Monday, October 24, 2011

Rough notes on Head Construction (Loomis' way)

Copied from what I wrote somewhere else on the net -

I thought I'd share these pictoral notes on head construction. There's also a 2nd pic added alongside this one, which has more explanatory text. These are adapted from the teachings of the late Andrew Loomis.

Note that we are drawing a head that's turned to the right, so the ear rather than the nose is central to the view. We draw the 'ear line' at right angles to the Equator, or the brow ridge line (indicating the bony ridge on which lies the eyebrows). The Central Vertical, which divides the face into halves is also drawn at right angles to the Equator. The CV is also at 90 degs to the ear line, as you can see in the pic.

Please click to see large version

As mentioned above, the 'Ear Line', which is at right angles to the Central Vertical, helps position the ear and the posterior border of the lower jaw. The ear is just behind the line, while the upright part (ramus) of the lower jaw is just in front.

Also note that D, which is = half of C (lower third of the face), indicates the position of the lower border of the lower lip.

In the pic below, the divisions/thirds of the facial plane are shown (a = b = c), which hangs like the visor of a helmet from the hemi-sphere which is the top half of the head.

Please click to see large version

These are adapted from my understanding of the teachings of the late Andrew Loomis. Below is a (slightly faster than) real time screen-capture video of me drawing a portrait using Loomis' principles. The reference was kindly provided by Lucretia, or Luicre, who has commented here. Software used to paint - Mypaint.

2 comments:

  1. I feel so touched of your work from my beloved son JJ, Prosenjit. You have done an excellent work!. Luicre

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  2. I must thank YOU in return Luicre, for providing us with a fantastic reference :)

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your thoughtful opinion :)