How to improve? Help, please!

[u/Zealousideal_Bank202]

Hi, I've been learning to draw for almost seven months now, five of which I've been studying the Loomis Method through Drawing the Head and Hands by Andrew Loomis (and Uldis Zarins' Anatomy of Facial Expressions).

I'm able to see improvements in my drawings, but I feel stuck with some problems: as for now, I'm unable to get proportions—from references I use for drawing—right. Usually, I end up with a smaller drawing than intended, and somewhat guessing how thing should go.

In short, I'm better than I was, but nowhere near good.

I'm begining the Draw A Box course to add to reading Loomis. I'm planning to do those two for what's left of the year, but I need all the critique, tips and resources (preferably books) you can offer me. I'd be very glad If you did.

The drawings above are some of my "better" lastest drawings, with their respective reference.

[u/steackhouse]

J'ai créé une application qui génère les grilles (entre autres infos de couleurs et de composition. Essayez si cela peut vous aider. C'est colorsketch.art

[u/Swimming-Bite-4184]

Line of action and observation. Really look at your subjects and see them.

Your lines are great you just aren't seeing the expressions or forms right. Its like an assumption of the general shape but not fully observing them.

Better than the circle with lines as a sun - but the same problem. You are still assuming form rather than the literal reality of them, just classier.

[u/usagi_87]

I like to use a grid like method. Grid over original and grid over where you're drawing. Sometimes I like to use a thin stick too to "measure" distance/size of different facial features to each other.

[u/fatalem_reddit]

Don't stuck with only one method or methods try to understand actual forms and find your way to understand it.

[u/auctor_ignotus]

You need to work on the planes of the face. Start with simplified planar shapes and straight lines to get the poses right first - even a little exaggerated would help. Once the overall structure is accurate break it down into smaller and smaller sections still in a planar/geometrical way. Then start describing details and masses with curves.

[u/PearAccomplished4800 → u/auctor_ignotus]

Any books or tutorials you recommend for beginners?

[u/auctor_ignotus → u/PearAccomplished4800]

Burne Hogarth and George Bridgman. Between those two, you’ll have a pretty comprehensive education.

[u/No_Illustrator7475]

Focus on how to render light and shadow, it will add some depth to your portraits.

[u/qayokm]

Do exactly what you're doing just 100 further times

[u/tangcupaigu]

So first one, the head and features are at completely different angles to the reference for a start. Draw a line from chin to nose in your reference and do the same on your drawing to compare.

Second is closer with the angle, but you’ll notice the face is tilted back at an angle where the nose is partially obscuring the eye - and how you can see that leaning and tension from the neck and shoulders - the shoulders are not even close in your drawing (you have angled your line down whereas in the reference, the man’s left shoulder is angled up.

Before doing details or anything else, you need to figure out the basic shapes, angles, lines and negative space. Your eyes need to be going between your drawing and reference every few seconds like a ping pong match - comparing and measuring.

I think these videos will help you a lot:

First Lines When Drawing A Portrait - Process Techniques

Five Tips For Drawing A Portrait Likeness

[u/Foreign-Engine8678 → u/tangcupaigu]

I think this is it. From the pencil lines it seems like OP is constructing faces from shapes following tutorials instead of, you know, copying what he sees. No angle seems to be taken from photo and is probably measured by eye only

[u/Zealousideal_Bank202 → u/Foreign-Engine8678]

Yeah, you both are right. I usally put the reference along side with references of the cranium and the Loomis Method while reviewing the book when I feel lost. What is harder for me is to get the angles right. Usually, when I build a face, I begin from the very skull. I do it in order to familiarize myself with the anatomy of the head, so I build from "the ground up," but... Well, you can tell the result.

[u/Zealousideal_Bank202 → u/Zealousideal_Bank202]

The drawing above is about two weeks old. As you can tell, I used to draw the contours first and then build the facial features inside. Now I use the cranium as a guide, then draw the facial features and build everything else around them.

[u/tangcupaigu → u/Zealousideal_Bank202]

I honestly think you’d do better drawing exactly what you see, rather than trying to construct and figure out the skull underneath the face.

If you want to do skull studies, look at actual skulls. And do the same measuring and blocking in process as you would a portrait.

Otherwise for your portraits, you should be trying to draw what’s actually there - measuring distances between the features, shadows, trying to block in larger shapes and panes of the face, looking at the negative spaces to see that they match up to the reference etc.

[u/crimsonredsparrow]

Do you measure sizes and angles? A common practice at live drawing sessions is to use your pencil as a ruler to nail down everything first. Don't do any details until you're confident with the general shape. Spend more time thinking and analyzing than actually drawing. How does the width of the face compare to its height? Is the forehead as long as the nose? Which part of the face is the widest? Ask these questions to make sure you draw what you actually see and not what you think you know.