Side profile proportions for drawing, measured on ten heads

A side profile can go wrong in two ways. The features land at the wrong heights, or the face leans too far forward or back against the skull. A few numbers help with both. We measured them on the ten bald heads of our free profile reference, drawn at the same scale as the front plates.

The ruler here is the height of the head, from the top of the skull to the bottom of the chin. On a drawing 12 cm tall, a twentieth of it is 6 mm. Three heads, the hard-plane, heavy-jaw and minimal heads, are drawn tipped 5 or 6 degrees chin-up, judged from the eye-level construction line, so we turned them level before measuring. That tilt is a rough read, good to a degree or two, so their numbers are looser. The square-jaw head tips about 2 degrees; we left it as drawn. The numbers describe these drawings, not people's heads.

The heights come straight across from the front

A profile is the front view turned a quarter turn, so every feature keeps its height. Comparing each profile plate with its front plate as drawn, the top of the skull, the mouth, the eye line and the bottom of the chin stay on the same rows on all ten heads, never off by more than 2 percent of the head's height. The base of the nose reads a little lower in profile, probably because from the side you see where the nose meets the upper lip, a little under the lowest edge you see from the front. The same face from different angles compares all three views.

So if you've drawn the front, rule lines across from it, drop the base of the nose a touch, and the heights of the profile are done. Face proportions checks them from the front.

Where the features fall

Measured down from the top of the skull, as a share of the head's height:

• Eye line, the middle of the eye's opening at its front: around halfway. It's a little above halfway on the hard-plane, gaunt-planes and heavy-jaw heads, and a little below it on the other seven.
• Base of the nose, where it meets the lip: two thirds to three quarters of the way down.
• Mouth, where the lips meet on the outline: three quarters to about five sixths of the way down.

The usual rule puts the eyes halfway. On these heads halfway sits near the high end of the range: seven of the ten eye lines are a little lower.

The lower face is usually the shorter part

Compare the space from the brow, at its furthest-forward point, to the base of the nose with the space from there to the chin. On six heads the lower one is shorter, by a tenth to nearly a third, and on a typical head of the ten it's about nine tenths of the upper one. On the gaunt-planes and high-cheekbones heads the two are equal. On the hard-plane head the lower one is about a third longer, and on the heavy-jaw head about a sixth longer.

So start with the lower space about nine tenths of the upper one, then adjust it for your face. The rule's top third starts at the hairline, which bald heads don't show.

The mouth sits a little under a third of the way from the base of the nose to the chin on nine heads of ten, and about what the front plates give.

The ear: between the brow and the eye, halfway back

From the side, the top of the ear lands between the brow and the eye line, a little above the eye and a little below the brow, on all ten heads once the three tipped ones are levelled. As drawn, on the hard-plane and heavy-jaw heads it sits just below the eye line. The lobe ends close to level with the base of the nose, never off by more than a twentieth of the head either way: below it on eight heads, and just above it on the gaunt-planes head and, levelled, the minimal head.

Front to back, the ear sits about halfway. Measured level with the eye line, from the back of the skull to the front of the brow, the middle of the head crosses the ear near its front on nine heads, and the whole ear sits behind it on the gaunt-planes head. How to draw ears from the side gives each head. The skull is nearly as deep as the head is tall: from the back of the skull to the brow it's nine tenths of the height, give or take a twentieth, as drawn, as the box method guide lists for each head.

The brow, the nose tip and the chin line up

Drop an upright line from the furthest-forward point of the brow.

• The chin meets it. The front of the chin sits within a twentieth of the head's height of that line on all ten heads, levelled: just behind it on eight, and just ahead of it on the hard-plane and gaunt-planes heads. As drawn, tipped chin-up, the hard-plane chin juts about a twelfth of the head past it: a small tilt moves the chin a lot.
• The nose tip reaches past it by about a twelfth of the height, about 1 cm on a head 12 cm tall.
• The front of the eye sits a little behind the dip at the top of the nose, roughly a twentieth of the height. How to draw an eye from the side measures that in eye widths.

So the face hangs nearly straight down from the brow, with only the nose well past it. Above the brow the forehead leans back, about 9 to 25 degrees on the seven level heads; how to draw a forehead has each.

Order of work

1. Draw the skull nearly as deep as the head is tall, about nine tenths of the height from the back to the brow.
2. Carry the heights across from a front drawing, or mark them: the eye line about halfway (on these heads usually a little below), the base of the nose about three quarters of the way down. If your drawing has hair, guess the top of the skull under it.
3. Drop an upright line from the brow and put the front of the chin on it or just behind it.
4. Push the nose tip about a twelfth of the height past that line.
5. Put the mouth about a third of the way from the base of the nose to the chin.
6. Place the ear with its top between the brow and the eye line, its lobe about level with the base of the nose, and its front near the middle of the head's depth.
7. Compare the lower face with the space from the brow to the nose: about nine tenths of it here, anywhere from a third shorter to a third longer.

Mistakes the plates rule out

These are checked against ten drawn heads, levelled, not against people.

• A chin that juts past the brow. On these heads it's never more than 4 percent of the height ahead of it, and on most it sits just behind.
• Eyes high on the head. No eye line here sits much above halfway.
• An ear that rides up to the brow or down to the mouth. Its top stays below the brow and its lobe near the base of the nose.

What these numbers don't cover

Ten bald, adult heads drawn in one style, seen from the side at eye level. With no hair there's no hairline, so no top third. We can't say how male and female profiles differ. A head tipped up or down changes the profile; how to draw a tilted head covers that.

Related guides

How to draw the head in profile builds the side view step by step; the nose and the jawline from the side measure two features in detail.

A short exercise

Draw the soft-planes head from the front, then rule five lines across the page from it: the top of the skull, the eye line, the base of the nose, the mouth and the chin. Draw its profile between them, starting with the skull and the upright line from the brow, then compare it with the plate.

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