Determining the medial line of the facial arena in a pose that is neither frontal nor profile or even 7/8th’s can be tricky. [The medial line, or facial angle, runs through the center of the face: between the eye brows, the philtrum (the trough between the nose and upper lip: philtrum is the Greek word for ‘to love/to kiss’) and the mental protuberance of the chin’s base.]

The solution is to first find the lateral center point of your model’s head and then vertically plumb from the center point to assess how the various elements, i.e., nose, eye, chin, hair, etc. line up vis-a-vis the plumb line.

A plumb line is easily made from a length, about 12”, of thick black thread or a thin string anchored with a weight such as carpenter’s plumb-bob. A heavy washer will also do.

In my drawing the plumb line met the medial line of the face at the center of the mental protuberance of the chin. Also aligned with the plumb line is the wing of the nose and the part in the hair at the hairline. Having at least three aligned elements is extremely useful in accurately placing the facial features. In addition to further developing the base of the nose I have also indicated the outside placement of the spectacles.

My practice is to now switch gears from the linear to the tonal approach. Very lightly block-in the primary dark tone with the side of a small piece of conté. If you’re working with pencil you can use a small piece of vine charcoal; the more experienced artist can lay in a flat, even tone with a soft pencil such as a 6B or 8B.

Using my fingers I stump down the conté so that it is as flat and even a tone as I can get. Ideally you should achieve a soft glow. If you don’t get the glow then you most likely have applied the conté too heavily.

Be sure to use your fingers, using a stump or tortillon will deaden the conté at this point. Some artists prefer to use a chamois cloth; I prefer the sculptural sense of stumping.