How to Draw the Head – Side View
How to Draw the Head – Side View
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Portrait Drawing Fundamentals

The Loomis Method

How to Draw the Head – Side View

1.7M
Mark as Completed

How to Draw the Head – Side View

1.7M
Mark as Completed

Draw the Loomis Head - Side View

Browse the interwebs for “side profile pictures” and choose your favorite ones. Practice constructing the loomis head from the side view using what you learned in this lesson. This time, try to capture the proportions and characteristics of the subject. Figure out how they are different from the average loomis head proportions and make sure to capture those differences. Observe the major angle changes of the forehead, brow, nose, lips and chin of the contour.

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Newest
h3art
Starting to adapt more to variations in proportions such as feature location.
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Vue Thao
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scott ford
I like these a lot
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katanamumbles
Just from watch the first five videos I e gotten a lot more confident in my proportions first practice after a day of letting the information sit you can still sort of see the Loomis sitting in the back
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Jesper Axelsson
Cool! - The cranium on the loomis head you've drawn might be too small. Note how, the eye ends up on the side plane (the circle), when it should be on the front plane. Hope this helps :)
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Will Heflin
I wanted to post my profile drawings I got better towards the end I really like the last profiles I did. I chose to draw the model in Number 7 because he had a mustache for an upper lip and I liked that and below him on the right I chose Jeff Bezos because of his nose. I chose the older gentleman on the right because he had a pronounced lower jaw and a awesome nose. I drew him a lot younger if I added all the wrinkles he had I would have lost the land marks that helped me draw him. Thanks for the view! Will
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Jesper Axelsson
Hi @Will Heflin, nice work! The shapes and proportions look good. - You might want to make the front plane angle in less. In the 3D Model: The Loomis Head, the front plane is vertical. - Try to light your drawings better when photographing, and try to photograph them with your camera straight on, and not from above. It will make critiquing easier and do the drawings more justice 😎👍 Hope this helps :)
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Ari
4mo
I tried to practice the side view but I don't kinda get the proportions, any tip?
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scott ford
Look at @stanpenko YouTube video on drawing a head. He gives the overview and then the measurements on the head for eyes, nose, ears and mouth. It all to me boils down to measuring and mapping.
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elkad
A few side view sketches :)
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Jesper Axelsson
Nice! - Double check the angle of the feature lines on the front plane of the face when doing these. They are all side views, but they vary slightly in what angle we're viewing the head. In the top right for example, we're slightly below and in the bot right, we're slightly above. Showing this can add an extra layer of dimensionality. Hope this helps :)
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Bryce Gay
Here's another side profile
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Joe
7mo
Awesome reference.
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Bryce Gay
Here's my attempt
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Gannon Beck
Practice:
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Lupita Torres
Kinda wanted to do the side view before doing the front view because I thought this one was gonna be more difficult to draw. So I wanted to get it out of the way but, surprise surprise I had alot of fun and found it the most easiest but I dont know.. what do yall think?? Any critique please.
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willyjohn
Hey everyone! I've decided to draw some side view heads for this assignment. However, I have decided to add facial features after looking at other student's submissions even though I have not reached that portion of the course just yet. I have attached reference images to make critiquing easier. Any and all feedback is welcome!
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William Horton
https://line-of-action.com/practice-tools/face-expression-practice For collections of models, specifically head models to reference from.
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Bob Davis
My side Loomis head assignment
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Luan Chan
My Side Lumis heads assignment.
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sark
1yr
Spent a few days on and off drawing side views from Pinterest. Great site do just get a nice model suggested as you complete the drawing. Makes it easy to "keep going". I have problems drawing the circle by hand, and estimating the size of the inner circle. I see that once i used a tool to create the circles (last drawing) everything felt more correct immediately. My inner circles are usually too small, and i have some issues drawing minor details (it feels). Any tips / feedback appreciated. Thx.
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Jesse W.
Might want to check proportions around the mouth and chin - they seem to small. If you're going for the Loomis style construction, double-check the "rule of thirds" hairline-browline-nose-chin measurements Proko suggests (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS6R2l8t8wo). Might also want to check how the nose, lips and chin form an in-and-out alternating contour from a profile - these look relatively flat or don't follow the subtle overall curvature of the head from a profile. I think it takes some careful observation and practice to grasp how the graceful in-and-out contour of the nose lips and chin follow the overall sweep of the head (ofc a lot of variation possible here). Stan explains this pretty well in his Loomis lessons. I'd suggest going subtle with lips - these look like symbolic representations of lips (two flat-ish circles). Cheers!
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Andre Camargo
Hey sark, your heads arent bad. Good job. I also have issues with drawing the inner circle at exactly 2/3 of the outer one. The more I concentrate on it, the more skewed everything gets. Keep in mind that the real models from instagram are not the exact loomis head in terms of proportion. So they will deviate a bit from the "perfect" measurement. I would suggest doing some generic heads where you measure the size of the circles and repeat it a couple of times until you feel more comfortable to get close to 2/3 without checking. Then mix it up with real heads, but this time concentrate on getting the proportions of the model right. If you are doing this digitally, you could overlay your drawing with the model to spot the differences. Besides, keep drawing heads heads heads heads. I started drawing heads with proko about the time the first videos popped up on youtube, and I am still getting better, and I am still drawing imaginary heads in my sketchbook for practice. For the features... phuu, that is more difficult. First I would suggest the videos in the heads course for the features. Knowing how they work is the first step. For the placement, I find it useful to know some basic structure of the underlying bone (skull). Especially for the eyeholes. Try to find some rhythm between the features. Orient yourself on the planes of the head and follow through with the underlying construction lines. The features are usually placed in accordance with these lines. Happy head drawing. Andre
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aizan
Wasn’t able to make a drawing for all 10 of my side profile pictures since I was slow and didn’t have the time. I kinda had difficulty drawing the neck but this was pretty fun! I changed the angles and proportions of the loom head to more closely resemble the pictures. No.2 and 10, I feel, are the once that most closely resemble their picture and the once I’m most proud of. I’d love to hear any advice and critiques!
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palyo
Hi! I've tried to do some loomis head adding some features to them and I would really appreciate any kind of critique/advice
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David Gutmann
I am no way near a pro so take my advise with a grain of salt but here is what I noticed. 1. You seem to draw on a pretty small skale. I would atleast aim for drawings that are the sice of your hand. This will not only allow you to get more detailed, but will also remove the "sketch effect". What I mean with sektch effect is that the drawing is either so small or so ruff that it leaves a lot of work to the imagination of the viewer, wich will then hide youre weaknesses. Going bigger will force you to really work those proportions and features out. 2. I feel like the right drawing of the first page is by far the best you did. Most of the other drawings seem to be a bit short on the horizontal side. 3. I feel like youre noses are sufficiently long but dont portrude outwart enoug If I was you I the next 2 steps I would take are one draw bigger and two start to get in to shading. You already added a little bit of it but that can definitely be pushed further.
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lsyjss
I think adding the neck is the most difficult part. And the ears too...
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Jeremy Rogers
a few side view heads, any feed back appreciated! thanks!
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joseph12
Hello guys this is a try from one of my side view angles feedback would be much appreciated
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Jesper Axelsson
Hi @joseph12, nice drawing! I really like how to contour clearly shows the plane changes; bottom plane for the brows -> up plane of nose bridge -> down plane for the ball of the nose. It makes the drawing look more solid! I'll do my best to help you further: - I can see that you first started with lightly drawing the loomis head. That's great! But the construction seems to be a little off. Since this is a profile view, the side plane of the skull should be a circle; in yours it's oval. Maybe this happened because you rushed into the stage of drawing the details. If that's the case, slow down a little and make sure that the loomis head foundation is correct. It will pay off :) - The brows and the hairline don't seem to relate correctly to the guidelines on the loomis head. The brows should land on the horizontal line running through the center of the ball, and the hair line's mid point (the one that peaks down like the middle of an "M" on the centerline of the face) lands on roughly the horizontal line that interesects the top of the circle on the cranium. Hope this helps :) Keep up the good work!
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