This book begins with essential information about skull characteristics and head construction. Next, the author presents the canon of the human head, the system that delineates correct placement and proportion of all facial features, allowing for differences based on age and sex. Individual facial features - eyebrows and eyes, nose and ears, mouth and lips - are analyzed in detail. Throughout the book the emphasis is on achieving a good, natural likeness, which involves studying the model in depth. Included is practical information on setting up the work, lighting and posing the model, composition, background, and appropriate format sizes. Step-by-step demonstrations include creating a portrait using chalk, and making a self-portrait.