Do you know your A B C...

Over the past week I have visited two schools and spent a day, teaching the children a technique to help them draw better.

I use the alphabet to help them discover shapes.

Shapes are what an artist is interested in. With shapes you can form the structure of what will become your drawing.

The human face is alive with shapes and being able to identify these helps anyone to draw with greater confidence.

I have talked about this before some time ago but thought it would be good to look at just a few of these shapes on the human face. The idea is to help you understand them and then practice drawing in this way, so that you also grow in confidence and get better as an artist.

So, looking at the human face, the first thing to tell yourself is to ignore what you see or try to avoid details.

We want to see simple shapes and then replicate those on paper and once together, they shall make the face we wish to draw.

The top lip is a fun shape to begin with. If you look at any top lip you should see the shape that looks like the  letter M. It is stretched out horizontally and has a softer curve to the line, but you should easily see the letter M as the top lip.

People have different shapes to their top lip, so as you look at people, try to see the letter M and not the actual lip itself.

That way you can understand the shape that is in front of you and how it looks.

The shape of the actual jaw line, chin and cheek area of the face makes the shape that is like the letter U

Some people are thin, some are fat and that will change the shape of that letter U dramatically, so look for that shape and not the detail.

Well I hope that helps. Practice by looking at faces and tell yourself what shapes and letters you see before you.

Then practice drawing these over and over and you will find your confidence shall grow and you will get better as an artist.

This technique applies to anything you wish to draw, any subject in front of you, from landscapes to animals!

Give it a try and best of luck! Let me know how you get on!