Head Drawing and Construction
Introduction to the Skull and Abstraction
Head Construction and Invention
Perspective Forms of the Face and Features
Facial Features
Bonus Lessons
Let’s move onto Step 7! In this lesson, we’ll start with a review of the side plane of the head and locating key points like the hairline and jaw. Then we’ll move onto building up the eye sockets and nose using simple shapes.
Newest
@anthony_shearing
3d
Sorry about the separate images. I'm not good with the computer stuff.
I feel like I understand most of the construction, but I always feel like my drawing look a bit off or I have some issues placing the eyes in the sockets. Should the ye always be big enough to fit snugly into the socket, or is there often some struggle and trial and error to fit it? I always have the impression that the issue with the eye placement is a symptom of lousy construction. Is this construction and eye placement fully accurate?
Also, sorry for always posting the same strange reference. I have difficulty with it and wouldn't want to post something I accidentally get right.
Lin
1d
I have a feeling you’re a perfectionist like me so you’re in danger of digging yourself in the same hole I dug myself in not too long ago - which is trying to perfect the characteristic-ness of a subject too early (in my case I was 6 months into art and a lot worse). Studies are not meant to look perfect and it’s going to take mileage between understanding something and being able to reproduce it where it completely feels like that person. It already looks much better than the previous. There’s benefit in moving on to the next one than redoing the same thing again and again because your skills won’t change very much in a day or two and there’s only so far you can take something with how your brain sees today. Unless you’re using plumb lines and take many hours to push accuracy to the max…which can be worth it for a finished work ̶o̶r̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶i̶t̶’̶s̶ ̶V̶i̶k̶t̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶r̶c̶a̶n̶e, it will look a bit different.
My recommendation is to stop caring about likeness right now and instead create a simplified head/face mask system that you can reliably trace on top of any face anywhere quickly. This will help you see how shapes change with perspective which is a key part leading to achieving likeness. You know the system, so it’s time to break all the rules and make stuff up.
Mine consists of bony landmarks, Michael hampton’s landmarks/shapes (especially the eye area - there are some really bad versions out there for the eye area), a couple of Reilly rhythms (I only like two so I scrapped the rest), ONE single loomis measurement because I can only take loomis proportions in small doses >.> and some other divisions that are mine but I like them because it splits the front of the face planes from the side planes in all four directions. And lastly, the Asaro head a huge staple, (there’s an amazing model on sketchfab that you can rotate).
Then, imagine it’s the Elden Ring face slider and you’re moving the controls randomly.Some things will work and some won’t. Put the eyes too low or too high, change shapes, don’t worry about likeness or rules. For example, I found that the jaw angle always looks amateur if it’s 90 degrees or less. But break the rules any other way and it can add character. Having less than an eye distance between them looks terrible but pushing them too high can feel regal (and is a personal preference of mine despite being told that they have to be in the centre). They’re definitely not in the centre in the superhero from imagination I tried quickly below. And I’m willing to bet that other head has the eyeballs in the wrong place XD but it’s good enough for me now compared to the travesties I used to make.
Once you get more comfortable with the same system you’ll notice things begin to slide in a little better too. I used to care about eyeball size in perspective underneath the lids, now I just care they’re in the eye socket somewhere. If it doesn’t feel right I shift them. I know they’re too wide apart sometimes, but that will even out with time xD
@rtpowell
3mo
I have been taught mid head top to bottom should be mid eye. I find following your steps top half falls short. Am I wrong or am I doing something wrong? Thanks for any help.
•
3mo
All good. You can substitute whatever proportional breakdown you want at this point. I find this is best especially when working from views other than straight on.
@tonycatalano
6mo
I've been wondering about the diagonal line across the cheek/jaw you often draw after the Loomis cheek rhythm. Is this just a contour describing the form or a plane change between the lower cheek and upper cheek?
•
6mo
I'm not sure I know which line you're referring to?
@yatogamyy
6mo
Hello ! Thank you for your course, everything so far is really complete to follow for me, and it's so good to see my progress. However, I am having a bit of a problem with the front face her.
I've tried 4 times trying to get your result, but impossible, as you suggest, I went from every steps, trying to see where was my mistakes, but I don't seem to find what is wrong...
The planes always end up disproportionnate and the jaw squished when I try to use thoses planes..
If anyone could take a look, I am struggling so much with this one, thank you for your time!
@yatogamyy
6mo
So I made another attempt.
Things are not that symmetrical, it's maybe why it's not that good, but I think it's better?
Jerus Taan
8mo
I like cheese
•
6mo
So good 🧀
•
8mo
Have a charcuterie board while doing the homework 🧀
@ejsilapas
8mo
Follow along finishing up the other three, looking forward to further development of other features!
•
8mo
Very good, ejsilapas!
@mischawilliams
8mo
Sorry, can you remind me what is step 5?
•
8mo
These are all the steps!
1) Shape
2) Tilt
3) Jaw
4) Perspective
5) Proportions
6) Side Plane
7) Eye Sockets
8) Nose
9) Mouth
10) Chin
11) Fat
@ejsilapas
8mo
Following along and greatest anxiety comes around the keystone, really feels like if that is off to a certain degree then everything would fall apart.
Another concern is the curve within the eye socket that relates to the canthal ligament and forms that beautiful spiral and inner plane. I’m not sure if there’s a specific landmark we should be referencing to ensure high wide or narrow that spiral is or where it tapers at the top and bottom of curve and how that plane develops. You do mention that ligament and made a rectangle around it however I’m unsure of how to go from there…
Or, am I fixating on this part too much and we will go into better detail later?
•
8mo
Looking good! You're off to a good start here. I think it's just a matter of repetition to get comfortable with some of the steps and pieces. And ya, don't worry about too much with the specifics yet. Try and knock out a bunch of these just to this point.
MSD
9mo
Trying to summarize this here from memory, had to make some corrections to the face and trying to catch my own mistakes. Hope for just a bit of input here from Michael Hampton on anything to make better. These were invented, then I consulted Michael's book to double check and tried to fix it from there.
•
8mo
Nicely done. I'd double check the proportions. They're super close but the eye sockets look a little tall in the drawing on the right. On the left side be show you depict the nose from above to match the overall perspective view of the head. That's it :)
@csen
9mo
been waiting for this one! Really puts the others more into perspective as well. Not really able to develop the eye socket in 3d like you did for the front view at the end, but I'll assume we'll go more into that in later lessons
@camilamiz
8mo
Nice!
•
9mo
Ooh nice one, csen! Yes, we're gunna develop the eye more in a later lesson :) stay tuned, and keep making more awesome drawings!
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About instructor
Educator, painter, writer, and art historian. Author of Figure Drawing: Design and Invention.
