What's the first detail you start drawing?

[Dans oubli]

I just got to wondering while I was sketching an order, what do people usually draw first? And does it depend on the style they draw?

For my cartoon-like stuff I draw the eyes first, but for more realistic styled stuff I sketch the hair first. So I tend to do the head first.

Please and thank you! :3  

[canned cabbage]

As of recent, I start with the chin, and work my way up, or else I mess up anatomy. Chin, mouth, nose, eyes, hair, then to the neck and down the body. ._.  

[A--Minty_Fresh--Mint]

I always start with the nose, then the shape of the head. Drawing the nose first helps me with the direction of the face, I think. I'm not too sure if it depends on the style people draw with.  

[Fearmie]

If its a girl i like to start with the boobs! pfff....!!!
If its a boy i like to start with the arm muscles!
If its like a still life or pretty much anything else i'll just pick my fave part and start there  

[zathraya]

I usually start with the outside of the face and then go for the eyes, work my way down then go back up the hair. I don't know why, but I have a hard time doing it any other way. confused  

[Raen Check]

I work around as evenly as I can, so there's no "first" detail. The shape of the eye comes as soon as the line for the lips, just as the shading for the nose comes as soon as the hair.

When working in one area for too long without addressing other areas, you risk ignoring the composition as a whole. Value is relative to other values in the image.  

[impish whimsy]

I usually do a whole "skeleton" and then fill it out, starting with the jaw line and shape of the face / head.
It works out best like that for me.

 

[Freiheit]

I work the figure before I draw in any of the details. Once that's done, I'll draw in which ever part is most interesting in that particular piece, often it's the face, sometimes the torso.  

[Nathaniel Mea]

The basic shapes... All to be put out before you start the detailing.

Check for issues before you start the detail and such. Then detail it and again check for issues before inking and so on.  

[black-rain259]

for me the head shape... then the stick person thingie, then start the details with the chest area, and finish the whole body then go back to the head....  

[illusionwings]

Start with the head (basic shapes) then draw a stick figure in the pose I want, flesh it out, refine the face then add clothes and details.

I find if the head isn't there the whole image goes out of proportion.  

[The Smut Peddler]

It usually depends on what I was trying to accomplish on that drawing. If it's a normal piece, I start with the basic oval of the head, then work down the spine and box out the chest. But if for whatever reason I'm working on balance instead, I work on whatever is going to be most difficult to portray correctly. - So namely I start with the supporting foot then work the hips and go up the spine. But for detail after the basic skeleton is done, I work on whatever fits my mood for that subject- or whatever it is I wanted to see first. Usually, it's the anatomy fleshed out, but I do find myself pretty half and half between skin anatomy and facial expression and structure. I usually draw a chibi with the expression I'm looking for next to the model to remind me what I'm working with on that face. - Because I forget easily.  

[Chaotic Mana]

I usually start with the detail I'm most likely to forget. If there is something unique about a character I absolutely shouldn't forget, I draw that first after the initial layout. Not only does it make sure I don't forget, but can help me show off that unique feature of the character in the overall composition.  

[Pathos]

I used to have a very bad habit of focusing so much on the face that I would be bored of the image when I got to the rest of the figure. So now I draw the basic wireframe skeleton, flesh it out giving everything equal attention (not just the dumb head), then I work on the clothes and general bearing of the character.

then I work on the hair, and only then do I sketch in a basic face, then I start over refining all the bits, working on the hands, clothing bits, hair, then some on the face, probably change an expression depending on wheat feeling I am getting from the image.

Doing things this way has helped me immensely in not just drawing faces, and I've been finally seeing a marked improvement in my images overall. I hate that whole mis-matched face/body thing I see ALL the time, where you can tell the artist spends much much much more time on faces than on say... legs.  

[ShiftyCheese]

Draw the outline of face, then eyes, hair, nose then the mouth, then the rest! :3