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Standard Human Facial Proportions

The standard proportions for the human head can help you place facial features and find their orientation.

Standard Facial Proportions:Here are a list of standard facial proportions that can give you a good idea of ideal proportions.

• The eyes are halfway between the top of the head and the chin.
• The bottom of the nose is halfway between the eyes and the chin.
• The mouth is halfway between the nose and the chin.
• The corners of the mouth line up with the centers of the eyes.
• The top of the ears line up above the eyes, on the eyebrows.
• The bottom of the ears line up with the bottom of the nose.

All these "ideal" measurements vary from face to face. Check out other portrait drawings that you have done and see if adjusting these increments helps.

[measuring]		[body proportions]		[facial proportions]		[skeleton]		[muscles]

Questions or comments can be forwarded to Ralph Larmann at the University of Evansville.

The image above shows divisions of the face that can be used to orient different features to each other. Note that the eyes are centered halfway between the top of the head and the chin.

created 6/15/98 by R. M. Larmann
updated 7/2/04