How to draw Black Girls

Not all fashion designs look their best on pale skin models. Sometimes a darker skin tone is what it takes to make the design idea pop. When you want to draw an African woman face in your fashion sketches, simply coloring the skin in a darker shade isn’t the best. To draw an African or African-American model correctly you need to pay attention to the specifics of the face also. In this tutorial, you will learn how to draw the facial features of a black model step-by-step.

Time, Tools and Difficulty:

Time to complete the tutorial: 4min
Tools you’ll need: drawing paper, a pencil, and an eraser
Difficulty level: 6/10

How to draw Black girls in 8 steps:

Step 1: Draw the face guidelines

Start by drawing a vertical Centerline and place two overlapping circles on it. The bottom circle overlaps the top one right at the center.

Try to draw the circles about the same size. If they have any difference in size make sure that the bottom one is the smaller circle.

How-to-draw-black-woman-face-in-fashion-design-sketches-step_1

Step 2: Eyes and nose guidelines

This step is very important. Firstly you draw an ellipse covering the very bottom of the top circle. The nose in the African models is wider compared to Caucasians. Make sure the shape of the ellipse reflects that.
Next draw two ellipses for the eyes. Notice how uplifted and wide-set the eyes are. African faces tend to have eyes that are wider set. Leave enough space from the outer corner of the eye to the face guideline!

How-to-draw-black-woman-face-in-fashion-design-sketches-step_2

Step 3: The face shape

Black skin models usually have very beautiful face shape with pronounced cheekbones. The cheekbones are the highest point of the face outline and finish right under the nose level.
To draw the jawline connect soft curves to the horizontal line marking the chin. Use the face guidelines to help you with the symmetry.

How-to-draw-black-woman-face-in-fashion-design-sketches-step_3

Step 4: Draw the eyes and the nose

Using the guidelines draw the eyes. They are almond-shaped and somehow rounded in the middle. Don’t forget the uplifted outer corner.
Black girls’ noses a typically a bit wider than Caucasians. To draw the nose start with a very opened “V” with curved corners. Next, draw a bracket on each side.

How-to-draw-black-woman-face-in-fashion-design-sketches-step_4

Step 5: Lips guideline

It is time to mark a guideline for the lips. Place an ellipse with almost round shape in the middle of the nose-to-chin area. Notice that the ellipse is slightly closer to the nose than to the chin.

To avoid making the lips too wide stop at about 1/3 of the eye width.

How-to-draw-black-woman-face-in-fashion-design-sketches-step_5

Step 6: Draw the lips

The key to drawing a black girl’s lips is in the shape of the top half. Make sure the line goes up immediately after the corner as opposed to the gradual increase towards the center in Caucasian models. “How to draw the lips”  and “How to draw sexy lips” are tutorials that might help also.

How-to-draw-black-woman-face-in-fashion-design-sketches-step_6

Step 7: Add the face details

Clean up the unnecessary lines with an eraser. Gently mark the bridge of the nose which is rather small compared to the nose tip. Then add the eyebrows. Short, thick and curved eyebrows work best for drawing an African-American woman. You can also sketch some lip lines and a cupid bow if you wish.

All ethnicities have details unique to the race. In my online course on How to Draw Faces you will find tips on that and become an expert in drawing models that are Asian, Indians, Native Americans, Latinas and more.

How-to-draw-black-woman-face-in-fashion-design-sketches-step_7

Step 8: Finishing touches

Finish the eyes, draw the neck and ears of your dark-skinned model. The last touch is to draw an afro hairstyle for your gorgeous model or black shiny hair and she’s ready to go!

How-to-draw-black-woman-face-in-fashion-design-sketches-step_8

Hopefully, this tutorial has helped you draw African and African-American women and now you only need to dress her up with amazing clothes. For an easy to follow step by step tutorial on a white girl’s face go ahead and check my How to draw faces tutorial.

How-to-draw-black-woman-face-in-fashion-design-sketches-step_9

Did you enjoy this tutorial? If so, go click on the button below and enhance your skills further with my full online course on ‘How to Draw Faces‘!


CC-BY-NC 4.0. Share and re-use for non-commercial purposes only.
Always give attribution and a link to I Draw Fashion.


21 Comments

  1. I came upon this site while browsing the web for helpful hints on drawing Caucasian faces. I typically draw African-American and/or Afro-AmerIndian faces while struggling with white faces. (Incidentally, I am “White” according to most conventional definitions based on my appearance, however I identify more accurately as multiracial).
    Anyway, I loved the tutorials and thought there were many helpful tools and techniques for drawing a diverse range of appearances. Most tutorials and reference books typically focus exclusively on Caucasian facial structures/features or at best might include a footnote advising you to “adjust accordingly” for non-white people. I am very pleased with this site and have learned some helpful tricks for drawing white people based on referencing the tutorials for people of color. Thank you.
    Oh and on a side note, the bickering and drama going on in the comments section is typical whenever the topic of race comes up in any online discussion. There’s always two or three White people who immediately take offense and feel the need to justify their bigotry by placing the blame on Black folks, and there are always 2 to 3 Black people who immediately feel the need to start discrediting White folks and taking offense at everything they say. And then there’s always 1-2 Black and 1-2 White who sugar coat everything so as to not sound offensive. And then there’s your oddball mixed guy who shakes his head and rolls his eyes in annoyance with it all lol. Well I guess I’m that token mixed oddball lol

  2. Eh, google African American beauty and SOME, not all, have these features. This person was trying to help people draw. Hell I am Caucasian and have big lips, big nose, and droopy eyes :/ I don’t look like Normal, perhaps they should of done more than one example. My main character in my book is Calica Dawn and she is Asian/African American. There are all shapes, this was just one.

  3. I am an African American and light brown skin I have big eyes, slim eyebrows,medium size nose, and small lips. Not all of us have big eyes and lips. My husband is African dark skin and his eyes are small, brushy eyebrows ,big nose, and big lips. I do have some European ancestry.

  4. @Katherine Gushchina I’m not sure where you’re from, but if it’s anywhere that has a population of African Americans/ black people (or whatever term you would use to describe us) you should know that we come in all shades..lighter complexions are not reserved for biracial people, as an African American, one does not have to be biracial to have a lighter skin tone..nor does any particular feature go with any particular skin tone.. the insanely abundant ignorance of your statement referring to the skin tone of the drawing in relation to it’s features is utterly astounding and just plain pitiful in fact! Would it be fair to say that all Caucasians are a pale pasty shade of white

  5. @TEYA BOZHILOVA

    Your drawings are beautiful. Sorry for being pedantic.

  6. Sorry, I was not trying to offend anyone. I was just pointing out that droopier/sleepier eyelids is a racial trait for black people. That doesn’t mean I don’t like it or think it’s bad. It is just a different look, that’s all. It looks sort of dreamy.

    I also mentioned that the skin tone of the drawing doesn’t seem right. It is too light and too pinkish, almost biracial. A full black woman with those full lips and a nose shaped like that will have a darker, more chocolate skin tone.

  7. The drawing is great but, I don’t think all Africans have droopy eyelids and big lips. If she thinks every black person has those features, then it’s just her mindset. There is no reason to be offended.

  8. @Katherine Gushchina

    Not to be rude but what you see and statistics are two very different things.You clearly said that if you look at an African American, statistically speaking, that compared to caucasians they have very droopy eyelids. But in what statistic does it say that every and all African Americans have “droopy eyelids” what you’re doing is condemning the artist based on the observations that you made. It simply is disrespectful to the piece of art and does not make any sense.

  9. Droopy eyelids? What does that even mean? And TONS of people get lip fillers. And they are not “shunned.” And how can you speak on what all white men like. You are literally the dumbest. Africans literally come hundreds if not thousands of ways. So what are you even talking about? I think the drawing is great and you are ridiculous.

  10. i feel like their no right or wrong in any race everyone built diffrently its genetics some have widder noses and bigger lips then other and its based on ancestory …

  11. @Proud black girl with beautiful skin and soft lips

    “You people are always trying to darken your skin and make your lips fuller like ours. Looks to me like you want to be black!”

    LoL, what? Only a crazy fringe group of white women get lip injections and they are widely ridiculed, hated and shunned by the white community. Also, the overwhelming majority of white women do not tan at all and those who do do not tan themselves to have a black African or biracial skin tone. They go for a golden, somewhat bronzed tone but they still look fully white after it. They just go from very pale to somewhat sun-kissed. Besides, white men hate it when white women get tans. They like natural white and pale skin tones.

    It is a biological fact that black people have more droopy eyelids than whites. Look at any black person and you can clearly see it. It’s not something you should get offended about. If I said that black people have wider noses and larger lips would you also have gotten mad even if that is a biological fact (except for Eastern Africans like Ethiopians and Eritreans, etc.)

  12. Asa black girl, i think the above comments are sad, the illustration clearly looks like a black girl and she looks gorgeous. she can’t illustrate every shade of black or every type of feature . Seriously smh

  13. Katherine you are full of crap! And that’s using my words lightly. I don’t have droopy eyelids and neither does my mom or sisters! I’m pecan colored so I’m lighter than that! Watch how you talk about another race of people, you know why, because we can say all you white people have skinny lips and thin stringy hair. Plus, not all black people gave big lips butt hole! You people are always trying to darken your skin and make your lips fuller like ours. Looks to me like you want to be black!

  14. Hi, I wonder what the meaning of guidelines. does it mean the structural lines in drawing? would you please answer.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Fashion Designing Courses
Back to top button