Now you can draw the head from ANY angle. Start by drawing some extreme head angles from imagination. Test yourself to see if you fully understand the loomis head forms. Then check your work with the 3D Loomis Head model. Practice drawing a few more angles by placing the model in angles you are having trouble with. The goal is to challenge yourself and overcome your weaknesses.

oka1

please give feedback on my drawings so far

Kenny Kills

First day here super fun

h3art

2mo

Quite a bit of trial and error but got it done. The high camera view was definitely the hardest.

Vue Thao

2mo

I think I'm getting the hang of Loomis method. :)

askfordev

2mo

Amazing!!!!

elkad

6mo

X-treme! I feel like I'm struggling with how the underside of the jaw connects with the neck, any tips (or feedback) is appreciated!

Gannon Beck

9mo

More heads.

Liandro

9mo

Tough ones, @Gannon Beck! Great job!

Marie Wolsey

10mo

What steps to post sketches?

Marie Wolsey

10mo

Think I found it … 🥳

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willyjohn

10mo

Here is my work for the Extreme Angles assignment. I decided to "box" some of the heads to make perspective a little bit easier. Please let me know how I can improve!

nothanks

10mo

Good job taking on this difficult assignment, the human head in perspective is one of the most difficult things to draw, in my opinion. Line quality - I would suggest keeping all of your lines a bit lighter, you don't need to press down so hard or make such thick marks on the page. It looks a bit sloppy. You can use your eraser to clean up lines that get away from you (too thick; not quite in the right spot; etc.). Try not to have 'sketchy' or 'feathery' finished lines either (e.g., the top of #3's head). Whether or not your linework is exactly 'correct' anatomically, having a cleaner drawing will make it much more pleasing to the eye. Proportions - #1 and #5 have necks that are too thin, whereas #2-4 are too thick. Perhaps try practicing visual measuring techniques that you can use to double check your work. You can also size up the reference image and put your sketch over the top of your computer screen. Unless you're using incredibly thick paper, you should be able to see the enough of the original through your drawing to gauge how accurate it is. Perspective - I think you're also struggling with foreshortening. While you are getting the angles and shapes fairly accurate, all of the faces appear to have a weird, stretched out feeling to them. Our brains have a natural tendency to 'flatten' poses out, whether perspective or gesture drawing. This means that we have an innate tendency to try and draw anything in a normal or neutral pose, hence the subconscious stretching of faces when we try to draw at extreme angles (trying to make them closer to a size our brain knows is 'normal'). One thing you can do to combat this, and to practice exaggeration, is to intentionally exaggerate the foreshortening much more than is realistic. For example, if a pose is from below so someone's feet look larger than their head, you'd exaggerate by giving them GIANT feet and a head the size of a speck. It can be good practice just to get you seeing and thinking about foreshortening better. I hope this helps! Keep practicing and you'll get better every day :)

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Ernesto Palma

10mo

How are you? I´m not sure if this was posted minutes or months ago. I see a struggle with convincingly making a sphere and attaching a plane for the face. What will help you is the youtube videos by Stan, where he shows the way Perspective applies to the head. It took me MONTHS to get Perspective into my subconscious BUT there are tonnes of good books on it you can download, preferrably I would recommend Marshall Vandruff and his old perspective courses as well as Ernesto Wattson and his perspective made easy books. With these fundamentals down you will have a MUCH MUCH easier time tackling something as complex as the human face. Don´t be afraid to practice at least an hour a day and give it a week or two to start really feeling it! Best of luck!!!

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Bob Davis

11mo

I am really struggling with the extreme angles. Using the 3d head helped me realize how much of it is really a perspective drawing. Even though he mentioned perspective, I feel like he understated the importance. I finally just drew vanishing points and tried to do it all with perspective, which I feel made it come out more in proper proportion. I still need a lot more work on angles and there are many more that came out bad that I did not upload.

Jesper Axelsson

10mo

Hi @Bob Davis, great work with the structure! Yeah perspective is important, especially being comfortable with geometric forms like cylinder, spheres and boxes. The portrait course doesn't talk much about it, but the Figure Drawing Fundamentals course does. I learned to control forms in 3D space when doing the robo bean and mannequinization exercises. I think you would really benefit from studying the figure course along side the portrait course. Apart from form it will also teach you valuable fundamentals such as gesture. Hope this helps :) Keep up the good work!

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purplelyf

1yr

Hello, I have a doubt. For drawing the ovals in extreme angles, is the rule "the oval's height should be two third of the circle's" not applied? Because when i tried following the rule, my head did not turn out great. Please clarify this. Thank you.

Luan Chan

1yr

My Loomis head from extreme angles assignment.

Mike Karcz

1yr

I thinks are really well done

Alis Bodies

1yr

I've been trying to draw the upward tilt portrait with reference to this photo of Eddie Redmayne, but had a hard time finding the centre line of the face, the line extending from ear to corner of the chin (as in the Loomis head), and having the facial features align with the tilt. Any suggestion on improvement? Thanks for reading!

Camellito

1yr

Here are my head drawings. I really struggle with the Up angle chin. Any tips?

Jesper Axelsson

1yr

Hi @Camellito, these are really nice! Good structure! I can tell that you have the skills of the figure drawing course with you. Yup, the up angle chin is tricky. Is struggled with it too. What solved it for me was to draw through the forms, as if the head was made out of glass; - Think of the cranium as a sphere with a cylinder going through it. - Find the starting point of the jaw on the visible side. - Ride along the perspective lines of the cylinder to find the starting point of the jaw on the hidden side. - If you've found the chin aswell, all you have to do is connect the dots Hope this helps :)

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Mei.

1yr

I thought i was doing fine till i got to this section.. my brain went brrrrrrrr once i get on top and under the head... sad face :( Some help in the right direction would mean a lot

Gea Vedder

1yr

I think you succeeded nr. 1, 2 and 3 but what’s a little problem in 4 (the curves don’t seem quite present) is your problem in nr.5 where I don’t see the curves and therefor yourangle is off. ( hope my answer is clear enough as this isn’t my language)

Jesper Axelsson

1yr

Hi @Mei. nice studies! Great Idea putting the heads in boxes! I found the top and bottom view (especially the bottom view) difficult too! I struggled most with the jaw. One solution for me has been to draw what's on the non-visible side as well; you think of the head as if it was made out of glass. If you can find the starting point of the jaw on the other side, drawing it correctly becomes much easier (you simply connect the dots in perspective). I like to think of the cranium as a ball with a cylinder going through it. Hope this helps :)

whatisjeff

2yr

Hello! Can I please get some feedback on my loomis heads? I think I'm struggling with the up tilt and side tilt. Would really like some tips on how to improve those, as well as the others. Thanks!

whatisjeff

1yr

@Jesper Axelsson this is awesome feedback, thank you!

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Jesper Axelsson

2yr

Hi @whatisjeff, nice studies! Tilting the head is tricky. Knowing how to tilt simple forms in perspective helps. The portrait drawing course doesn't teach this, but the figure drawing course does ( Structure Basics – Making Things Look 3D ). I would suggest studying the Figure Drawing Fundamentals course alongside the portrait drawing course. - When tilting the head in perspective the most important thing is to get the convergence of the feature lines correct. In the bottom left drawing for example, the feature lines are diverging, which they should not. - Another important thing is to think of the two distinct planes of the head: the face and side of the head. It's essentially a box. In the bottom middle drawing this distinction is unclear, which makes the head look flat The biggest problem I had with the up tilt was getting the jaw right. For me it helps to draw though the form, as if the head was made of glass and I could see through it. That way I can find where the jaw starts on the other side as well. I like to think of the cranium is a ball with a cylinder going through it. Hope this helps :)

Marco Sordi

2yr

2021/10/20. Good morning all. Fast portrait warm up exercise using Loomis method.

Andrea Anaya

2yr

Great job!

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Christopher Alaimo

2yr

Nice!

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Chris Bodary

2yr

Great layin

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Denee Johnson

2yr

Loomis & structure practice

Shelvs Fleurima

2yr

Sketcher Ameya

2yr

Nice .Keep Practicing

Ciro Eliseu

2yr

good, very good

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Chris Bodary

2yr

Use the 3D models and really pay attention to the fore shortening. I can see the structure in these heads is there, it just needs the “trick” of foreshortening to fool the eye more to thinking it is tilted or seen from a different angle. The features and placement of them foreshorten but also the whole ball and flat sides on the ball should show some foreshortening as well. Try tracing over the 3D model or even a really well done extreme angled head and compare to your drawing. These things helped me, I’m still trying to get it too.

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Chris Bodary

2yr

Some extreme angles of Loomis head done from imagination as well as how I imagine they would be pictured. Might have pushed some of these too far with the tilts and foreshortening

Jesper Axelsson

2yr

Hi @Chris Bodary, I think you´re doing a really nice job with these! The overall structure is good and it´s impressive to see you trying out and succeeding with extreme angles! I´ll try to look for things to improve on: - In your bottom left drawing there is a slight divergence in the feature lines. Make sure to double check that they are converging correctly. -I would also double check the ellipse on the side of the head, so that it has a proper ellipse shape and is perpendicular to the browline. You get it right most of the time and even when you don´t the heads still feel solid, but it´s still worth checking out. - In the drawing saying "mid song...", the jaw looks a little strange. Jaws in this angle are difficult. for starters I like to just continue the vertical line that splits the circle, than adjust it afterwards to get the exact jaw angle. For me it also helps to draw through the forms; if you indicate the ellipse on the other side of the head, you can track where the jaw starts on the other side. I attached a few paintovers I did for another student with whom I gave similar advice I hope this helps :)

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Warren Bonett

2yr

Some more Loomis and attempts at applying the approach to drawing heads from photos.

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Stan Prokopenko

Founder of Proko, artist and teacher of drawing, painting, and anatomy. I try to make my lessons fun and ultra packed with information.