The Truth about the 'Loomis Method' for Drawing Heads -- What Most People Get Wrong...

Let me know in the comments if you have had success applying the Loomis Method or other Head/Figure Construction techniques in your drawing!

In this video I discuss head construction methods such as the one Andrew Loomis showed us in his 1943 book: Drawing the Head and Hands.

When I talk to aspiring artists who are out there learning to draw - these head and figure construction methods often come up. I also teach these methods to hundreds of students every year. But I still find that people are often practicing the wrong thing or and not properly understanding how these books can help them out. I give a few quick pointers in this video so hopefully you can better understand how these systems can help you.

To find the book I show in the video search for "Drawing the Head and Hands by Andrew Loomis'
(I don't do affiliate nonsense, but the book is great and I recommend it to everyone learning to draw)

Happy Drawing!

Tim Mcburnie

[FutileGrief]

Seriously thank you. I thought I was just stupid when I used the loomis method. It's hard to find a video that goes beyond constructing the boxy head. The construction is easy, the theory is straightforward. What is not easy is applying those concepts to real life faces. You just gave me the liberty I needed to stray away from the basic construction without thinking that I'm missing valuable information because I can't retain it because I'm freaking stupid. Sorry, I'm so frustrated lol.

[carolforsythe]

Andrew Loomis was an AMAZING artist I got his books back in the 1960's. it helped my drawing so much that as a professional artist that I can draw or paint anything or anyone. I use to work for Disney before the bs and have also drawn caricatures professionally for years. Andrew Loomis= Most important art teacher I ever had even if it was just through his books!

[sandwichfather]

One of the things that's helped connect the dots for me, is using Traci paper and making the Loomis heads on top of photos. That helped me understand how to apply it better and tweak it for different head shapes and types.

[gregginlahabra]

Thanks for confirming something I have come to understand. I did buy and read several of Loomis' books and found them very helpful. I also watched a bunch of youtube videos regarding the technique. I am recently retired and picking up drawing and painting as a hobby which is really rewarding. I have a sketchbook for drawing heads and figures. I write down notes in it as well. As a trained musician I think of drawing the Loomis head as doing my scales and arpeggios. They are EXCERSISES and are useful because they appear in music over and over in different ways, shapes and forms. No one wants to hear you play just scales. But if you can't play scales heaven help you if you want to play Mozart, Beethoven, the Beatles or improvise. To me the Loomis head is the same thing. Master the proportions Loomis helps you understand and internalize and you can draw all sorts of things. In fact, Loomis' books makes this very clear. He expects the reader to use the technique as a foundation for releasing his or her imagination to draw anything they want. Your video demonstrates this point very well. One can alter the proportions to achieve different effects but one needs to do so knowingly. I am not there yet but your video is very useful in helping me progress. Thanks so much.

[Miguel-jqol]

Proportion is really one of your biggest tools for pushing character, there's that one page in the book that has a whole tonne of examples that push the proportions to each of their extremes and I really feel like that should be shown along side anytime anybody brings up Loomis. It's something that I only fully grasped on to my second time going through it. This is one of cases where only seeing bits and pieces online you can loose the context of what you're meant to get out of learning a technique and the method becomes the end goal instead of it just being a tool to help you reach your own artistic goals for piece.

[doug]

The best thing is this guy being active on here, I've been looking for a good teacher and I think I have found one. Hallelujah!! ❤🇺🇸

[dpelpal]

I know a lot of people here want you to draw cool stuff like manga and fantasy, but Ive always _loved_ your "beginner" drawing videos. You come across as mature and actually wanting to teach, whereas other youtube drawing instructors seem to only go for clicks. Thank you from way up in Washington state.

[haidutinop]

At last someone said what was on my mind, not only for the Loomis method, but for art in general. Guys, this is not math, physics or language science. It has no defined rules and that's the beauty of it.

[librenonlibre]

Thank you so much for explaining the lineage of the method...As a beginner, it's come across (esp. since I'm starting my education on YouTube, for better or worse) that the Loomis method is "The Way, " and while it's obviously an exceedingly helpful tool in keeping proportions consistent as the face moves, it's liberating to have a professional tell me it's okay to find my own way. Some personality types understand this concept (freedom to find one's own way after learning various underpinnings)--but others, like me, stay stuck/frozen in the learning process & feel like failure is certain bc "The Way" isn't working w/my brain for some reason. A long way of saying thank you for reminding me, all of us, that core learning is key (buying the book, for instance, to really get it)--but that there's freedom to explore other methods & develop one's own flow. While that's obvious to many, I'd forgotten that, and your video helped me relax again and want to keep going. That's worth everything. Thank you again.

[BurkhardtGaming]

whats interesting to me is that whilst studying the loomis method your perspective on it came to me almost immediately. It's bizarre because you're right I could absolutely see other early artists getting trapped in construction. This idea that it HAS to be this way. but the loomis method is basically a starting point to help you understand proportions of the face and helps you work in a way to keep them always in mind. you're right about saying its not about drawing the blocky white man. proportions can be stretched and bent in many many ways! Love this video and im sure you helped a TON of young artists!!!

[kaspar_]

Amazon lists a beautiful boxed set Loomis Drawing the Head and Hands & Figure Drawing in Hardcover for 50$. Large, gorgeous, with the best paper i've seen in a modern art book. A treasure.

[sosinati]

I have the book and it is hard to follow. I can understand what's being talked about but I learn by watching as well.. thanks for making this video.

[KizetteandTotoro]

I spent y formative years in Spain. I started painting when I was a very young child. I came across drawing techniques at school and on my own. I had never heard about “x method” “Y method”, , , When I moved to London, I was surprised to find that some artist were indentifyied with what I thought were classical drawing techniques explained by different artists. So yeah, I totally agree with you. (Btw, I own a copy of the Loomis book, which I bought in a second hand bookshop. It was one of the first art books I bought in London).I loved rhe video.I have been mostly painting lately but I am so glad I came across your channel. I feel that I want to draw more. Thank you for the inspiration. Subscribed immediateely.

[JennyEverywhere]

I've got most of Loomis and Bridgman, that I bought about 10 years ago. Now I'm actually reading them and practicing them. It's not a single path, it's more like a longitudinal study of four or five systems, extracting a syncretic construct from them all, modifying the balance until I like the result.

Needless to say, it's slow, but I'm enjoying myself. 😁

[stevelenores]

How to Draw Heads and Hands was my very first drawing book. Some of Andrew Loomis' sketches are so good they look like photographs. In other words he was a legend.

[shiggydiggy]

The one weakness of the Loomis head in particular is the fact that it's based on a round form as opposed to a box. When you try to draw the head from a more heavily tilted upward or downward angle it becomes a lot harder to understand how the planes work if they have a curve. Whereas drawing a cube from a 2 or 3 point perspective makes it a lot more manageable.

[youvegotmysong]

Top notch class. Loomis helped me to understand proportion and volumetric shape building especially with hair. I took several figure drawing classes in college and often suggested his figure drawing books to classmates. The early large format Figure Drawing for All its worth. Great book I have a 2nd printing with foil embossing. He was truly a genius.

[stevehendon]

In his book Fun with a Pencil by Andrew Loomis, he states that on page 36, Ms. E Grace Hanks with Pratt Institute of Brooklyn had published a book teaching this same method before his. It had been passed down, but reading some of his books, he teaches and gives a lot more instructions you can't really learn from a 30-minute youtube video. There are several free copies online.

[AP-Design]

I agree. I got the book years ago and tried duplicating it, but then explored other methods. Loomis’ is still my main framework, but the broader learning process and slight modification to my approach helped me better understand the foundations and articulating them as I move through the head structure.

Great video. It supports how I have been thinking through the process and how it has evolved over time. Also, great, informative sketches!

[ScilexGuitar]

So true. Been doing art for 1.5 years and in the beginning I thought I needed to learn the loomis method to draw a head, that I should "copy" it a lot. I did not have an understanding of simple forms, perspective and spatial awareness. But once I could use simple forms and draw them correctly in space with perspective, for example boxes and cyliners in 1, 2, 3 and 5 point perspective and manipulate these forms (thanks ArtWod for that), I was able to better grasp what the loomis method actually is, its just one person's method of using simple forms to construct the head. What I think many people miss is that you need to in your own way (or with some help) also construct each facial feature by itself, or construct anything you want to be able to draw. And once you look at references, you will start seeing these simpliedfied forms and draw them correctly on the paper.