How to Draw a Girl's Face

Co-authored by Renée Plevy and Kyle Hall

Last Updated: January 4, 2023 References

Drawing a girl’s face can be tricky, even for experienced artists. Fortunately, whether you want to draw a realistic girl’s face or a cartoon face, you can use reference lines and a step-by-step approach to help you succeed. Once you can successfully draw a girl’s face with guidelines, it will be easier to draw from photos and live models.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Drawing a Realistic Girl’s Face

1
Draw an oval and divide it into 3 sections to make the head. Make the oval slightly rounder than you normally would since girls tend to have rounder faces than boys. To divide the oval into 3 sections, start by drawing a horizontal line through the center. Then, draw a second horizontal line through the halfway point between the first line you drew and the bottom of the oval.^{[1]
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- Dividing the face into sections will make it easier to get the proportions of the face right later on.
- Imagine that the face is on your eye level, and that you are looking directly in her eyes.
2
Draw the eyes on the top horizontal line. Girls have all kinds of eye shapes, but generally, they’re drawn with larger and rounder eyes than boys are. Center the eyes on the horizontal line so the line runs through the center of each eye. Also, make the distance between the inner corner of each eye the same length as one eye. If you were to draw a third eye between the 2 eyes, it should fit perfectly.^{[2]
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3
Add the pupils and eyelashes to the eyes. Girls tend to have longer, thicker eyelashes than boys. To create the appearance of long, thick eyelashes, shade in and thicken the upper and lower lash lines, making them thicker at the outer corners. When you’re finished with the eyelashes, draw a large circle in each eye that’s partially eclipsed by the upper lash line and that has an equal amount of white space on each side of it. Then, draw a smaller circle in each large circle and shade them in to make the pupils. Leave a tiny dot of white space in each pupil to make it look like there’s light reflecting off of them.^{[3]
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4
Draw an arched eyebrow above each eye. In general, girls’ eyebrows are thinner and more arched than boys’ eyebrows, but you can play around with the shape and thickness. To draw the eyebrows, start with your pencil slightly above the outer corner of one eye and draw a downward curving line that swoops down and starts to curve back upward as you get closer to the inner corner of the eye. Then, repeat over the other eye.^{[4]
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- To make the eyebrows thicker, lightly go over the lines you drew a few times and shade around the arches.
5
Draw the tip of the nose along the bottom horizontal line. Like boys, girls have a variety of nose shapes, but their noses are usually drawn with fewer, softer lines to prevent them from looking too masculine. To draw the tip of the nose, start a little bit above the bottom horizontal line with the tip of your pencil lined up with the inner corner of the eye above it. Then, draw a short, curved line down toward the horizontal line that doesn’t quite reach it, followed by an upward horizontal curve that swoops down and meets the horizontal line. Repeat the same steps on the other side of the face, but mirrored, to finish the tip of the nose.^{[5]
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- Avoid drawing the bridge of the nose since it can make the nose look too masculine. You’ll be able to define the bridge later with shading instead of harsh lines.
6
Use shading to softly define the bridge and tip of the nose. Start with your pencil at the inner end of the eyebrow on one side of the face. Then, lightly shade down along the bridge of the nose, stopping when you reach the bottom of the eye. Next, bring your pencil down to the nostril on the same side and lightly draw a vertical curved line up toward the bridge of the nose. Then, shade in the space between that line and the outer edge of the nostril to define the tip of the nose.^{[6]
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- Only do this on one side of the face. If you try to shade both sides of the nose, it may look too defined and masculine.
7
Draw the lips halfway between the tip of the nose and the chin. For a conventional girl’s face, you’ll want to make the lips round and full. Starting with your pencil at the halfway point between the nose and chin, draw a short, horizontal, upward curve that’s centered between the 2 sides of the face, which will be the dip at the bottom of the upper lip. Then, draw a slightly longer upward curve extending off each end of the first curve. Next, repeat the same steps slightly above the lines you just drew, and connect the ends of these outer curves with the ends of the first outer curves you drew to finish the upper lip. Finally, draw a long, upward curve from one corner of the lips to the other to make the lower lip.^{[7]
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- The outer corners of the lips should extend past the nostrils above them. Otherwise, the lips may look too small.
8
Draw an ear on each side of the head. To draw the ears, start at one side of the head so your pencil is lined up with the outer edge of the eyebrow. Then, draw a short, horizontal, upward curve extending off the side of the head to make the top of the ear. Next, draw a vertical line curving outward that runs from the end of the top of the ear down to the side of the face right above where the tip of the nose falls. Instead of bringing the end of the curve all the way to the side of the face, leave a small gap and fill it in with a small, upward curve to make the bottom of the ear. Repeat on the other side of the head.^{[8]
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9
Draw the hair with a hairline that starts below the top of the oval. This will give the face a soft, feminine hairline. If you draw the hairline right at the top of the oval, the forehead may look harsh and too big. After you draw the hairline, draw the outline of the hair so it’s larger and wider than the oval itself, which will make the hair look fuller. Then, go in with your pencil and draw long lines down the length of the hair so it looks like it has individual strands.^{[9]
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- You can draw the hair tucked behind the ears, or you can draw it over the ears and erase any part of the ears that would be covered by hair.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Drawing a Cartoon Girl’s Face

1
Draw an oval that’s narrower at the bottom and divide it into 4 sections. Avoid making any harsh, straight lines since cartoon girls usually have rounder faces. To divide the oval into 4 sections, start by drawing a vertical line down the center of it. Then, draw a vertical line that curves upward slightly and runs through the oval slightly below the halfway point on the vertical line.^{[10]
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- The sections at the top of the oval should be bigger than the sections at the bottom.
2
Draw a small nose near the center of the oval. Cartoon girls are typically drawn with simple, rounded noses. Don’t make the nose rigid or defined or it could look too masculine. To draw the nose, start with your pencil at the point where the vertical and horizontal lines intersect. Then, draw a line down away from that point, having it slightly curve away from the vertical line. Finally, draw a short line that curves back in toward the vertical line.^{[11]
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3
Draw big, exaggerated eyes on top of the horizontal line. Make the eyes large and exaggerated so they look more cartoonish and feminine. Draw one eye on each side of the vertical line so the outer corners of the eyes are nearly touching the edges of the face. The inner corners of the eyes should fall along the same horizontal path as the top point on the nose, and they should both be the same distance from the vertical line.^{[12]
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- Give the eyes an almond shape that’s flatter on the bottom and rounder on top.
4
Add dark eyelashes to the tops and bottoms of the eyes. Cartoon girls are often drawn with dark, exaggerated eyelashes, so go over the upper and lower lash lines with your pencil to darken them. Then, between the tops of the eyes and the outer corners, draw thin, narrow triangles extending off the eyes. Shade them in so they look like eyelashes, and make them curve up slightly at the pointed ends so they look more feminine. When you’re finished, repeat on the bottoms of the eyes, near the outer corners.^{[13]
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5
Draw big pupils inside of the eyes. To draw the pupils, draw a large circle in each eye so the tops of the circles are slightly eclipsed by the tops of the eyes. Then, in the center of each circle, draw a small circle and shade it in. Finally, shade in the large circles so they’re slightly lighter than the pupils, leaving some white space in the upper right corner of each circle so it looks like light is reflecting off of them.^{[14]
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6
Draw the lips slightly below the bottom of the nose. Start with your pencil on the vertical line running down the center of the face. Then, draw a horizontal line with a slight peak in the center extending off of the vertical line. Next, repeat on the other side of the vertical line and connect the ends of these two lines with a horizontal line that’s slightly curving upward to finish the upper lip. To make the bottom lip, start at an outer corner of the top lip and draw a curved line in toward the vertical line so they intersect about halfway between the top lip and the chin. Then, repeat on the other side to finish the bottom lip.^{[15]
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- When you’re finished, you should have a large, rounded lower lip, which will help the cartoon face look more feminine.
7
Add thin, arched eyebrows. Generally, cartoon girls are drawn with thin eyebrows that arch high above the eyes. To draw the eyebrows, start with your pencil slightly above the eyelash nearest the outer corner of one of the eyes. Then, draw an arched, downward curve over the top of the eye that ends along the same vertical path as the inner corner of the eye below it. When you’re finished, repeat over the other eye.^{[16]
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- The eyebrows don’t need to be the exact same length, but try to make them the same shape so they look balanced.
8
Add ears with earrings on the sides of the heads. To draw the ears, start with your pencil on one side of the face, lined up with the outer corner of the eye. Then, draw a vertical oval along the side of the face that ends along the same horizontal path as the bottom of the nose. Next, draw a small circle that overlaps the bottom of the oval to make an earring. Repeat on the other side of the face to make the other ear.^{[17]
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- You can try drawing different shapes for the earrings, or you can leave them out altogether.
9
Draw the hair around the head and add a hairline or bangs. Sketch an outline of the hair so it extends past the head, which will make the hair look fuller. You can also add bangs that swoop down over the forehead, or you can draw a downward curved line that runs across the forehead from one side of the head to the other to make a hairline. If you draw a visible hairline, make sure it’s lower than the top of the head. Otherwise, the forehead will look too big.^{[18]
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- If you’re drawing long hair, you can draw it tucked behind the ears and leave the ears as they are, or you can draw the hair over the ears and erase any parts of them that are covered.

Community Q&A
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Question

How do you draw a cute girl’s face?

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To make the girl in your drawing look cute, give her more child-like features. For example, you can give her big eyes with long lashes, a round face with a small chin, and a slightly turned-up nose. Make her smiling slightly to give her a friendly expression.
Question

How do you draw cute lips?

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To make the lips look nice and cute, avoid drawing harsh lines. Sketch in a cupid’s bow shape to suggest the top lip, then a gentle curve for the bottom lip. Shade in a soft line between the two lips, with a slight downward dip in the middle. Gently shade in the upper lip, but leave the bottom lip lighter at the center to give it a full look.
Question

How do you draw a girl’s face easily?

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Keep the features simple and cartoony to make it easier. For example, sketch in an oval for the face, put her eyes about halfway between the chin and forehead, and make a small curve to suggest the nose. Add eyebrows and eyelashes to the eyes. You can make a simple line for the mouth or add lips if you want a little more detail. Next, sketch in some hair and erase any guidelines you made to finish your drawing.