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How to draw a nose from the side – 6 steps

how-to-draw-the-nose-profile-thumbnail6Many people find drawing noses difficult, especially from the side. Creating basic shapes as a guideline will make the process of drawing noses a lot less difficult.

Here is a list of materials I used for the tutorial below.

– Mechanical Pencil with 0.5 mm 4B Ain Lead
Kneaded Eraser
Blending Stump (learn how to use a blending stump here)
Smooth Bristol Paper

How to Draw a Nose from the Side

Step 1: Draw two small circles

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To draw the profile of a nose, you want to start out with 2 round circles which are spaced generously apart. (Imagine there is a third circle in between the 2). For the next step, I’ve drawn a triangle to give you guidance on how to draw the bridge/slope of the nose.

Click here to learn where to place these circles on a face!

Step 2: Draw the bridge, nose tip and philtrum

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Draw a curved slope up and around the left circle to form the tip and bridge and a curve below it to form the philtrum or cupid’s bow. The cupid’s bow should not go too far to the left or right. Draw it somewhere in between the 2 circles.

Step 3: Add the nostril

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Make a looped shape for the nostril. It should not be too long or too big. Again, try to draw between the 2 circles.

Step 4: Shade the nose

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You can erase the circles at this point and start shading. As you can see, the shading technique employed in this tutorial is circular. That will help achieve a more realistic skin texture. In my shading tutorial, I cover a few more shading techniques as well as give tips on how to shade smoothly. Click here to go to my shading tutorial.

Step 5: Highlight prominent areas

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Make sure you leave some areas highlighted.

Step 6: Touch ups

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Here, I have darkened some areas as well as went over the highlights with the end of a kneaded rubber eraser. The outlines have also been erased slightly. I used the blending stump, to blend around the highlights to make the skin look less harsh.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial on how to draw a nose from the side! If you have any questions or requests, let me know in the comments below!

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So, what’s next?? Click here to learn where to place a nose on the face!

More nose tutorials:

If you want to learn how to draw different noise shapes (male, female and children), please watch my Youtube tutorial below:

Noses from the front

Noses from the 3/4 view

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17 thoughts on “How to draw a nose from the side – 6 steps”

  1. I spent all day drawing noses using your method, which I find is the easiest but still i have a hard time getting results I like.

  2. I have never been able to draw anything in my life. Both my mum and dad were artists and I always felt so bad I could never draw…but your tutorials have been AMAZING! You are truly gifted…you are able to share the joys of creating art to folks like me. Thank you! Keep up the great work! Again thank you for turning me into a weekend artist :)

  3. Geez, I have found every post in this site highly amazing infact I am highly impressed of how simple the steps are and how realistic they appear to be… Thank you… All the way from Nigeria.

  4. I was never taught to draw noses this way but I have found it to be the best! I like how you make it look so easy, that really builds a newbie’s confidence.

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