Portrait Drawing Week 4: Nose

This week we tackle the nose. Several of you will have tackled the nose in profile view last week. That is possibly the easiest view, so this week after making a few studies of noses I suggest you make a portrait where you are directly facing the model or a three quarter view.

First of all it may be useful to consider the structure and anatomy of the nose. As with ears noses vary a good deal but all have the same basic anatomy. Only the upper part is bone, the nasal bone, which connects with the skull at its upper end at the glabella, and at each side with the maxilla (don’t even try to remember the names unless you are into crosswords, Trivial Pursuit and the like). The rest of the nose consists of cartilages which form the lower part of the nose and the “ball” of the nose. Two wings of fatty tissue connect with the cartilage on either side of the nose ball, and wrap around the base of the nose forming the nostrils.

In many adults a bump part way down the nose can be seen where the bone meets the cartilage. As with other features this is usually a much smoother transition in young children.

A good picture of the anatomy of the nose can be found at

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/448248969177398119/

There is a six minute video at the start of this post by Stan Prokopenko explaining how to simplify the nose into four main planes sides, top and base and how the nose appears in relation to the rest of the head when the head moves from side to side and up and down.

Make several studies of noses and how they appear from directly in front and in three quarter view. Note how the nose protrudes from the general mid-line of the head. Then draw a nose when the head is tilted up so that the nostrils are visible and down with the chin tucked in. If possible draw from the same person, otherwise work from whatever reference you can find. These should be sketches that show the structure so no need to work them up. Lastly make a portrait drawing where the nose is dramatically lit from the side or at least from an angle that produces strong areas of light and dark on the nose in question.

For inspiration on how other artists have tackled the nose look at my Pinterest Portrait board at https://www.pinterest.co.uk/jhall1282/portraits/

Hope you enjoy the nose!

Your Drawings: