How to Draw the Head – Front View

3.5M
Mark as Completed

How to Draw the Head – Front View

3.5M
Mark as Completed

Draw the Loomis Head - Front View

Draw some more loomis heads from front view. Draw some looking up and some looking down and don’t forget about foreshortening.

Newest
Marco Sanchez
@jhvu1
2mo
Amu Noor
2mo
Front view portrait. Any feedback is appreciated!
Melanie Scearce
Very nice! His left (our right) ear looks a bit small, it looks like the reference lines you used curve at more of an angle on that side. Other than that, everything else looks solid! Good work 👍
faye zhang
4mo
I tried to apply the principles to a female face.
Vera Robson
I have worked through the course once, but when it came to drawing Nikolai I felt I didn't practice the basics enough. Doing this again, with the final project in mind.
Gannon Beck
Same. I finished earlier this year, but keep coming back to specific lessons.
@sharpjab
4mo
Looking up and down assignments. I feel like I'm getting better at looking down. But looking up is still a struggle. I have been trying to focus on the neck muscles and general trapezoidal structure of the jaw but there's just something about it I can't visually deconstruct.
Xun
4mo
i think you need to focus on the planes of the reference are not matching try to be as close to them as possible. for example in the second pic the first drawing the top lips of the woman in the reference are not visible yet you drew them. similar artists that have suffered from this problem presented their artwork to Angel Ganev on tiktok he fixed them and you will see him explain the concept of the planes it will make so much sense.
Rachel Dawn Owens
Here’s a couple pages from Michael Hampton’s Figure Drawing book that you might find helpful for the neck. Your drawings are great! Looking up drawings will always be more difficult than other angles. thanks for sharing!
@sharpjab
4mo
I feel like I’m still not getting the jaw part of upward tilt correct.
Melanie Scearce
These are great studies @sharpjab. Keep in mind that depending on the angle of the tilt of the head, we may see more or less of the plane underneath the chin. When slightly tilted up, we will see a distinct plane. When tilted very far back, the skin will be stretch from the bottom of the jaw, following the muscles of the neck and will appear as one plane. In your drawing, we see a clear separation of the planes, so your shadow shapes should indicate that. You can use the muscles of the neck to determine the shape of any cast shadows. Hope this helps!
@sknight
6mo
Practicing 3/4 and front view. Found that chopping the sides off the circle for the front view and then retroactively going a little past those lines when drawing the ovals to show the taper of the skull made it easier to not accidentally make the head too narrow.
Rhubarb
7mo
Used photo references for the female and male sets of heads, but not the first two individual ones. I studied a bunch of photos and looked for differences between the average female and male head, but with so many combinations of different camera angles, focal lengths, and facial features, it was difficult to get any clarity on that. The main differences I found were the angles of the jaw, shape/width of the chin, and size of the ears. Did Loomis also come up with a way to construct the average female head but we just didn't get a demo for it? Or do you simply adjust as you go along? 🤔
Patrick Bosworth
Really great studies! You captured a diverse range of faces and features! Overall, you found excellent areas to hone in on when constructing different face types. Subtle changes to the angle of the jaw and shape of the chin will yield dramatic differences in likeness. In Loomis's Drawing the Head and Hands he does cover a way to construct an average female head, but the rhythms and method of construction are nearly identical to male heads. His focus when drawing female heads is mainly on how to handle the subtle differences in the proportions of the underlying structure of the male and female skull, and how to use those differences to guide your portrait construction. Take a look at the 3D male and female skull models in the "Features" section and do a few studies from the front, side, and 3/4 views. Keep an eye out for proportional differences particularly in the jaw, chin, cheekbones, brow ridge, nose etc. In general, Loomis suggests softening the angular/broad features of the male head when approaching female portraits. So if you learn the blockier more angular male head construction as a base, you can use that as a framework to whittle it down and soften it until you reach your desired likeness for a female character. A more slender, rounded jaw line, pointier chin, smaller nose, with a slightly more slender, graceful neck width will quickly visually separate the female characters from the blockier male head/neck. Keep up the great work, the more studies you do the more you'll start to piece together how you like to show differences in your portrait construction methods. Hope this helps!
Jack Mills
10mo
front view sketches
@rafalmichalkrawczyk
Julia Pe
10mo
Front head downtilt. I think I want to do a whole series of the head in order to understand how the perspective works.
Stephen Clark
You asked for help on this one but this looks like you're grasping the core concepts well so far! If you do that series of them, it'll help to bring out any areas where you may need more practice. Personally, I really like the look of the 360° exploded diagrams like this one. It's a cool image to look at AND handy practice. Ask for help on it again so I can see it later when you do!
Julia Pe
10mo
@dcordes
11mo
First two took an hour each. Last two perhaps 30m, so big speed increase as I got familiar with the form. The foreshortening in the upward facing head (2 and 6) kinda threw me. 6 is as I expect the relative measurements to be as stated in the lesson, 1/2 the height of the cut oval for the close to viewer sections and reducing in those more distant. 2 looked like what 6 does, squashed, until I reworked it by eye without measurements. Did I maybe foreshorten too much? I only took off a few mm's, so could use some feedback there. I also enjoy seeing the more masculine (1, 6) and more gracile faces (4, 5) based on chin width, jawline shape and cheek gesture. Another great practice!
@xdejong
11mo
I don't really understand how to do this, can someone help me please
@desmond68
10mo
The features aren't in line with the center line.
carla toms
11mo
Yeah I’m struggling, too. I’ve been breaking the Loomis head into steps: 1) draw a circle 2) draw a sphere in perspective 3) just the cranium I’ve been using sketchfab to generate the references. For the “circle in perspective” i used a basketball, which has a set of perpendicular lines on it to practice from. For the cranium, there are Loomis head references for just the cranium to practice from. I’m getting better, little by little, and I’m starting to see things in more 3d than I did a few days ago, which makes me hopeful.
@grugrugru
1yr
I couldn't get the top angle right on the third one
S R
1yr
Some front view Loomis heads. I'm finding the jaw angles especially tricky when the face is tilted downwards.
@artfeedback
I asked proko this but not sure if he will answer. When he says a thin piece of the side plane can be seen from the front, does that mean the side plane isn't totally flat, but curves a bit toward the front? Or does that mean when seen from the top, it is tilted kinda like the first image? In that case, in a profile view, wouldn't the side plane be slightly to the front of the head instead of right in the middle? Or am I misunderstanding something?
Peter N
1yr
What Thieum said. Additionally to answer the other question, yes, the profile would not be two concentric circles. The inner circle would be slightly elliptic and slightly towards the face. No need to overthink it though. It is a simplification after all :)
Thieum
1yr
The front of the skull is narrower than the back. Side planes are therefore not parallel , they converge towards the front. So you can see them a little when you look at the skull from the front (but not from behind)
@draft_al
1yr
You are correct!
@nightfall
1yr
im having some trouble with the jaws and i feel like theres something wrong but i cant pinpoint itt but heres my attemptt
Liandro
1yr
Hey, @nightfall, these are nice studies! Overall, I imagine you could be facing sobre difficulties with perspective and proportion. Remember that, if the head tilts up or down, the basic proportions should change accordingly. I’m attaching a draw-over with some additional notes. Please let me know if you have any questions. Hope this helps!
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