How To Sketch A Human Nose – A Simple Step-by-Step Guide

Lester West

Introduction

The nose can seem tricky to sketch, but with practice and a few easy steps, a realistic-looking nose can be had!  In todays blog, we will break down the process into steps that will stick with you as you practice and practice and… practice.  There is no other way to say it, but practicing is needed to develop these steps by memory, so when it comes to having to sketch a face, say on the spot, your mental library will kick in.

As with all things in art, we will use simple shapes that will turn into a beautiful nose when finished.  The process we will be using is sketching our shapes, add shadows for depth and value and finish up with the little details.  We’ll take our time, as what we are doing now is only practice for the real thing.  If you’re ready, I am…

Step 1 – Look At the Nose as Simple Shapes

First off, if we look at a nose and think about what we see, we see a triangle, a circle at the bottom of the triangle and two ovals as the “wings” or nostrils which one will be on one side and the other on the other side of the circle (though depending on the angle of the nose (or face) we may only see one nostril).  In our example below the nose is facing us:

The figure below demonstrates a nose looking left or right of us (or profile view) using the same simple shapes as shown above.

No matter which example you use, use very light lines to start out with.  So, if we are going to do this, let’s do it!