Portrait Drawing - the anatomy of the skull

In Mastering Portrait Drawing 1: The Frontal Pose the study of the skull is that of the standard male skull. This is the classic starting point in learning portraiture. For this lesson I am going to present the female skull.

The female skull differs from that of the male in several respects. The male skull is generally larger than the female and becomes markedly rougher and angular as it grows into adulthood. In particular, the ridges and sites of muscle attachments are more pronounced. The female skull retains the gracile attributes of the prepubescent male skull. As we proceed in constructing the female skull I will discuss further the specific attributes differentiating the female from the male.