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You’ll learn the most important foundational concepts for drawing anything and soon you’ll be drawing pictures out of your imagination or from reference.
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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.
LESSON NOTES
This is a great exercise to improve your perspective skills, especially with organic forms like human heads. You're going to figure out the orientation of the head in space by considering a simple box, then using that box as a map for a portrait. Watch this video for tips on how to do this properly.
Practice this from the photos I've provided in the downloads tab and don't forget to submit your drawing to the community!
RELATED LINKS:
One-Point Perspective
Two-Point Perspective
How to Learn Perspective - Draftsmen S1E26
DOWNLOADS
project-portraits-in-perspective.mp4
213 MB
project-portraits-in-perspective-transcript-english.txt
5 kB
project-portraits-in-perspective-transcript-spanish.txt
6 kB
project-portraits-in-perspective-captions-english.srt
8 kB
project-portraits-in-perspective-captions-spanish.srt
9 kB
ASSIGNMENTS![]()
![@virus_kid]()
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![Hannah Nasby]()
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![Hayden Cremer]()
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![@eg360]()
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![Liam Gordon]()
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![Nicholas Allott]()
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![Samuel Gariépy]()
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![rheannon]()
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![Turbo Fish]()
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![Ilan Jones]()
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![Jon B]()
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![Melanie Scearce]()
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![@blydoit]()
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![@justsev]()
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![@justsev]()
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![Chuck Ludwig Reina]()
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![Jonah Jenkins]()
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![Hechmi K]()
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![Jonah Jenkins]()
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![@wonkbunny]()
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![Chuck Ludwig Reina]()
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![@gabriel138]()
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![Martha Muniz]()
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![Rain Kipper]()
In this project we'll practice applying perspective to organic forms. Heads, while organic, adhere to the rules of perspective similar to boxy objects, so we'll start by constructing 3D heads. Look for clues of the angle of each axis such as angles from brow to ear, the vertical center line of the face, and the horizontal side to side angles of the features.
I've prepared a range of portrait photos for you to work with, that you could find in the downloads tab under the video. You'll notice each photo is numbered. Please label your drawings with the corresponding photo you're drawing to help me and the community give you a critique. Otherwise it would be very difficult to know which box matches each photo.
Level 1: Basic Box Construction
Draw a box representing a simplified version of each head.
- Try to match the orientation and dimensions of the head in the photo
- Rely on your intuition to imagine each head's rotation and dimensions
- Iterative process: Redo and refine as needed
Level 2: Head Construction
Start with a small box representation of the head, same as Level 1. Then add linear head construction with accurate perspective.
- Use primarily straight lines to draw, emphasizing plane changes
- Find angles in the organic shape that correlate with the simple box (ex: top and back of the head)
- Observe, analyze, then draw
- Avoid drawing tiny heads; aim for at least 4 inches in height
Deadline: Submit by 1/15/2024 for a chance to be in the critique video!
I plan to return to these at some point again in order to try varying the sizes of each plane to better help with the perspective, really tough one overall.
This exercise was so hard! 😭It also feels like the essentials to all art, and I wish this kind of 3d thinking came easier to my brain. I had so much trouble seeing the boxes in the heads and also kept struggling with horizon lines/ 2d perspective. Very confusing. Trying to do level 2 did not go well 😑
I found the heads surprisingly tricky! But after doing a few i felt myself loosen up and each one became easier to see the box.
This was a lot trickier than I thought it was going to be. But here are some of the boxes I drew. At one point I ended using a different page to experiment how much the boxes would move relative to each other
Hi! When drawing the box, is the top supposed to indicate the top of the cranium or the 1/4 section where the hairline starts? In the video he uses both. Also, how do I make sense of the boxiness of the head given the skull protrudes slightly on the sides? He cuts the form at the eyebrows, typically, but the head continues out from this area he's indicating. Thank you!
I think either is ok. Imagine the head was turned into a box, then the top could be flattened down and the sides stretched out or even vice versa. Just choose the abstraction you prefer and fits a box as much as it can. The main aim is to get the perspective and approximate overall shape of the box correct.
Here's my assignment featuring boxes with portraits alongside them, drawn with varying levels of simplification and stylization. Contrast has been boosted in Photoshop.
I struggled with proportions on a few of them. For instance, on number 3, while drawing the box, I made one of the planes much wider than it should have been. On number 11, the entire box should have been taller right from the start.
For some of the boxes, I didn't strictly converge all lines toward a vanishing point on the page. Instead, I focused on whether planes were foreshortened or not, adjusting the size difference between the front and back edges. While drawing the portrait afterward, I tried always thinking about the impact of such foreshortened planes on the forms of the face. For example, one of the eye being farther away than the other should result in it being drawn smaller on the page. One ear being foreshortened should have all it's features compressed.
Critiques and commentaries are more than welcome. I would love to know if you would have done the boxes differently.
Lv1. Well this daunted me so much it took me over a week to even pick up my pencils and give it a go. I found this really challenging as perspective is a weak point which is also why I did every reference image because I wanted as much practice as possible.. After reading some other posts and comments, I think I too need to work on more confident lines in these as I tend to get more sketchy/searching when trying to find ‘the line’. In the end I enjoyed the challenge and looking forward to watching the demos and critiques to see if I was even drawing the perspectives correctly. All a learning curve. EDIT: After watching the level 1 demo, I was very off with some of these… lots of practice ahead hah
I find it very easy to draw boxes in perspective, but extremely hard to maintain proportions with the head in perspective, and also very difficult to imagine how a head would fit in the box (level 2 assignment). I can imagine how cross sections would look within the box, but to draw the actual form within the box is something I have always struggled with. I will watch level 2 demos and attempt level 2 to practice that. Any tips? Thanks!
Also, I plan on doing the rest of the heads later.
An attempt at the level 2. I think ive got the perspective right but I'm sure I exaggerated the angle of the first one. Not gonna lie though, i tried lv2 about a month ago and disliked the result so much that i hit pause on this course, took the Michael Hampton Head Construction course and came back to this one lol. Now i really enjoy drawing heads!
Well this was hard!
Lvl 1 here.
Some of these really made my brain melt for whatever reason. Definitely need more practice.
I notice my line quality gets really scratchy when solving new tricky problems - likely because my brain is focusing elsewhere and not keeping me honest with ghosting and putting down confident lines.
The head orientation was tricky but not too bad.
Honestly I think the harder part from me was getting the right amount of convergence in, particularly when you need to use your X-ray skills to see through a head.
Also hard to handle slightly raised jaws.
May give a level 2 a shot after revisiting a few wonky level 1s.. But a little terrified ha.
Fun when it worked though!
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28d
You nailed it when mentioned your brain focusing elsewhere- there's a lot going on in your brain when you're drawing, and especially while you're developing muscle memory at the same time. You have to think about things that people who have built up their muscle memory perform on autopilot. It's natural to revert to shorter, scratchier lines. It's kind of a meditative practice in a way to keep reminding yourself to make longer lines.
Nobody does anything perfectly the first time. I think if you redid a few of these, you would find it a bit easier to keep your line quality confident!
I'm practicing these assignments too just now, and am finding them very challenging, though really useful. I struggle with furry lines, and total see why clear confident, well thought out lines are a good idea.
L2 wip
I'v got no experience drawing portraits, so it's a little painful to even post these online lol.
It's done! Some boxes were very wrong (iirc it was 6, 9, 10 and12). It was a really challenging project for me, but I'm happy I finished it.
I couldn't do number 19, though. The angle really confused me, and I ended up just copying the outline, but then I scrapped it because that's not what I’m supposed to do.
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1mo
Hey don't be so hard on yourself. These look great! Is there something specific around portraits that is tripping you up?
I had so much fun with this assignment. I already enjoyed just drawing boxes in space, but solving the puzzle of eye direction and uniformity was exciting! I recognize that my line quality wasn't the best. Just jumped into digital and still working on my pressure/strokes on a canvas I can't turn.
Around head 13, I recognized that the lines will always either taper up or down together depending on whether you're showing the top or bottom plain. Before then, I was struggling to get it, just drawing the lines over and over until it looked intuitively correct. By the end, I felt I was able to do some shape design of each plain, choosing how steep or shallow the depth was with intention. Very great exercise.
I welcome all critiques. Let me know how I can improve further!
I am losing hair over this. Which lines must remain parallel for a 2 point perspective? The vertical ones? Or does it depend on the orientation?
Great job pushing through! I also have trouble figuring out tilting up and down and showing the extreme plains. Keep on practicing and reviewing the material, and you'll get it in no time!
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1mo
Nice work! Getting head angle can be super tricky. I think you did a nice job especially on the second one from the top on the left. I'm noticing you're still a smidge off with upwardly titled heads (which are often the hardest!) Watch those angles and make sure you keep the lines of your boxes parallel.
I did a quick draw over with some examples. Again, really good work. This is a tough one! Keep at it.
My portraits in perspective submissions.
This was more difficult than anticipated!
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1mo
Hey there! I think something that will help is to always keep in mind that the edges of a box start at their furthest point from their opposing side when they are closest to the viewer, then they get closer and closer as those edges go away from the viewer. If you pick up a box in your hand, there's going to be a corner that is closest to your face. You can look for this point in your drawing as a reference to locate yourself (this is the red dot in the examples I drew). As the box's edges go away from the viewer, then those edges get closer together. I'd recommend trying out more of these to get comfortable with boxes, so then this portrait assignment is easier to tackle: https://www.proko.com/course-lesson/warmup-two-point-boxes
And let me know if you have any questions! :)
Understood that i struggle with tilted horizons and need to practice them more. First 10 were before watching demo, the rest after looking first demo.
