Hi! You have a nice three-dimensionality and you can see how your structure is informed by the loomis head. But don't be afraid to deviate from the default loomis measurements--everyone's face varies in proportion to some degree. In this example, it's more extreme as he has a much shorter jaw and wider cheekbones than the average person. It can help to tackle likeness and different head shapes by assessing how the thirds of the face (forehead / eyes to nose / jaw) are distributed across. This video goes more in-depth: https://www.proko.com/s/xU4i Also, congrats on starting with color! I like the color variation you have going already, with different ranges from yellow to red for the skin. A good tool to keep handy is the greyscale feature--use it to assess your values because getting proper values is more than half the battle when it comes to color >:)

Hey, congrats on the progress! You're dedication is paying off. Just some notes for this drawing that I hope can help you as you continue forward: - The loomis model divides the face into thirds, and right now the bottom third (jaw area) seems rather elongated. After you divide the side plane oval in half, you can use the vertical length of that half circle to measure out the jaw. You may even want to make it smaller, given her face in particular is more short than the average proportion. - Careful with pure white, especially for the eye whites. This value is typically reserved for highlight areas. - Be mindful of the alignment of the features. Right now, the nose seems to be facing towards the center more than the rest of her features facing slightly right. It's helpful to use the center guideline, but remember that the features you are adding to the face plane are also 3D structures, so they will sit on top of the guideline rather than follow it closely as if they were flat 2D shapes. Keep up the good work :)

This isn't something that you do overnight. That left drawing is amazing. Was it done by Stephen?

Good try.

 People, have already made some of the observations that I had for you, so I will try to mostly stick to things not yet stated. First of all, for only starting to learn to draw a few months ago this is a nice attempt. I know what you mean when you say that you are out of your league, but at the same time, it’s also not really a thing, try whatever interest you as long as it’s not frustrating you more to do so. I don’t know if you are taking Proko’s “Drawing Basics” course, but if not I highly recommend it. Also, you can use different level of hardness graphite pencils, to get lighter and darker values easier. I like to use an HB and then use a 4B for the darkest parts. One thing to keep in mind when rendering is that contrast really attracts the eye, so try not to use too much contrast in places that you don’t want the viewer to want to look at the most. First you have to know where you want the viewer to look, in a portrait that is probably the eyes, mouth, and then maybe the nose, in importance, because these are the things we find most important as far as recognizing how a person is feeling as they show expressions. We don’t tend to focus on something like their ear. Notice how in the Bauman’s drawing you only see the ear as an after thought, but you don’t focus on it. But in yours that is the number one thing I’m drawn to looking at. Why? Because it has a lot of contrast. What you could do to fix that is to lessen the light of the ear, meaning to dark it in just a little bit on the lighter spots, and that should help “push down the ear more.” I also think it would be better if you didn’t go darker than the hair for the inner dark parts of the ear. Notice how in Bauman’s drawing in the lower part of the jaw it’s lighter? That’s because of bounce light that is literally from light that has hit something else like, her shoulder and chest, and reflected back into the shadow, lighting it that way. The direct light source is not hitting there, that is in fact still in shadow. That reflected light is almost always darker than anything in the light parts of her face, including dark halftones, but it often appears brighter than it is because we compare it to the dark shadow that is next to it. It’s an illusion, that can trick us into thinking it’s much brighter than it is. To render successfully, it helps to think of the planes of the face, meaning the 3d forms of it. That part of the jaw that is getting the bounce light at the bottom, is only getting that bounce light, to that degree, because it is both close enough to the source of reflection, and that the planes of the jaw are turning inward where the skin will travel across an under plane and then reach the neck. Now all of that bounce light needs to be on the jaw, and none of it should be on the neck at the top, like you have it. That contour line of the face at the bottom represents the jaw, so all that bonce light should be above that line. Under that line, is the neck where it should be the darkest. When you but the bounce light at the top of the neck there, like you have it, it makes it look like the head is disconnected from the neck. So fill that in with dark shadow, below that jaw line, and above it there should be a bit more bounce light. As far as the shadows under the eye goes, well, first if you look at his, he gave her just as much darkness there as he did in the parts that go up to the eyebrow, which are caused by the depth of the noes, and brow. When you just make it dark on the lower parts and light above it makes the lower parts, under the eye look more like makeup or something because the lighting isn’t consistent and therefor our brains struggle to understand the reason for the heightened darkness there. It also makes it distract our gaze from the eyes to the bottom eyelids. Also look at the lower eyelid on our right for her. In his you can see that as it turns to the right, that lower eyelid shadow gets lighter. That is because the direction of the planes are turning. I think it might be receiving some of the light from the light source. If not then it is all bounce light. Either way the whole thing is not just one dark graphic shape of shadow, but instead it has a gradient because it represents the turning of those planes. Adding that will help make things look more rounded in 3d form. Without it things will look more flat. I hope some of this helps. It’s a lot to absorb. Everything that I mentioned can be learned from the classes on the Proko site. Keep at it, and you will get it.

An update: I’m using vellum paper for practice. I place one sheet over the face and work in the ball and the proportions. Then I do it again with the rhythms. Next I’ve been looking at the complete drawing and trying again with a new sheet, using the traced sheet as reference.

Yours is front while Loomis's drawing is in almost three quarters view.

Try this again but only the basic construction of the ball and the lines. And then post it! Let’s see it! ❤️

Hi Thanks for the reply. I did the Portrait drawing fundamentals which helped me with proportions, but your proportions are ok you just need help with the eye. The course I mentioned also looks at drawing eyes, noses and ears. Have a great day.

Sometimes it can be very tiny things that add up to throwing the drawing off a bit. Her neck needs to be darker in the shadows and her cheekbone isn't shadowed. Overall you have her proportions right her eyes may need adjusting of the pupil. You have done a good job. I that a photo on my mobile then look at it side by side with the original, I find a photo can really help.. Good luck.