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

In 1943 Andrew Loomis published drawing the head and hands , one of the best how to draw books ever created in it .

He outlined a nice method for creating and constructing the face in a linear fashion .

This is often what people refer to as the Luas method .

However , I feel like this is often misrepresented .

And in this video , I wanna talk about why there really is no lum method if you're looking at learning how to draw heads from imagination , but there is something which is a lot better .

Let's get started .

So the basics of how this system works are pretty simple .

We start with a sphere and we define dimensionality of that sphere and it's essentially that dimensionality that allows us to stop placing features , we can then define some simple proportions which we sort of find by defining where the hairline would be .

And then we duplicate those sort of proportions down this kind of new center line of the face .

We make sure we chop a little bit off the side of that sphere , which again , it gives us a good sense of how big and what sort of shape that mound and ball of the skull is , and then we can use those proportions to place in our features .

So it works pretty well and it allows us to draw the same head from multiple different angles , using the same set of proportions .

We can also use this to exaggerate proportions and draw stuff , which is a little bit more interesting than our standard sort of blocky guy there .

For instance , we could probably draw an ork or some other type of fantasy creature .

It's just a matter of using the same base proportion .

But what we do is we just exaggerate some of the features and exaggerate the general anatomical proportions .

I can move the brow forward a little bit more , give it a little bit more prominence , we can create a slightly larger sort of nose .

Again that I'm sort of just massing in there , we can create some slightly wider cheekbones and again , I can define sense a line , right ?

Create a larger kind of mound of the mouth that we then use to base the lines of the lips off of .

So then again , I'm gonna define also it's about halfway up , right ?

But we are just gonna find that jaw , make sure that jaw looks super chunky , right ?

So again , let's finish this off .

I've got the basic sort of proportions here , but it's just a matter of filling in the details .

So they go a similar idea .

We're just exaggerating particular features and making sure that we add those specific things which are gonna make us think .

Oh Yeah , that's like an ork with chunky mouth , with those giant chunky teeth , big jaw for eating you or other things , right ?

We can use it to essentially draw whatever we want .

OK .

So that is the lum method in a nutshell .

It's a nice way for us to be able to construct heads from different angles and to be able to control proportion from different angles .

This is good if you want to draw the same character from different angles or if you want to push or develop the form from a standard mannequin into whatever you want while still keeping general proportion .

And more importantly that this makes it really easy to remember and systemized the proportional changes that you do make when you are drawing fantasy creatures or you know , people who have a lot of character in their face .

It's not just about drawing blocky caucasian man , right ?

You can draw whatever you want using this method because all it does is it systems the sequence and the way that you might think about proportional markers and how you put them in .

It's not about the blocky man , right ?

It's about figuring out how to systematically control proportion and structure using constructive anatomy and form drawing .

It's also something that is not a system that a guy called Loomus came up with .

Andrew Loomis is working in a tradition of constructive anatomy and form drawing that goes back hundreds and hundreds of years .

Often there are what I view to be silly debates on the internet such as do you use the Luas method or other methods of constructing figures that you might have heard of ?

Like the Riley method or Bridgman's method .

Bridgeman taught a class that both Riley and Loomus went to and Riley took over the class from Bridgeman .

At least that's what Wikipedia says .

And that's my understanding of it .

All of these people are essentially talking about exactly the same thing , which is again , a tradition of constructive anatomy that goes back hundreds of years and is part of a tradition that involves some of the best illustrators and artists that the world has ever seen .

A lot of these things would have been passed down over the years through workshops and schools , universities il from teacher to student and the student then becomes the teacher and it goes on and on .

There's a long tradition of artists teaching this type of information to each other and creating schools of thought for how to go about learning and practicing art .

This is just one of those .

And Andrew Loomis's book and Andrew Loomis's method while unique and interesting , interesting are merely an articulation , albeit a really , really good one of that tradition of constructive anatomy in the same way that Riley and Bridgeman are just different articulations and examples of how someone goes about trying to communicate how they draw how they think about constructing when they're using these types of systems .

The second thing that I think is really important to understand is that it's not something you copy .

If you think about trying to master and achieve a really high level of constructive anatomy , it's not that you're gonna get better and better and better and more and more accurate at drawing the standard blocky Caucasian man that you often see um in a lot of these loomus head figures and drawings , it's about developing your own system , working within a similar tradition .

And you may find that a sequence that works for , you might be slightly different to the official um lum method .

Again , it's not that any of these methods are right or wrong or better or worse than each other .

What they're trying to do is explain how particular artists have had success , teaching and learning and working using this body of knowledge .

And you , if you learn it and get really good at it will probably find a spin on it .

That is a little bit unique to you .

A sequence , a series of proportional markers , you might focus on particular proportional markers more than others .

It really is about what you and what you need to support your drawing .

So , again , mastery of the lous method is not following his step by step guide .

Exactly .

And I would urge you not to keep practicing and practicing , trying to get it .

Exactly .

Right .

It's more important to understand the theory and the concept behind it , the theory of the linear sequence that helps you build structure within a drawing .

Again , those steam linear sequences and breaking down a form can be used and have been systemized and put down by artists for you know , drawing , drawing animals , for drawing cars , et cetera , et cetera .

It really is about understanding the basic fundamentals of proportion and perspective and anatomy and form , drawing and construction , drawing through , et cetera , et cetera , et cetera .

The same stuff that has been passed down through the centuries from teacher to student .

The third thing is that it's not a quick fix .

It's not something where you just learn uh a system here by watching a five minute youtube video and then you go on your way .

There are a lot of other bits and pieces here that will really help you to master this .

You do need to understand perspective and you do need to understand form , drawing and basic concepts like drawing through and other things that are gonna allow you to properly utilize this method because a lot of what's happening is that we are placing points in space and trying to find proportional markers .

And a lot of what we're doing is thinking about the form in three dimensions and using an understanding of perspective to help us do that .

Again , the real benefit of the Lu Luis method is not that it allows you to draw a front on head better .

You don't need the lum method for that .

It's beneficial when you're drawing heads from different angles or when you have to reproduce proportion from different angles , that's where it really shines .

So I'd urge you to think about it more as a window into a way of creating art that is a very , very rich tradition and history of creating art .

And it's something that you can learn and you can get really , really good at the number one thing I would say is by the damn book .

It's surprising to me that most of the videos and the advice out there talks about people teaching you the Luas method on their own .

It's really simple , go by the book .

It was written albeit in 1943 and it has aged and it is of that era , both in tonality and um you know , the the type of words that are used , it isn't the most appropriate thing , but it is a very , very good , nicely written , well explained how to draw book .

And if you're interested in this , don't go and listen to someone talking about it online , go read the book .

It's really good .

That's what I did .

And that's how I've been able to use it in my career day to day drawing all sorts of things from comics , concept art and illustration .

And it's helped me certainly when I've been drawing comics to maintain and control proportion of characters from panel to panel , which is really , really important .

So , there you go .

Those are the reasons that I think the Luas method is a little bit misunderstood .

And I've heard a lot of students come to me and say , hey , I learned the Luas method , right ?

And they show me , um again , that idea of a ball with a stick , you know , drawn down from it and they're really not understanding a lot of the theory and the concepts underpinning it .

And they sort of tend to think that , hey , I watched a video , I've , I've understand the basic concepts .

I've looked at it for five minutes and therefore I should be good to go .

Uh I haven't seen a lot of people actually buy the book and read it and study it and understand it and that's what I would recommend you do .

That's all I've got here .

If you are looking to improve your own head drawing and anatomy skills , check out my free mini workshop link in the description where I go over the five most common mistakes people make with head construction and how to fix them .

That's all for now .

Catch around happy drawing .