5 reasons you should know the Loomis method.
How can you start from a mess with out underdrawing or guidelines and still get the features right? This is the most common question I get asked about my drawing process. How do I know where eyes, nose and mouth go? Answer to that is already in the question, because I know.
1988 when I was about 7 years old, I went to the library to look comics, art books and so on. And I found a book about how to draw a human head. That book was so inspiring with all the pages showing you phase by phase, how to draw human head in several different angles. More importantly, it also explained the simple guidelines from the anatomy that are key features to create it. Author of that book was Andrew Loomis and it presented a method he invented known as the “ Loomis method “ .
I belive he is the reason why I am still mostly focused on figure drawing and portraiture. His method has been the most influencial to me and still to this day carries the most impact on my work. Even though I don´t use it anymore, in a sense that I would follow the steps while drawing. But I am thinking about it when I´m creating a portrait. Next are 5 reasons you should too.
Principles. Loomis method focuses only on the key features of the human head, and how they are related to one another on an average head. This means that it is efficient and easy to remember, since it presents the head as an abstract simple form, instead of the complications that anatomical studies have. Once memorized, you can use it as a foundation to create any portrait and always get the eyes, nose and mouth correctly placed.
Applications. Once you become familiar with it, the principles can be applied in many ways across the fields, in 3D sculpting, caricatyres or even drawing from your imagination. There aren´t that many methods that can be easily applied or manipulated in so many ways succesfully.
Guidelines. It will give you the ability not just to place eye,nose,mouth,ears etc. in correct places, it also gives you the rules for facial expressions. How wide a smile can be, how to measure open mouth, where the hairline starts. You don´t need a ruler, or measure everything excact. How everything is related to each other has more meaning.
Freedom. Once you memorized it, practiced it enough so it almost becomes second nature, you don´t need to follow the actual steps anymore. You are able to take shortcuts, or create a starting point where ever you see fit. All roads lead to Rome.
Speed.Working slow is BORING. Creating the foundations for your drawings or paintings will happen much faster than before. You will spend most of the time rendering values than carefully placing features, and you will finish your portraits with higher quality. Getting work done is exciting and motivates you more.
Web is full of videos, artcles etc. that teach you the Loomis method, so go and stroll some of them. If you are confident on learning it and you are ready to invest in it, you can purchase my video lessons about portraiture. Second lesson is dedicated to these guidelines of our facial anatomy. Either way you decide to proceed is fine and helps you learn it. And like always, remember to have fun with it.
Sincerely
Mikko
