How to Draw Heads with the Andrew Loomis Method
Welcome Back Fellow Artists!
In today’s post I want to share the process I use to draw heads of all types from all angles.
I learned these techniques from the book by Andrew Loomis. His method for drawing the head has always resonated with me. So let me share that with you now!
Drawing the Simplified Cranium
- We first want to start by drawing a perfect circle. Just kidding, yours doesn’t have to be perfect. I used a quick shape tool in the Procreate app for mine.
If you are working traditionally that would be the same as using a compass or a circle template of some kind.
The reason I say that your circle doesn’t need to be perfect is that in the beginning it is far better to worry about the volume of these exercises rather than the clarity of them.
I made these cleaner for your viewing as the student. When I am drawing most of my characters I don’t clean them up this much.
2. For the next step we need to define a center line both horizontally and vertically across the circle. You can do this across the front and the side.
Notice in the illustration above that the red dot marks our front center point.
3. Next we will create an oval on the side of the head. This helps us to define the side plane of the head. I have had a lot of students struggle with this particular part.
A common question that I get is, “How big should I make the oval?” I find that it is best to play around with this aspect of the layout.
The most common answer you will get is 2/3’s of the initial circle. I tend to deviate from this because I draw more stylized characters.
Start with the 2/3’s approach and get comfortable with that. Skulls are pretty much the same proportions and that is what this is really meant to be. I will show you how I create exaggerations later in the post.
Practice Drawing These from Every Angle Imaginable
Please don’t rush past this part. Take your time and log in lots of these sketches. Drawing basic forms from different angles is a big part of getting better at art!
Now we will take the previous step and use it to divide the face into equal one thirds.
- Draw another example of the previous lesson or pick one that you have already drawn to begin with.
- Reference the top of the oval and draw lines horizontally across the form to establish the first and second 1/3 of the face.
- Use these new divisions as a reference point to draw the bottom 1/3.
- Draw a line down from the center point of the oval to establish the first angle of the jaw line. Then bring that to the lower center with another angle. Follow this around to the side of the face.
- Now add an oval to the back lower quarter of the side plane of the head. This is where the ear goes.
Another thing to consider here is that the jaw lines will vary greatly. So here I have established a longer more narrow face.
It is really best to learn to see these initial drawings as guides and reference points and not as strict markings. Again, this is what works for me and I tend to exaggerate my faces. I was a caricature artist for many years so that probably has a bit to do with it. ;)
Here is a video that I created a few years back that shows you the process for dividing up the head into one thirds.
Basic Shapes for Drawing the Facial Features
Now that we have divided the head into equal one thirds we can begin to place the facial features.
Notice in the illustration below that the top line gives us the hair line, the middle line in green is the brow line, the purple line is the bottom of the nose, and the yellow is the bottom of the chin.
This is again an area where I would be a bit more forgiving in the approach. You may need to bring the hair line down a bit more for certain character types.
You may not want as much spacing for the nose, or as much height for the jaw, and so on. Start with these methods but as you feel more comfortable you can start to explore and move these guides around.
Nothing worse than drawing a bunch of clones!
Another technique that I find to be helpful when drawing the head is to place some basic shapes for reference.
Circles for the eyes, an upside down triangle for the bottom of the nose ( I like to imagine the shadow that the nose will cast. ), a small “M” like shape for the upper lip, and a small “U” like shape for the bottom of the lip.
Drawing in the Facial Features
Here are a few step by step tutorials for you to follow along with.
Now we can take the base template of the head and draw a character of our choice.
I like to draw comics so I will draw Alfred from Batman. It matches the narrow face I was thinking of anyways.
Here is another step by step tutorial on drawing a male face from a front view.
Another thing that we need to do is practice drawing all the facial features from various angles.
There is so much to cover here so let me know what tutorials you want to see next and I will add more for you.
Here is a reference sheet to practice drawing noses. These are always helpful to practice so that when you go to draw your characters you have lots of variations to work with.
Another thing we need to practice as often as possible is various expressions of the face. Here is a quick video on using the same techniques to draw a female face with a mean expression.
Always a fun one to practice! :)
Thank you so much for reading this post and please follow me for more art tutorials!
You can also check out my main website for more content here -
Robert A. Marzullo
Ram Studios Comics
Author and Illustrator of the book, “Learn to Draw Action Heroes.” available on Amazon
