How to choose and use face reference for drawing: which head angles to collect, how to check proportions and lighting on a photo, and a 20-minute study drill.
Good face reference for drawing shows you four things: a clear head angle, one readable light source, a definite expression, and enough resolution to see the planes of the face. Pick photos for those four, check each against basic head proportions, and draw from them in short timed studies, not long copies.
A useful face photo answers four questions: where the head is turned, where the light comes from, what the face is doing, and where the big planes change direction. Flat light from every side, heavy filters or a tiny file hide what a drawing needs most.
Choose from boards and stock sites with those four questions, and keep 30 to 50 checked photos rather than hundreds you have scrolled.
Collect three views of the same person first: full face, three-quarter and profile. A portrait usually shows the sitter looking at the viewer, but profile and three-quarter views are standard too ( Wikipedia: Portrait ).
The three-quarter view teaches the most, because the far side of the face foreshortens and the centre line curves. Andrew Loomis built his head method on that problem: a ball with the sides cut flat and a jaw hung underneath, first described in Drawing the Head and Hands (1956) ( Wikipedia: Andrew Loomis ). See our Andrew Loomis guide .
On a head seen straight on, the eyes sit on a line through the centre of the head, the head is about five eye-widths wide from ear to ear, and the ears run from the brow line down to the base of the nose ( The Virtual Instructor: Facial Proportions ).
Leonardo's notes on Vitruvius divide the face into three equal parts, chin to nose, nose to eyebrows and eyebrows to hairline, each equal to the length of the ear ( Wikipedia: Vitruvian Man ). Every real face departs from the average somewhere, and that departure is the likeness.
Light turns a flat pattern of features into a solid head. One strong light shows forehead, cheek and jaw as separate planes with their own values. Rembrandt lighting, a standard studio setup, is recognised by a small lit triangle under the eye on the darker side of the face ( Wikipedia: Rembrandt lighting ).
Prefer photos where you can name the light direction in one word: left, right, above, front. Our lighting reference guide covers the main setups.
Published 2026-10-09 on the Refimages blog.