Introduction to Head Drawing techniques

There are several approaches to constructing the head. In this lesson, we will briefly introduce the most commonly used head drawing techniques. They are listed below.

1. Some head photos first
2. Head drawing techniques
   1. The Loomis method
   2. The Reilly method
   3. The Asaro method
   4. The Skab method
3. Which head drawing technique is the best?

Some head photos first

In the first place, let’s take a look at the following photos. They show people in different angles and atmospheres. For example, the third photo barely reveals details of the person photographed. Yet it’s easy to understand that we’re looking at a human head.

So, the head drawing techniques that we will discuss below are not necessarily meant to render heads in details. They also do not care what medium the artist uses or prefers. Instead, they aim at abstracting the shape of the head, making it simpler to apprehend without knowledge of human anatomy. In other words, they only focus on creating the illusion of a 3D head on a 2D surface. Let’s get started!

Head drawing techniques

The Loomis method

• Named after its creator, Andrew Loomis.
• Aims at simplifying the overall shape of the head.
• Relies on
  1. A sphere flattened on the sides (i.e. a sphere with a wedge cut out on the sides), representing the cranium part of the skull.
  2. Other construction lines to make the drawing look like a head.
• Can be used for example to create a basic skull before further detailing if necessary, or draw head shapes from imagination.

It’s probably the most popular head drawing technique. Below are some 3D models you can manipulate to get a general idea of the method.

• The first model is the aforementioned spherical shape of the cranium.
• The second model is a complete Loomis head, i.e. a head created with the Loomis method. It outlines the shape of the head by attaching additional lines to the cranium. For instance, on the front of the head you can see the hair line on the top, followed by the eyebrow line, the bottom line of the nose and the chin line. These are key line marks representing the level of different features on the head. They are kept at the same distance from each other, creating three equal parts on the face. Note however that not all Loomis heads will look exactly like this one: proportion and placement may change for the construction lines.
• The last model pictures one achievable result after adding details to a Loomis head. It doesn’t show the Loomis construction lines which are not intended to be shown in all works of art.

The Reilly method

• Named after its creator, Frank Reilly.
• Aims at
  1. Abstracting the head including useful construction lines for muscles.
  2. Can be quite confusing, but it is fair not to draw or show all of these construction lines in artworks.
• Can be used for example to construct detailed heads.

3D models hardly exist on the internet for this head drawing technique. But here are some handy links.

• Sketchfab – Reilly Head for some 3D models.
• YouTube – Reilly Head or YouTube – Reilly Method for tutorials or drawings of the Reilly head.

The Asaro method

• Named after its creator, John Asaro.
• Aims at abstracting the head with clear plane changes to apprehend shading it more easily.
• Can be used for example to study shading the head for authoritative light and shadow effects.
• Commonly referred to as the Asaro head.

Below are some 3D models you can manipulate to have a general idea of this head drawing technique.

• The first model is the original Asaro head, with one eye missing…
• The other two models interpret the original Asaro head in different proportions and rendering effects.

The Skab method

Skab is a personal acronym for “SKull As a Box”. Thereby, the Skab method refers to any approach of drawing the skull or head using boxes. They are barely popular because the head is not boxy. Moreover, a boxy head is likely to be interpreted as that of a robot or other mechanical subjects, rather than a real human head with curvy planes all over its surface: forehead, eye sockets, cheekbones, etc.

The three models below represent the skull at three different rendering levels: organic, rather organic and boxy (not organic). Also note that attempts to make the head boxy when drawing are often guided by one’s wish to easily rotate it in space.

Which head drawing technique is the best?

• None is the best! Indeed, as stated above these head drawing techniques aim at abstracting the head. So it’s up to the artist to use the one they prefer or best suits their needs.
• However, the Loomis method is the easiest to grasp because it only aims at capturing the overall shape of the head. It can also be used as a starting point for the Asaro and Reilly methods.
• Besides, if you are interested in drawing heads from imagination, please take a look at this lesson.

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