Drawing a face using Symmetry.

Drawing a face using Symmetry.

Symmetry is a very formal type of balance consisting of a mirroring of portions of an image. You can use symmetry directly to mirror one side of an object with the other side.  In this example I use it to mirror the design of a face to make the face feel balanced.

Though I use the full paper to mirror the eye nose and mouth of the face only, you can shrink the proportional size of the face to fit all features of the head (eyes, ears, both sides of the nose, both sides of the mouth, neck, shoulders and top part of the torso). This will give you a frontal view portrait.  

Things to try:

1. Make parts of the face bigger or smaller like the eyes, nose or mouth, to see what types of funny faces you can get.
2. After doing many faces like this for a while, try drawing the face without the folding or transfer guides I show in the video to see if you are getting better with you facial symmetry.
3. Use a mirror to see how your eyes, nose, mouth, hair, ears, etc. are shaped and try drawing a self portrait.