How to Draw a Chinese Woman

Face

Using the one facial guideline you drew in step 1, draw a circle for the head and add a horizontal and vertical line to form a shape. This is the basic face outline that portrait, caricature and comic artists use when drawing faces. You can adapt this to your own style but it is a good starting point.

Sketch out the details of her forehead and cheek like this. Then sketch out the lines for her nose and mouth. The bottom of her nose should be sloped in to form the nostrils. Lastly, sketch out the shape of her chin and jawline.

Draw her eyebrows. Asian eyes are usually wide and have a rounded appearance to them. Draw the eye outlines and then add the detail lines for the eyes. Erase the guidelines you drew in step 1 and sketch her hairstyle. The hair in this example is a simple ponytail.

Eyes

These Asian eyes are great for any male or female character, and they are really easy to draw. Start by drawing the lid lines. These should be a bit bolder than normal, to make up for the fact that we will be adding curves later on to add more dimension to the eyes. Next, sketch the iris and pupil. Make sure that the iris is not too big, or it will look cartoonish. Finally, add a detail at the inner corner of the eye called the caruncula, which is a soft pink bit of flesh that separates the iris from the eyeball.

Ears

In many cultures, ears protruding too much from the skull are considered a flaw, but that’s not the case in China where elf ears are all the rage. The new beauty trend is so popular that people are willing to undergo cosmetic surgery just to get them. This is just one of the ways in which China’s narrow obsession with thinness has led to bizarre beauty challenges, such as balancing lipsticks on collarbones and wrapping earphones around waists.

Ears are a great place to practice your value scale because they consist of a complex mixture of highlights and shadows around crazy shapes. Start off by scribbling some graphite down to get the general shape, then use your blending stump to smooth out the lines and make them more realistic.

Hair

In ancient China, ladies’ hairstyles were like a silent language—announcing their status updates to the world like public Facebook profiles. This was especially true for the Red Yao women of Huangluo, who would wrap their locks to indicate their relationship status to the outside world. If a woman wore her hair uncovered, it meant she was single and looking for a husband. If she was married but without children, her hair would be in a circular pattern on top of her head, like a round tray. If she was married with children, her hair would be in a bun on top of her head.