How to Draw a Skull in Front View

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Here you can learn how to draw a skull in front view. This will not only enable you to draw realistic skulls, but also make it much easier for you to draw human faces, because you will understand the underlying bone structure that is shaping the human face.

I have a similar lesson that shows you how to draw a skull in profile.
If you want to visit it, click here.

How to Draw a Skull in Front View - Step 1: Preparing the Template

We start again with a circle that is divided by a vertical and horizontal axis.
Take your time to draw a good circle and don't rush it.
Also take care to place the axes as precisely as possible into middle.

Now divide both axes with marks into fifths.
To make this easier you can use a ruler to measure it out.

The template is now prepared and we can use it to draw our skull on it.


A short side note before we start:

Draw lightly, like the sketched skull on the left, so that you can erase things easily.

I just use thick lines below for the sake of better visibility, making the shapes stand out clearly.

You can use stronger lines towards the end, when you got the skull into a good shape.

How to Draw a Skull in Front View - Step 2: Eyes

We start with the eye sockets.

Let the outer corners of the eye sockets touch the outer marks on the horizontal axis, and on the inside the eye sockets should reach a bit beyond the marks towards the middle line.
On top, the sockets reach up to the first mark on the vertical axis,
while their bottom just reaches down halfway to the mark below them.

Make the sockets a bit higher towards the middle and a bit smaller towards the outer edges.

How to Draw a Skull in Front View - Step 3: Nose

Draw the nose socket on the vertical middle axis.
It's upper end lies on the crossing point of the axes, while it's lower end is in the middle between the two marks in the lower half of the circle.
At the top the socket is rather thin and pointy.
Make it wider towards the bottom so that it is as broad as the gap between the eyes.

How to Draw a Skull in Front View - Step 4: Eye Frames

Now draw a narrow frame of bones along the outer sides of the eye sockets.

How to Draw a Skull in Front View - Step 5: Cheeks, Upper Jaw

In this step, we'll add the cheek bones and the upper jaw.
There are several dotted lines in the picture to help you take measurement.

Start with the cheek bones.
The blue dotted lines mark the middle of the outer fifths of the horizontal axis.
Let the cheeks grow out just that far.
At the bottom they reach down to the level of the nose, as shown by the pink dotted line.

The red dotted line lies in the middle of the two marks for the eye sockets.
On the level of these red lines the cheek bones end, and the upper jaw begins. Draw the upper jaw reaching down a bit below the last mark on the vertical axis.

How to Draw a Skull in Front View - Step 6: Skullcap

Now we can close the skull on the top.
Make the skullcap round and smooth, as if it were the upper part of a circle.

How to Draw a Skull in Front View - Step 7: Lower Jaw

Let's proceed with the lower jaw.

Draw the lines coming out of the cheeks on the level of the outer eye corner. They reach down to the level of the circle's bottom (blue dotted line), pointing very slightly diagonally inwards.

From the circle's bottom on they point stronger inwards, until they meet in the middle to form the chin.

The danger in this step is to make the chin and the whole jaw too thin and pointy, while it should actually be a rather broad and bold shape.
So watch out for this and correct if necessary.

Draw in a box with light lines that reaches down from the upper jaw to the bottom of the circle.
This box is a place holder for the teeth, which we will draw in soon.

Now you can add the inner lines of the mandible.
They start where cheek bone merges into the upper jaw and cut just across the edges of the box below.

How to Draw a Skull in Front View - Step 8: Teeth

If you've never drawn teeth don't be afraid, because it is actually a very simple thing.
The trick is to start in the middle and then move towards the sides.
Always draw one tooth and then its twin on the other side.

The upper row of the teeth should just fill the upper half of the gray box.
It's better to make them a bit too long than too short.

Note, that I close each tooth on top with a curved  line.
After this step, erase the straight line above the teeth, so that only these little curves remain.

Draw the lower row of teeth in the same way, starting from the middle and then moving outwards. The more you go towards the sides, the stronger the teeth overlap each other, so that all you have to draw are simple curves at the end.

Congratulations!
The basic shape of your skull is finished.
But is still looks very plane. To fix that we will now draw in a few lines that bring out the three dimensional shape of the skull.

How to Draw a Skull in Front View - Step 9: Emphasizing 3D Shape

Here's what to do:

1. Add a curved line just below the top of the skull.
This line indicates the end of the forehead, which lies a bit lower then the actual top of the skull.

2. Draw two small lines above the inner edge of the eye sockets to emphasize the frame of bones around them.
3. Two very thin lines reach down from the cheeks to the upper jaw.

4. Draw short lines above the upper row of teeth.
These lines curve upwards from the points between the teeth.

5. At the top of the mandible's side arms the bone is forking apart.
Point this out by drawing in a little hole on each side there.

How to Draw a Skull in Front View - Step 10: Final Details

Finally, draw very thin jagged lines into the eye sockets.
At the side, they reach out of the sockets, cross the thin frame around the eyes, and then run up the skull in a curve.
Draw another thin line dividing the nose in the middle.

You can also draw in the little holes, where nerves are entering (or leaving) the skull.
Two are beside the nose, and another pair lies on the chin.

And that is the whole way how to draw a skull in front view.
Of course you could keep adding more and more details, since a real skull is a very complex thing, but I think this is sufficient for our first attempt here.


See you later for more upcoming drawing lessons.