How to Draw a Skull in Profile

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Wondering how to draw a skull in a way that's easy but still looks realistic?
Check out the step by step method shown in this lesson.

Learning to draw a skull will also enable you to draw human heads and faces much better, because the skull is the underlying element which gives the whole structure to the human head.
So this is a nice additional gain.

In this lesson, we first set up a template out of which we construct the skull. This ensures that the skull will have the right proportions. But the more you practice, the less you will need such a template, and in the end you will be able to draw an entire skull freehand.

How to Draw a Skull - Step 0: The Template

This is a preparation step before we start to draw the actual skull.
Draw everything here with very slight lines that you can erase easily later.


Draw a circle with a vertical and horizontal middle axis.
Then divide the vertical line into fifths and the right side of the horizontal line into thirds by drawing in some marks.

Now this template will help us to draw every part of the skull at the right place and in the right size.

How to Draw a Skull - Step 1: Eye Socket and Cheek Bone


The blue dotted lines, which extend from the inner marks on the vertical axis, form a box with the outer third of the horizontal middle line.
Draw the eye socket fitting into this box.

The eye socket is surrounded by a bone structure that works like a frame for the eye. Draw it in, so that the frame reaches slightly over the mark to the left of the eye socket. Also draw a line for the frame above the eye socket. At the top both of these lines reach upwards to connect the eye-frame with the forehead.


Now draw in the cheek bone.
Its upper line is connected with the eye-frame and runs horizontally to the left, until it cuts through the vertical middle line.
Its lower line starts at the right side of the circle, just below the eye. Let it bulge down for a good deal first, before you draw it running parallel to the upper line towards the left. The lower line of the cheek bone should cut the vertical middle line at the highest mark in the lower half of the circle.

How to Draw a Skull - Step 2: Nose and Jaw

Draw the nose starting slightly below the top of the eye and reaching down to the dotted blue line. The blue line lies in the middle between the two marks on the vertical middle axis.
Here you can also check whether you drew the cheek bone correctly. Its deepest point should also roughly lie on this blue line.


Add the upper jaw now. Place its bottom on the same height as the lowest mark on the vertical middle axis.
The upper jaw should reach slightly more towards the left than the eye-frame above it.

Also draw in the forehead, starting from the top of the nose. Let it slightly bulge towards the right on height of the brow at the very beginning.
You can see that the forehead doesn't directly run along the circle's border, but goes upwards steeper at the beginning. Only let it join with the circle's line at the very top.



In this step you draw in the lower jaw, also called mandible.
It basically has the shape of an L: an upper branch that is vertical and a lower branch that is horizontal.
The upper branch is so broad that it just fits between the upper jaw and the vertical middle axis. It is connected by two thin strands to the cheek bone. At the bottom it reaches down to the edge of the circle.
There it connects with the lower branch. Draw the lower branch not perfectly horizontal, but slightly sloping down towards the right.
Don't let it reach any further towards the right than the upper jaw.

Note that the mouth in this picture is not open. It just looks like this, because the teeth are still missing. Once the teeth are drawn in, it will be closed.

How to Draw a Skull - Step 3: Closing the Skull

In this picture I have drawn in two simple blocks as a place holder for the teeth, so that you get a feeling for what the finished skull will look like.
You don't have to draw these; just finish the outer shape of the skull.

Start from the top and let the line of the skull follow the shape of the circle along the left side. Only in the lower half of the circle the line starts to turn inwards. Let it flow towards the lowest mark on the vertical middle line.
Draw in a big bulge before this mark, and then let the line go upwards in two smaller bulges to connect it with the jaw.
Add an arch between the two connections of the mandible with the cheek bone. You can look through this gap and see the shape of the skull behind it.

How to Draw a Skull - Step 4: Teeth

Since the shape of the skull is finished, we don't need the underlying circle anymore. You can erase it now.


This is a preparation step, in which you divide the available space for the teeth into smaller sections. Draw all lines very lightly here.

Draw one vertical line which divides the jaw in half. Then divide the right half once more with a line, so that you get a fourth.
You can also draw in a horizontal line between both jaws to make clear where the teeth of upper and lower jaw will be meeting.


Now you can draw in the teeth.

Fill the left half of the space with three molar teeth. Their shape is just like a circle with a notch in the middle of one side.
The molar teeth in the lower jaw also have two tiny spikes reaching out of their bottom to connect them with the jaw.
On the very left you can see an enlarged version of them.

Draw two premolar teeth into the next quarter.
They should be a bit longer than the molar teeth and they don't have any notch in their shape.

Finally draw in three teeth into the last quarter on the very right.
The first one is the canine tooth and the other two are the incisors.
Let them overlap each other heavily, since you see them from a strong side angle.
Look at the other enlarged teeth to see which shape they should have in the upper and lower jaw.


How to Draw a Skull - Step 5: Final Details


The human skull is not just one single bone, but consists of many bones which are gown together. You can still see the connections between them as thin zigzag lines running across the skull.
Draw them in as shown above to give your skull a realistic look.
In total, there are seven big sections you should separate.

Here are a few more tiny details you may want to add:
1. Very thin zigzag lines in the eye socket: The eye socket also consists of several small bones, which are grown together.
2. A little curved line below the left edge of the cheek bone: This is a hint at the hearing channel that connects the ears with the brain.
3. Lines along the front teeth of the upper jaw: These bring out the plastic shape of the bone structure around the teeth.

And that's the whole method how to draw a skull in profile.