the lips by about half (about two fifths to seven eighths).

A second check works as well: measured from the base of the nose down to the bottom of the chin, the corner sits a little past halfway to nearly two thirds of the way down. A mark a little short of three fifths of the way lands within about a seventh of a nose length of the corner on every head, but that is the middle of these ten, so it fits them by design; the hollow needs no number at all. Use whichever is easier to see on your drawing. The chin's bottom is still about six tenths of a nose length below the corner (from just over half to nearly three quarters).

The square-jaw head (left) and the hard-plane head in profile, at one scale. The lines are the fitted back edge and the first stretch of the jaw line, meeting at the corner (ring). The dashed line runs level from the corner; the tick at its end marks the hollow under the lower lip, just above it on both heads. The corner angles are 119 and 136 degrees.

Under the ear, a little in front of the lobe

Across the head, the corner sits under the ear: in front of the bottom of the lobe by about a quarter of a nose length (about an eighth to two fifths) and below it by about seven tenths (about half to nearly a full nose length). On none of the ten is it behind the lobe.

From the corner to the front of the chin is about two nose lengths across the page (from about one and two thirds to two and a half).

What sets the angle

On the seven heads with a clear jaw line, the back edge runs down and forward from under the ear, 5 to 22 degrees off vertical, about 13 on a typical head. The jaw line leaves the corner dropping toward the chin, 21 to 32 degrees below level, about 25, and flattens as it nears the chin on most heads.

Those two leans make the corner. By geometry, its angle is a right angle plus the lean of the back edge plus the drop of the jaw line. On the seven heads it runs from 119 to 136 degrees:

Square-jaw, 119 degrees. The back edge stands nearly upright, 5 degrees off vertical. This is the tightest corner of the seven.
High-cheekbones 126, heavy-jaw 128, full-lips 128, minimal 130. The middle of the range.
Deep-folds 135, hard-plane 136. The deep-folds jaw line drops steeply, 32 degrees; the hard-plane back edge leans 22 degrees.

So there are two ways to change the corner without moving it. Standing the back edge up tightens it, as on the square-jaw head, whose jaw line drops about as much as the others'. A steeper jaw line opens it, as on deep-folds. Either way the corner stays level with the hollow under the lip. A heavy jaw isn't the same thing as a square corner: the heavy-jaw head's corner is in the middle of the range.

The high-cheekbones head in profile. Its corner is 126 degrees, a little over a quarter of a nose length in front of the bottom of the earlobe and nearly three quarters below it, and just below the hollow under the lower lip.

Order of work

Draw the profile outline down to the chin, with the lower lip and the hollow under it.
Run a light level line back from the hollow under the lower lip toward the ear.
Drop the back edge from under the earlobe, leaning it forward about 13 degrees, or nearly upright for a square jaw. Where it meets the level line is the corner, about a quarter of a nose length in front of the bottom of the lobe.
Run the jaw line forward from the corner, dropping about 25 degrees at first, then flattening into the chin about two nose lengths ahead.
Round the corner as much as the head calls for. A soft corner passes a little inside the point where the lines meet.

Common mistakes

These are checked against the ten plates, not against people.

The corner level with the lower lip or the mouth. It sits lower, level with the hollow under the lip.
The corner behind the ear. It sits under the ear, a little in front of the lobe.
The same back edge on every head. Its lean runs from 5 to 22 degrees on these plates, and it sets how tight the corner is.
Squaring a jaw by moving the corner. Stand the back edge up instead, as on the square-jaw head, and keep the corner where it is.

What these numbers don't cover

We measured the jaw in profile only, not from the front or at three-quarter, and not the underside of the jaw or the neck lines below it. The corner is a construction point, not a mark on the drawing, and the angle is left out on three heads where the jaw line is too faint to fit well.

Related guides

How to draw a jawline follows the jaw from the front through three-quarter to profile. How to draw a chin goes on from the front end of the jaw line, and the neck from below it. The head in profile builds the whole head at this angle.

A short exercise

Draw the square-jaw head and the hard-plane head in profile, the same size. On each, mark the hollow under the lower lip and run a level line back from it, then drop the back edge and run the jaw line before you round anything. The square-jaw corner should come out tighter, with its back edge nearly upright. Then lay your drawings beside the plates.

The square-jaw head is Study Pack 07 in Volume 2 and the hard-plane head Study Pack 01 in Volume 1.

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