# Likeness Face Sketch

> Use when drawing a real person's face from photos until likeness passes -- forms first, bare head gate, multi-angle, localized landmark studies, optional screentone, hair later (hairline then mass then flow).

- Skill: `chouswei/likeness-face-sketch` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add chouswei/likeness-face-sketch`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/chouswei/likeness-face-sketch/raw
- Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS)
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: chouswei (https://skillmd.com/u/chouswei)
- Updated: 2026-09-22
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/chouswei/likeness-face-sketch

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# Likeness face sketch (from photo refs)

Draw a face / bare-head likeness so a viewer recognizes a real person -- before any full-scene coloring page.

## When

- User asks for a face that looks like someone in photos.
- A coloring page or gift portrait is blocked on recognition.
- Feedback names "not them yet", wrong age, wrong brow, generic anime face.

## MUST / MUST NOT

- MUST start with basic forms (head oval/sphere + feature axes) before pretty ink.
- MUST pass a **bare head gate** -- no hair mass, no glasses -- until proportions and landmarks read as that person.
- MUST use multi-angle refs (front, 3/4, profile, useful extremes).
- MUST isolate a failing landmark with [localized-feature-study](../localized-feature-study/SKILL.md) instead of redrawing the whole character.
- MUST draw hair only after bare head: hairline -> mass -> flow -> clean lines.
- MUST keep a closed mouth when the user says so.
- MUST draw thin, low brows close to the eyes when refs show that -- do not default to thick anime arches.
- MUST NOT skip to a full scene or kids coloring plate before likeness approval.
- MUST NOT invent a generic anime / stock face.
- MUST NOT CV photo-trace or dump filter outlines as the likeness.

## Pipeline

1. Ladder + multi-angle photo refs (front, 3/4, profile, useful extremes). Prefer the user's photos ([photo-to-sketch-practice](../photo-to-sketch-practice/SKILL.md)).
2. Short character sketch: physical keys (age, jaw, eye spacing, nose length, brow character), expression rules (closed/open mouth, glasses on/off).
3. **Basic forms first** -- head oval/sphere, center line, eye line, brow line, nose base, mouth line. Check tilt and turn against refs.
4. **Bare head gate** -- features placed and shaped; no hair, no glasses. Show this still to the user if likeness is in doubt.
5. **Localized studies** when a landmark fails (brows, eyes, nose, mouth, ear) -- study that part only from refs, then re-apply.
6. Optional light screentone on construction studies (form shadow, not photo grain).
7. Hair as its own steps after bare head: hairline -> mass -> flow -> clean lines. Glasses after the head reads.
8. Deliver face-only (or head-and-shoulders). Iterate on named feedback.
9. Hand off to [kids-photo-coloring-page](../kids-photo-coloring-page/SKILL.md) only when the face is approved.

## Landmark defaults (override from refs)

- Soft thin brows, low / close to eyes when refs show that.
- Closed mouth if the user says so.
- Adult spacing unless refs say otherwise: eyes about one eye apart; nose base about midway from eyes to mouth; mouth corners about under the pupils.
- Ear height roughly from brow to nose base on a level head.

## Construction habits

Use [comic-construction-basics](../comic-construction-basics/SKILL.md): forms before contour, same person from more than one angle, clean ink over the underdrawing.

## Do not

Skip to full scene; invent generic anime face; CV photo-trace dumps; grow hair before the skull reads.

## Pair with

[localized-feature-study](../localized-feature-study/SKILL.md), [photo-to-sketch-practice](../photo-to-sketch-practice/SKILL.md), [kids-photo-coloring-page](../kids-photo-coloring-page/SKILL.md), [comic-construction-basics](../comic-construction-basics/SKILL.md).