How To Sketch A Life Like Nose

My name is Paul Regan. I teach at the Insight School of Art in North London and I am going to show you some drawing exercises that you might like to try. I am going to show you how to draw a nose, using shading.

First of all, we need to plot it out, using a line. I am going to go from the eye sockets down the side like that, so that I know exactly where the bridge of the nose is and where I need to put the end of the nose. I am then going to use a line, not too dark and not pressing too hard, just to show where the edges of the nose are.

Just going to have a little line there, just so I remember where the central of the nose needs to be. And then I've got to shape, that I am going to draw very carefully, drawing what I really see, not what I think I see. And that suggests where the nostrils fit in there.

If I was looking from a different direction, from lower down or from higher up, the shape of the nostrils would be different. Once I've got the shape of the nose in, I can start using tone. Once again, I am going to start with the eye socket.

It's very dark in here and as it comes down, it gets a little bit lighter, going across the side of the face, around the side of the nose where it's darker, here. I am using a 4B pencil so it gets really nice darks, and then very dark into the nostrils here. If I need to change any of the shapes, I can do that as I am going along.

And then, it comes down the front of the face with downwards shading there. And it gets lighter as it comes across, dark in that nostril there. Remember, I can make changes if I need too.

Around like that, and change that little bit there, and that coming in there, and then it gets slightly lighter as it comes across. And as it gets to nearly halfway across the nose, it really starts to get light. So I am coming across.

Around the bottom it's darker, but then all this is light, much lighter and then almost white, and then it gets slightly darker as it comes down that side. I can even use shading in this direction to show that it's going down the side of the nose. I am just putting it in context again by putting this line that I can see there.

Light under here, and then very dark in that area there. So once again, very important just draw what you see. Where you see it get darker, shade it darker.

Where you see it get lighter, shade it lighter. And that is how I make a drawing of a nose, using shading. .