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aeyt
8d
Longer portrait study for a change of pace. First time digitally painting with colours!
8d
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 >:)
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aeyt
8d
ref:
Love Byström
9d
Gouache. Im struggling to put the paint down where I want it. Might just be that I need to take it more slowly and carefully. Any painting or drawing misstakes and how I might adress them is welcome!
Love Byström
12d
Clint eastwood portrait in charcoal. Very bright lights in the photo, which was fun and fast.

aeyt
1mo
First full face study I’m not too embarrassed to post. A lot of work still ahead but I’m happy with the progress I’ve made in the last month. Feedback of course appreciated!
1mo
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 :)
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aeyt
1mo
reference:
Samuel Sanjaya
2mo
the left one is my attempt, the right one is follow along. Seems I drew the eye to high on the draw along. Any feedback / critiques will be appreciated.
2mo
Hi! Yes, you are correct noticing the eye placement as too high, but what I think can help you is going back to the structural foundation of the head (the loomis model) and taking a look at how the proportions change as you rotate them around. Right now, it seems you are drawing this pose as if it were a side view, which is correct, but also take note at how we are looking down at him slightly, which would lower all the features into perspective. You can try some loomis head studies from different angles, focusing on ones where the perspective changes considerably. One last thing I would recommend is drawing out a value scale broken down into steps to help you gain control of your medium as you start rendering more complex forms like portraits.
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Katja Rohloff
3mo
Hello all,
Many thanks to Stan for this wonderful drawing course. I have been trying my hand at "Nicolai" and could use some honest criticism so I can see mistakes and learn from them.
Thank you very much and best regards,
Katja
3mo
Nice attempt! I think you really nailed the tones of the image, the balance of lights and darks is really striking! Good job! The biggest area you can improve on is proportions. You need to practice more on capturing the underlying structure of the head and correctly placing the features on that structure, so practice more with the Loomis head lessons.
A good way to check your work when you're working from reference is to overlay the drawing in photoshop to see where you went wrong.
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heather kindt
3mo
Practicing the curves and making a mess with pastels. I didn’t exactly mean to smear everything but I tried to go with it to practice line widths.
Eric
3mo
Hi everyone,
I did a portrait exercise using a model I have seen on a Stephen Bauman video on YouTube. I am not really satisfied. I really struggled with the proportion. It is definitely an aspect I need to work on. Amongst other things, eyes are not as I would like them to be.
I’d love getting your comments on this one.
I wish you all a wonderful day.

John Harper
3mo
This isn't something that you do overnight. That left drawing is amazing. Was it done by Stephen?

John Harper
3mo
Good try.

Steven Wolf
3mo
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.
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Achintya Ojha
4mo
My attempt at nicoli something does seem off though...
Achintya Ojha
4mo
attempted a coloured version as well
Vue Thao
4mo
Sita Rabeling
4mo
This is the second attempt (after 5 months) to draw this portrait, to see whether I made some progress.
I tried to use just lines (like in the Dave Malan study) but I don’t know enough about cross hatching.
The background I messed up…
elkad
5mo
Phew, awesome seeing everything coming together :)
5mo
Wow! Nice!
- Maybe you could add some more dark halftones to sculpt a clear side plane of the face.
Hope this helps :)
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Adan Rodriguez
5mo
From page 70 of Drawing the head and hands by Andrew Loomis? Can you spot the mistakes?
Adan Rodriguez
5mo
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.
Vue Thao
5mo
Yours is front while Loomis's drawing is in almost three quarters view.

Ron Kempke
5mo
I can understand you're wanting to produce a likeness but, by focusing on reproducing the features before you can demonstrate a clear understanding of the 3-dimensional form and structure of the head, you're guaranteeing yourself disappointment. Take it from one who's been there, done that.
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Adan Rodriguez
5mo
My lips protrude a bit too much. Or something is wrong with… something.
elkad
5mo
I think the lips are positioned too far down the chin. Generally, the lips should be contained in the top half of the the bottom third of the face (see the example attached). Because the head is tilted slightly downwards, there will be foreshortening and the lips will appear slightly lower but its pushed too far in your drawing.
Another point I had (and this may just be the cigarette distorting the lips) is that the lips should be turning more with the head, to me the lips appear almost as if they were on a front facing head. Try visualizing the lips as muscles wrapping around the tooth cylinder, it really helps with orienting the lips and make them look properly anchored to the face.
Also please try taking clearer photos in future, a lot of the drawing is out of focus so we miss out on seeing all the details!
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qcy
7mo
Did a portrait exercise... I would love to get critical feedback from someone more experienced on what I need to improve. My drawing feels "off" somehow, but I'm having trouble seeing where the issue is - is it the accuracy of the block in? (I am trying to measure carefully maybe not doing as accurate a job as I need to be) Is it the value? Or the shape design? I'd love some feedback on what to focus on improving. Thank!
Adan Rodriguez
5mo
Try this again but only the basic construction of the ball and the lines. And then post it! Let’s see it! ❤️

Lynn Hann
7mo
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.

Lynn Hann
7mo
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.
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Joe Cashman
8mo
Doodling along with Proko and this came out. It's only 2" tall, but I'm pretty proud of it. I haven't seriously practiced at drawing for 30 years and thanks to you Stan I'm getting better.

eshaluportrait
8mo
01/22/23: Learned tons about generating volume in a portrait.
Marco Sordi
8mo
2023/1/18. Good morning everybody. Here's another face study from @Patrick Jones's "The Anatomy of Style": Australian Indigenous Male model. Thanks.
Marco Sordi
8mo
2023/1/17. Good morning everybody. Here’s my 30 minutes warming up exercise. Poses from 30 seconds to 10 minutes. Thanks.

Brett
8mo
For the first ones it seems like a basic loomis head with gestural features - interesting. Is this activity from the portrait drawing class?
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Marco Sordi
9mo
2023/1/15. Good morning everybody. Here's my latest assignment for @Patrick Jones's course on anatomy. Thanks and have a good sunday.
squeen
8mo
Killing it!
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Founder of Proko, artist and teacher of drawing, painting, and anatomy. I try to make my lessons fun and ultra packed with information.