Drawing the head by loomis method
4yr
San
Hello everyone! Since I have known loomis head, I have been following the potrait fundamentals course by proko. This a 45 min. practise of the loomis head from side view. I would appreciate any critique or guidance from anyone.
Hey Sagnik!
Your drawing is off to a good start. Like the other's mentioned double check the proportions. From most angles, the face can be divided into thirds. Double check the height to width relationship of the heads as well. I'd recommend with these exercises to have one of those 3D skull apps open that you can rotate the skull to match the reference. I think that will help your understanding of how the neck bends and where the spine inserts into the base of the head.
Hi you’re definitely going in the right direction! One thing I’d like to comment is that perhaps you can try to keep the features of the face more consistent. For example, the jaw and the nose vary a bit between the three studies. But another thing I’d like to mention is that you should try to keep in mind how the neck interacts with the head. Since the head is tilting backwards, we should expect to see some folding at the back of the neck. This is similar to the concept of the bean. So if you tilt the head backwards, there’s a stretching of the muscles in the area of the Adam’s apple, while there’s a contraction of the muscles in the nape. Remember that muscles almost always contract and relax in pairs.
You’re on the right track. Loomis head is definitely harder to get down than it seems at first. I’m still trying to fully grasp it myself. Keep practicing!
Watch where you place the facial features as the head tilts backwards. I think this is a common problem, and I struggle with it too, that as soon as the head isn't looking straight to the left or right we tend to misplace things.
Something that helped me a lot is remembering that the following are approximately the same distance apart:
* Bottom of the chin to bottom of the nose
* Bottom of nose to brow-line
* Brow-line to hair line
Basically you can divide the face (not the head, mind you) into equal thirds with these. The one people usually get wrong is the bottom third where the mouth is.
Also it'll help to tilt the paper when you're drawing a head looking up- or downwards (when drawing someone in profile). For instance in your second drawing I see the cross you did in the middle is skewed (not all 90-degree angles) which was probably the beginning of your troubles.
Hope that helps in some way. I tried the Loomis method myself and honestly it's not a very beginner friendly one in my opinion, but you might have more luck with it :D
First head looks good. The side plane circle for the second and third head if off centre, which might be why the neck looks off. You’re doing great so keep going!