How to draw a skull from the side, step by step

From the side, a skull is mostly cranium. The face is a narrow strip at the front, and the landmarks that place it are few: the brow, the eye socket behind it, the bar of the cheekbone, the ear hole and the jaw. This guide measures them on the skull from the skull turnaround, seen exactly side on. Its outline in profile, how deep it is for its height and where the jaw hinges are measured in how to draw a skull at different angles, its face from the front in how to draw a skull from the front, and the skull turned 45 degrees in how to draw a skull in 3/4 view.

Everything is measured against the skull itself: its height from the top to the chin, and its depth from the front to the back.

The front line

Drop a straight line down from the front of the brow. On this skull, set level, almost the whole face sits on it. The tip of the nasal bones pokes out a little past it, the front teeth come right to it, and the chin stays just behind it, about 3 percent of the skull's height. The line depends on the pose: tip the same skull even a little, chin up or chin down, and the chin moves across it. Use it to check a skull set level, as here.

Under the nasal bones, the outline cuts back in a notch, the nose opening seen edge on, and comes forward again at its bottom, about two thirds of the way down the skull. That's the same height as from the front, since a turn doesn't move anything up or down.

The eye socket

From the side you see the socket as an opening set back from the front. Its back edge is about a seventh of the skull's height behind the front of the brow. Behind that edge, the rim of bone around the socket is a band of its own, and the cranium starts behind it.

The socket's height doesn't change when the skull turns: its middle is still on the line halfway down.

The cheekbone bar

The cheekbone leaves the face under the eye socket and runs straight back as a narrow bar, thinner than the ear hole is wide. It runs at the height of the bottom of the eye socket and ends just above and in front of the ear hole. Drawn too high, it cuts into the socket; drawn too low, it runs into the jaw.

The ear hole and the top of the skull

The ear hole is a little behind the middle of the profile and about five eighths of the way down. The top of the skull is close to straight above it, a little behind. The top is a long, flat curve, so take this as a check for a level skull, not a point to aim at. If your skull's highest point sits well in front of the ear hole, check whether you meant to tip it.

The teeth

The row of teeth runs back from the front line for a little over a quarter of the skull's depth. The top of the upper teeth is about three quarters of the way down, and they meet the lower teeth a little over four fifths of the way down, the same heights as from the front. The upper front teeth close in front of the lower ones, so the lower row starts a little behind.

The jaw

The back edge of the jaw drops almost straight down from in front of the ear hole to its corner, about nine tenths of the way down. From the corner, the lower edge runs forward and down, so the chin ends lower than the corner, by about a tenth of the skull's height. A jaw drawn with a level lower edge leaves the chin too high.

How to draw a skull from the side, step by step

1. Draw the box. Make it a little narrower than it is tall: a little over nine tenths as deep as it is tall (measured in profile).
2. Place the ear hole a little behind the middle and about five eighths of the way down.
3. Draw the cranium as a long ball filling most of the box, highest about above the ear hole, then draw its outline.
4. Place the brow and draw the front line. Mark the brow at the front of the cranium, about two fifths of the way down and just behind the box's front edge. Drop the front line straight down from it, and draw a line halfway down the skull.
5. Draw the eye socket around the halfway line, about a sixth of the skull's height tall with its top at the brow's height, and its back edge a seventh of the height behind the front line.
6. Run the cheekbone bar straight back from under the socket, at the height of its bottom, to just in front of the ear hole. Then curve the cheekbone's back edge up behind the socket to brow height.
7. Draw the nose and teeth on the front line: the nasal bones poking past it, the notch under them, then the upper teeth from three quarters of the way down to the bite a little past four fifths, in a row a little over a quarter of the depth long. Add the lower teeth under the bite, their front a little behind the upper front teeth.
8. Drop the jaw from in front of the ear hole to a corner nine tenths of the way down, then run its lower edge forward and down to a chin a tenth of the height lower, just behind the front line. Finish with the socket's rim, the bone around the ear hole and above the teeth, and the light seams and ridges across the cranium.

Common mistakes

• A face that leans forward. Brow, teeth and chin sit close to one straight line.
• The eye socket at the very front. Its back edge is a seventh of the height behind the brow.
• The cheekbone bar too high. It runs at the bottom of the socket.
• A level jaw. The lower edge drops toward the chin.
• A chin past the teeth. On this skull, set level, it sits just behind the front teeth.

What this does and does not cover

These measurements describe a line drawing redrawn from a render of one 3D skull, with its jaw closed and no perspective, so take them as a description of this skull, not an average. "Level" means the pose the skull has in the turnaround, shown in the figure. Tipping it moves the chin against the front line and the top of the skull against the ear hole, so check those two against your own reference. The ear hole and the jaw's hinge were placed by eye. The socket's back edge is where the drawn opening starts; the rim of bone behind it is not measured. The top of the skull is a broad curve, so "above the ear hole" is a stretch of it, not one point.

A short exercise

Draw the skull from the side three times, about five minutes each. The first time, draw only the box, the ball, the ear hole and the front line. The second time, add the socket, the cheekbone bar and the jaw, and check the jaw's lower edge drops toward the chin. The third time, draw it without the lines, then check it against the measured marks.

The skull in this guide is from the skull turnaround, drawn at sixteen angles, 22.5 degrees apart. For a living head over the same landmarks, see how to draw the head in profile and side profile proportions for drawing, for the jaw under the skin, how to draw a jawline from the side, and for the whole head at every angle, how to draw the head at any angle.