Started drawing again after a 20-year hiatus - looking for feedback
4yr
Scott Lewis
I attended art school many years ago but have never progressed in my drawing skills beyond "ok". About 18 years ago I did what I considered, at the time, my best drawing and then suddenly stopped.
I'm determined to actually get good. I started out with Stan's basic portrait drawing video course. My very first attempts were pretty awful. In the video on "Drawing the head from any angle" Stan says, "No go draw 100 heads" which I took literally. I didn't really see any progress until I got to around the 50th head, which is where these are in the chronology. I'm happy with the progress but I'm still struggling. I'm looking for some feedback on what I'm not "seeing" and where to go next.
The things I struggle with the most are the 3/4 view and drawing the far-side eye and the near-side cheek. Getting that depth seems to elude me. I won't even mention shading/hatching.
I was really nervous about posting my drawings for the first time. I'm not 100% happy with where my abilities are at so a bit self-conscious. But everyone has been amazing and I really appreciate it. The feedback has been amazing as well as the encouragement. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?
I really like the way you construct your forms, it definitely feels 3 dimensional. The placement is mostly sound aside from the ears from time to time. Although this is sort of nitpicking, remember that when the head is tilted downwards, the ears are generally higher than what they’d normally be, so they won’t really line up with the brow ridge. As I said before, this was kinda nitpicking, because I only saw this in one of the drawing (third picture), and the rest seem to be fine. One more thing I’d like to mention is the edge quality of your drawings. I know they’re mostly form and structure studies so it is understandable that things like the nose have hard edges(first picture). But when you work on more finished pieces, try to think about the edges you place because they might make your subject look older/younger than they really are. Generally a hard edge signifies an abrupt stop in the form, while a softer edge is for smoother transition. But aside from this, you have made some really solid works, keep it up!
Well done for picking it up again after 20 years (sort of what I did too)!
Also well done for taking on the challenge of drawing 100 heads. I think those repetitive challenges help a lot.
I am wondering if you have done the structure lesson in the figure drawing course, or other places? When I looked at your drawings I was thinking that this might help you. This would help you to add some perspective into the shapes the head is constructed of.
I think the ellipse you draw at the side of the head is not angled correctly. When you watch a lesson on ellipses you will see what I mean, difficult to explain. Also, this ellipse should be angled inwards at the bottom of the head. Also the top of the head should be narrower in the front compared to the back.
These are my two cents at least... You're doing great so keep it up!!
Scott, congratulations for not abandoning your desire to do art. I think that alone, is worth of recognition.
As someone already recommended you, go ahead and check the Proko videos on Loomis. However, in my opinion, those ones where there are examples of Loomis heads from actual people are very helpful (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC2ZppKHCqU).
I think it's hard to draw from imagination as we tend to draw things as we believe they are, instead of drawing what we see. Go to google and search for portrait pictures and do the Loomis head for those. Pay attention to the thirds and particularly to the chin, jaw and cheekbones.
You're trying to do many things in these studies (like shadowing, face features). I believe you could dedicate some pages to draw some solid Loomis heads from real people and some other to study features (like what you did with those skulls in the second picture). You're already on your way, according to one of your replies to other people in this thread, you're invested in drawing 100 heads (to start). Hope this helps.
Really love the constructive approach on these drawings! The ears are maybe looking a little too far back on some of them in the 3rd set of drawings. Or maybe the head is just too long? Either way, it definitely seems to me like you’re on the right track!