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Painting And Drawing The Nose With Anatomy


In another post, I wrote about seeing the planes of the nose by understanding anatomy. If you understand these five basic shapes of the nose, you will have a basic understanding of anatomy and become a better artist.

1. cartilage of nasal septum 2. lateral nasal cartilage 3. greater alar cartilage 4. fibro fatty tissue 5. lesser alar cartilage

Keep your eye out for the placement of number four, fibro fatty tissue and number five, lesser alar cartilage. Remind yourself that when any of these shapes differ in size, the nose will differ also. Why would these shapes differ? Bones stop growing with age, but not your nose because it is made up of mainly cartilages.

When I paint, I first establish the warm colors. I don't want to forget about the blood vessels of the nose. When I paint in watercolor, I m also leaving areas blank on purpose. I am thinking about the direction of the sunlight. Where I am painting is where the shadows are. I added a light cobalt blue to represent the fatty tissue. Adding another color also help establish the volume and planes of the nose.

Don't forget what the nose does. It warms and filters incoming air. Therefore, you want to paint the the nostrils with a warm color.

References are available for download here and here for you to practice at home.

A Youtube video is available here.

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