Okay, so I got this idea stuck in my head the other day – drawing a woman with a cleft chin. Don’t know why, just popped in there. Maybe saw someone on the street, or maybe I was just bored of drawing the same old faces. Anyway, I figured, why not give it a shot?
Getting Started
First thing, I grabbed my trusty old tablet and stylus. Fired up the drawing program I usually mess around with, nothing fancy. Stared at the blank canvas for a bit. Usually, I just jump in, but this time I kinda hesitated. How prominent should the cleft be? Is it just a little dimple or a real groove? Decided not to overthink it yet.
I started roughing out the head shape, basic stuff. Kept it loose, you know? Just getting the general proportions down. Shoulders, neck, the usual setup. Didn’t want to get bogged down in details right away.
Tackling the Chin
Then came the main event: the chin. Honestly, I messed it up quite a few times. Seriously messed up. At first, it looked like she’d just smacked her chin on something hard. Not exactly the look I was going for. It’s tricky because it’s not just a line, it’s about the shape and the subtle shadow it creates.
I must have erased and redrawn that little area like, ten times? Maybe more. Looked up a few photos online, not for tracing, just to get a feel for how it actually looks on different people. Found out it varies a lot. Some are soft, some are quite deep.
- Tried making it a sharp ‘Y’ shape – looked weird.
- Tried just a soft dimple – felt like I was chickening out.
- Finally settled on something in between, like a gentle indent.
Adding More Details
Once I felt okay-ish about the chin, I moved on. Started working on the eyes, nose, mouth. Tried to give her some personality, maybe a thoughtful look. Drew some simple hair, didn’t want anything too complicated distracting from the face structure. Just kept building up the layers, refining the lines bit by bit. Added some basic shading to give it some form. That chin area needed careful shading, believe me. Too much shadow and it looks like a hole, too little and the cleft disappears.
Finishing Up (Sort Of)
Didn’t go for full color this time. Just kept it as a shaded sketch. Spent a bit more time cleaning up the lines and adjusting the shadows until it felt reasonably done. It’s not perfect, far from it. Looking at it now, maybe the jaw is a bit off, or the eyes are slightly uneven. But the cleft chin part? I think I kinda nailed it, at least better than my first few attempts.
It was a good exercise, though. Made me pay attention to a feature I usually gloss over. Sometimes you just gotta pick something specific and really try to get it right, you know? Even if it takes a bunch of tries and you end up wanting to throw your stylus across the room. Yeah, definitely learned a bit doing this one.
