Contour-Only Face Drawing: Edge Lines Without Shading

Object Drawing Lessons

Contour drawing uses lines to mark visible edges where a form turns away from you or where one shape overlaps another. For a face, this means tracing the jawline, the brow ridge, the side of the nose, the eyelid crease, and the lips as clean edges, without shading, cross-contour surface lines, or a full proportion grid. This lesson builds edge continuity and selective observation. You will use a simple convention: x-height is measured from baseline to midline of lowercase letters, and letter styles vary, so line weight and spacing are judged by continuity and clarity rather than a single correct look. All measurements below are hypothetical examples unless you measure your own equipment.

Practice materials: Printable downloads are not available for this lesson yet. Use the instructions and four exercises below.

What Counts as a Contour Edge

A contour edge is a line that describes a boundary: the outer silhouette of the jaw, the inner edge of the eye socket, the ridge where the nose meets the cheek, or the overlap of lips. It is not a shading mark and not a surface line that wraps across a cheek. Keep each line purposeful and continuous where the edge is continuous.

Use a single line weight unless an edge changes character, such as a soft jaw edge versus a crisp eyelid crease. You may vary pressure, but do not add hatching or smudging. The goal is readable edge structure, not tonal rendering.

1. Identify three anchor edges: jawline, brow ridge, and nose bridge.
2. Trace each anchor edge slowly, lifting the pencil only when the edge truly breaks.
3. Check that overlapping edges, such as the upper eyelid over the eye, are drawn as separate contours.
4. Leave interior areas blank unless a clear edge exists there.

Warm-Up: Edge Tracing Strip

Before drawing a full face, practice on a strip of simple edge shapes. Draw a curved jaw-like line, a brow-like arc, and a nose-bridge line that changes direction. Keep the strip about 3 cm tall and 12 cm wide as a hypothetical example; adjust to your paper.

Trace each shape twice: once with a continuous line, once with a deliberate break where the edge changes from hard to soft. Compare continuity, not beauty.

1. Draw three short edge shapes on a strip.
2. Trace each shape with one continuous line.
3. Mark any unintended gaps or double lines.
4. Redraw the weakest edge with better continuity.

Building the Face Contour

Start with the jawline from one ear area toward the chin, then continue to the other side if visible. Next draw the brow ridge as a single arc, then the nose bridge as a line that turns at the brow and at the nostril. Add eyelid creases and lip edges only where they are clear.

Do not draw a proportion grid. Instead, compare distances by eye and by simple checkable arithmetic. For example, if the jaw width is 8 cm in your reference and the brow width is 6 cm, the difference is 2 cm; use such comparisons only as hypothetical examples.

1. Draw the jawline first, keeping it continuous where the edge is clear.
2. Add the brow ridge and nose bridge as separate contour lines.
3. Add eyelid creases and lip edges where visible.
4. Check edge continuity at the jaw, brow, and nose bridge using the checklist.

Continuity Checklist and Convention

Use a checklist: jaw edge continuous from ear to chin; brow edge continuous across the ridge; nose-bridge edge continuous from brow to nostril turn. A valid alternative is a deliberate break where the edge is genuinely interrupted by hair or shadow, but the break must be intentional and marked clearly.

Convention: x-height is baseline to midline; letter styles vary. When labeling your drawing, write small notes in lowercase and measure x-height consistently. Do not judge line quality by handwriting style alone.

1. Check jaw continuity.
2. Check brow continuity.
3. Check nose-bridge continuity.
4. Mark intentional breaks and explain them in one short note.

Worked example

Draw a contour-only face from a front view. Use three anchor edges: jawline, brow ridge, and nose bridge. Do not shade. Check continuity at each anchor. Use a hypothetical jaw width of 8 cm and brow width of 6 cm for a simple arithmetic check.

Four practice exercises

Common mistakes

• Adding shading or hatching to suggest form. Remove tonal marks and rely on edge lines only; if an area feels empty, check whether a real edge exists there.
• Drawing cross-contour surface lines across the cheek. Erase surface lines and keep only boundary edges such as jaw, brow, nose bridge, eyelids, and lips.
• Using a full proportion grid instead of direct observation. Replace the grid with three anchor edges and simple distance comparisons.
• Breaking a continuous edge without reason. Redraw the edge as one line, or mark the break as intentional where hair or overlap interrupts it.

Self-check rubric

• Uses contour lines only; no shading, hatching, or cross-contour surface lines.
• Includes jaw, brow, and nose-bridge edges with clear continuity or intentional breaks.
• Avoids a full proportion grid; uses direct observation and simple checkable comparisons.
• Keeps line weight purposeful and readable; valid alternatives are accepted if continuity is clear.
• Notes follow the x-height convention (baseline to midline) with consistent measurement.

Questions and answers