Usually, when sculpting dolls, the face seems the most complicated part to sculpt. And I get why - the facial features will be defining the character of your doll - making mistakes can be frightening for sure! If you want to sculpt a more realistic human face, the proportions are very important to consider. So today, I want to make your sculpting journey easier and talk about facial proportions.

Facial proportions for sculpting dolls | by Adele Po.

Things to consider

I want you to remember that you’re sculpting dolls. Don’t beat yourself up if the face you’re sculpting isn’t symmetrical or proportions are slightly askew. Humans are rarely symmetrical as well. Those small mishaps can bring so much character to your doll. You’re sculpting with hands, not designing with a computer, so let that show! With that in mind, let’s talk about proportions.

Eyes

If you’re familiar with drawing faces, you might already know that a lot of measuring is done using the width of the eye. But before determining the width of an eye, we need to find the placement of the eyes.

The eyes are approximately halfway down the head

We usually believe that our eyes sit more to the top of the head, but actually, it’s more in the middle!

The space between the eyes is approximately the width of an eye

This photo isn’t taken perfectly from the front, so there are some inaccuracies, but you get the idea. I like to play with this proportion the most. Sometimes the bigger gap between the eyes makes the face look cuter.

Lips

The corners of the mouth are on the same line as the pupils (or the iris)

I use this one when trying to determine the placement of the lips. Penciling these lines when sculpting really helps to stay on track. In most drawing references, the rule is that the corners of the mouth line up with the pupils. But I noticed that smaller lips can line up with the edge of the iris in some faces. I find that this proportion fits my sculpting style more, so I make the lips slightly smaller.

The mouth is approximately halfway between the nose and the chin

This guideline can be helpful when sculpting a rough sketch of the face. I like to play with this proportion when detailing later. Placing lips a little bit higher than halfway between the nose and the chin changes the character of the face.

Nose

The edges of the nostrils line up with the tear-ducts of the eyes

Similar to lips, this proportion helps to determine how wide the nose should be. Take this one with a grain of salt as well. Some faces depending on age, race, general appearance might differ.

Eyebrows

The top part of the ear lines up with the eyebrows

Sometimes when painting the face, it can be hard to determine where to place the eyebrows. I usually use this rule to avoid surprised or gloomy expressions that can appear if the eyebrow is placed too high or too low.

I hope this short overview was helpful to your sculpting adventures. Remember that all of these proportions are only suggestions that help to understand the human face. You can tweak and adjust them to your liking!

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