How Do You Make A Nose

Drawing something from a reference is one thing, but if you want to draw from memory/imagination, you must really understand the topic beforehand. In this tutorial I will tell you everything you need to know about a human nose: how its anatomy can be simplified to forms and lines, and how to draw it in every view and style without a reference.

1. The Anatomy of a Human Nose

The nose consists of three parts: bone, cartilage, and connective tissue. Its upper half is all made of bone, an integral part of the skull:

The lower half is more complex and consists of:

Alar cartilage (the ball of the nose)
Lateral and septal cartilage
The ala (the wings of the nose made of connective tissue)
The nostrils (notice they're made of two parts: the hole in the ball and in the wings)
The philtrum (the groove connecting the nose with the lips)

All these elements can be turned into a 3D form:

Once you understand what this form looks like, you can rotate it and reshape it to create a nose from imagination.

But it's still not easy to remember! Let's simplify it to something easier to draw:

The ball of the nose can be drawn as a sphere.
The wings can be drawn as two smaller spheres.
The septum can be drawn as a small sphere below the ball, behind it, and between the nostrils.
The bridge can be drawn in two parts, to symbolically separate the bone from the cartilage.
The tip of the nose is the upper part of the ball. You don't always need to draw it, but it should be accentuated with shading. A great place to put some shine on!
The sides of the nose should blend with the rest of the face, but the shading should gently reveal their shape.
The root can be drawn as a "bent fan".

2. Nose Shapes

This was a general "recipe" for a nose. But noses vary a lot among people! For example, we can talk about a "masculine" and a "feminine" nose. Traditionally, males are drawn with big, wide, roughly chiseled noses, and females with small, smooth, gentle ones.

However, this difference is mostly an artistic exaggeration (based on beauty standards and used to differentiate the "beautiful, feminine" characters from the "rough, masculine" ones) —both males and females can have various nose shapes that have nothing to do with their sex. It's not unusual for a woman to have her father's nose!

If you look at a nose in profile, there are lots of ways you can arrange the elements to create a nose. It can be pointing up or down, round or pointed, straight or humpy. There is not one perfect shape, "default" to all humans!

Noses can also differ in front view. Both the ball and the nostrils can have various sizes and proportions. Also, the nostrils can appear wide or tiny. Because the shape of a nose is mainly genetic, various ethnicities can have their own characteristic shape. Experimenting with the nose shape will therefore help you create unique characters, with a story hidden in their faces (you can make certain characters look related, or show their affiliation to a clan or tribe).

3. How to Draw a Nose in the Side View

Step 1

First, sketch the general shape of the nose as you imagine it. This will help you get an idea about the proportions of the elements you'll need to draw later.

Step 2

Draw the ball in the front according to the shape you want to achieve.

Step 3

Draw the circle for the wing. Adjust its size to your vision.

Step 4

Draw the tiny circle for the septum. It should be placed slightly below the ball, at the back.

Step 5

Draw the nostril. Remember the two parts of it!

Step 6

Outline the bottom of the nose all the way down to the philtrum. "Cut" the upper part of the nose to create the root, and divide the rest roughly into halves.

Step 7

Outline the bridge and the tip.

Step 8

Draw the sides of the nose.

Step 9

Add the details.

Step 10

Draw the final lines and shade it, if you want to.