Here are my initial attempts for this method. I quite like this blended with the Loomis method. It made things make more sense to me. Looking forward to continuing this course.

My 4 step method assignment. I think i have a bad habit to put the jaw or chin mark to low! :)

Hi Michael, great course. any thoughts on this first assignment appreciated. I think I need to work on incorporating the neck and other structures to the head, as well as working more on the back view

I really like this approach! Easy to remember, not so easy to execute, but I feel myself improving. I think I need to lean into more exaggeration of the angles and curves to get the full effect of the gesture, and also pay more attention to the curvature of the head and neck. I struggled a lot with understanding how to draw the ellipse at the base of the neck to suggest the curve of the torso. I really liked the suggestion to identify the pose by a word and write it next to it. I'm not sure that my sketch communicates those expressions but it helped to create like a mental visual taxonomy of how gesture and expression correspond.

My homework.

I am a complete beginner, learning the very basics. I have found the explanations here to be the clearest I’ve encountered. I have a long way to go, but am enjoying the journey. Areas of question/growth potential: -does the tilt represent the position of the c-spine or of the neck musculature, ie sternocleidomastoid? -how does one represent the submental area in these structures, ie in refs 4, 5 or 10? or is it not included at this stage? (and no, learning anatomy for my work offers no advantage when the hand can’t do what the mind sees, lol) Thank you for any critique/advice that you might have for this beginner.

First go at the assignment, the order of the drawings is the order of the pictures provided in the references, I think more or less I got the idea but I I still struggle to draw/imply the bottom of the chin. Any feedback is appreciated!

First assignment in this course for me. Really appreciate the lengthy explanations and many examples that are easy to follow along!

Some more difficult than others but I feel good about these, learned a lot. I don't want to bother too much for a critique as I feel I understand the concepts pretty well, just need more mileage. But if anything, I'm struggling with finding the right head orientation (tilt and major axis for the ellipse) as if I don't get these foundational lines right, the rest falls apart. I'm not sure where I'm supposed to look at to deduce these; more often than not it's only when i start to place the jaw, the brow line, etc that I realize these angles were wrong and I'm starting over.

These are from the previous two lectures, so far it's all been easy to understand save for just two things. 1- I'm having a hard time gauging the tilt line, since I'm drawing traditionally it's not easy to trace over the reference and get a feel for the directionality of the head, but I'm sure with time I'll be able to get a handle on it (I also plan on moving to digital so I suppose this is a temporary issue) 2- The issue of jaw length depending on the pose of the head, that also seems to depend on how frequently I try and practice these methods. All in all, these steps are extremely helpful to keep mind of since they at least inform me while I'm trying to draw a head as opposite as to just going with what I feel is the next step.

My second set of heads after watching the critiques. I tried to apply the various tips and feedback given in the video. My biggest struggle is when the pose is in between a real 3/4 and a from view (i.e., you can see both sides of the face and having a straight line for one side feels “wrong”). It also takes me a lot of time and different tries when the bottom of the chin is showing. Anyway, any comments or feedback welcome :)

4 step method homework…

My first drawings using the 4 step method. Any critique is welcomed :)

This seems like a healthy project for me, considering how much I struggled with it. Big thing I think that help me up was line quality and being indecisive on what the bounds of the face/jaw plane should be. I couldn't tell what looked right/ was right for making the face plane. Should it be the width of the jaw, extending from where it meets the sphere of the cranium? Or should it be narrow and as tight to the actual plane of the face? Excited to keep working on this course!

My first attempts construction using the four-step method. Any feedback is welcome!