When drawing people, the best place I’d like to start with is the face because it’s the part of the body that needs the most details – like the eyes, nose, mouth, lips, ears, and (maybe) hair. Then I have to draw it from different angles, with different expressions to show how each character feels. I could draw them headless, but I’m not interested in being a horror artist.
The hardest part about drawing a face is the angle. I’ve been trying to practice drawing heads and faces by drawing circles and lines to mark the center of the face and the base of the eyes. I’ve been using a free 3D model face app on my iPad to practice different angles and I’m really liking it.
In case you’re curious, the app is called Head Model Studioand it’s available in the Apple Store for free. Unfortunately, I don’t know if there is an Android version. There is a premium option that you can pay for if you require more complex facial references, or if you want to take advantage of their timed drawing practices. However, for a beginner like me, I felt that the free version already provides a good starting point with many useful features.
Below is some additional information about the app. You can skip to the end if you don’t want to read all of it.
The app view is very basic since the focus is on the model, which I personally like since it keeps my environment distraction-free.
The free version comes with a few premade head models like a sphere and 3 model details. If you want more or want to focus on specific parts of the face like the ears, mouth, etc. then you’ll have to upgrade to premium.
If you want more freedom with your model, there is an option to customize it. This feature allows you to change the focal length, add shadows, edit outline guides, add a perspective grid, and modify individual facial features. Proportion guides and head tilting features are part of the premium features. Although it may take time, I’d definitely recommend trying out the facial modification features. You can come up with some pretty wild stuff, and I think it’s incredibly helpful for creating a foundation for unique characters.
Don’t worry about over-experimenting. The app has a model reset button that can reset all facial features back to its default. Unfortunately, you’ll have to manually reset the model’s angle yourself. There is also an option to lock the model’s current angle position and an option to save/delete a model scene. The “scene” is the model’s current state.
Locking the model will prevent you from moving the model’s (x. y) axis, but it won’t stop you from modifying the model’s facial features and zooming in and out. When you save a model scene, it will save the model’s facial features and its current position.
Another great feature that the app has for free is the lighting references. You can adjust the spotlights and environmental lighting around the model. You can have up to 3 spotlights, each one with its own light intensity range, focus position, and light color. All 3 spotlights share the same view option and model following option. Both shared options can be toggled on or off.
Environmental lighting comes with 3 presets: sunrise, noon, and sunset. Similar to the spotlights feature, you can also adjust the light intensity of each.
All lighting features can be reset in the settings under Reset Lighting.
The app also comes with a practice feature, which is great for practicing quick sketches or challenging yourself. Most of the premade practices are under the premium plan. The free version only has the Loomis Sphere for free for you to try out. However, the randomly timed practices are free and they are great! While there isn’t a timer for the timed practice feature, it still allows you to set a transition time between each pose. In addition, there are toggle options to set up random camera angles, neck rotations, and lighting positions. Similar to before, adding perspective guides to the timed practice is part of the free feature while the proportions guide is a paid premium.
Fun fact, fun hack!
If you pause and quit the randomly timed practice challenge, the model will stay in the same position it was in when you quit. You can use this as an easy method of saving model scenes for future use.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and found it helpful!
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