Art Everyday: Sniffing Out the Perfect Nose

For some reason I’ve been obsessed lately with perfecting the NOSE.  Looking at my past drawings, I realized that in the faces I drew, the nose was usually represented by either an L-shaped, slightly askew line 

or a squiggle with some shading to show the outline of what I hoped looked more or less like a nose.      

And while they work for me (I sort of like the whimsy that a squiggled nose evokes), I figured it would not be a bad thing to learn how to draw a nose correctly – or, should I say, a little more accurately than a squiggle.

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I have never had any formal art lessons.  At the rate these cost, I don’t think I ever will get the chance to attend any LOL. But if one is resourceful enough (okay, obsessed enough in my case), there’s no reason not to find and get what you need.   I wanted to draw a nose properly – so I went to look for someone to teach me.

I found my teachers on the internet of course.  There are tons of free tutorials on just about anything on the net and   this tutorial video by Dan Nelson  was particularly helpful to me.

My eyes bleary from watching the tutorials , I bravely took one of my sketchbooks and sat myself down to draw me a perfect nose. 

It wasn’t easy.   

The first few still looked like squiggles.  Only this time they looked like properly shaded squiggles.

I tried again.  And I think I managed something quite decent.  Rather crooked, but a bit decent.

And again. And again. And again.

I never thought I’d knock  myself out drawing noses.  But I did.

After two days of shading in nostrils, trying to shade in a proper philtrum ('ya know – that little indentation between the nose and the mouth?)  and kicking myself for drawing yet another version of the Wicked Witch of the West’s nose, I think I finally have the hang of it.

I think.