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How to
Draw
the
Head
from
Any Angle
Stan Prokopenko • August 14, 2012 • 53 Comments
 How to Draw the Head from Any Angle

2K

Assignment: Draw the Loomis Head

Take a bunch of pictures of either yourself or someone else and then use them to construct the head
using the Loomis method. Focus on getting the up and down tilt correct. Make sure to make careful
measurements that I mentioned in this video and keep your lines clean. Remember that every person
has individual proportions that will be different from the average loomis head. At this point, just draw
the average proportions. Once you’re comfortable with that, you can try to capture the distinct
characteristics of the person you’re drawing.

If you’re having trouble drawing the circle or oval of the head, spend some at the beginning of each
day warming up your hand with a lot of circles and oval.
Post your drawings in the Portrait Facebook group for feedback

Check out the Premium Portrait course to support the lessons and get access to every portrait video.

Drawing the Head

In this first lesson I’m going to attempt to summarize and simplify Andrew Loomis’ approach to
drawing the head. Here we go.

If we take the head and remove the eyes, nose, lips, and ears we are left with 2 simple masses. A ball
for the cranium and a boxy shape for the jaw.

The cranium is spherical, but with flattened sides. So, chopping off a slice from both sides gets us a
very close representation of the cranial mass.

When drawing the head, I’ll start with a ball and draw an oval to indicate the flat side plane. The sizes
are important here. Make sure the ball is a perfect circle. Don’t be sloppy. The oval is a bit more
tricky. The height will always be the same, no matter what angle you’re drawing the head from. It’s ⅔
of the height of the circle. From the center and top of the circle, divide that area into thirds, and this
will give you the top of the oval. Do the same at the bottom.

Finding the Left and Right turn: The width of the oval will depend on the direction the person is
looking. Compare the size of the front plane to the size of the side plane. The top portion of the oval
falls on the corner of the forehead, where the front plane meets the side plane. This area is usually
rounded and so it’s open to the artist’s interpretation. I’ve found that it usually lies near the end of the
eyebrow. The line on the front plane represents the brow so pay attention to the angle from one brow
to the other.
Finding the Up and Down tilt: The vertical tilt is indicated by an angle along the side plane. If the
head is tilted up, the angle will point up and if the head is tilted down, the angle will point down. The
degree of the tilt will determine how steep to make this line. I like to use the angle from the ear to the
brow.

Then, at the base of the vertical line, draw a curve identical the the brow line. This represents the
bottom of the nose. Drawing the same line again from the top of the oval brings you to the hairline.

The face can be broken down into nearly perfect thirds, chin, nose, brow, and hair.
We can use the measurements we’ve already found to find the where the chin should be.

Observe the general shape of the jaw and draw in the major angles starting from the brow and ending
at the side plane of the head. It’s usually about halfway into the oval, or a little bit farther back.
Now that we have the foundation of the head
established, we can finish it by putting in all the
features! Don’t worry, I’ll explain this step in more
detail next time. Each feature deserves it’s own
lesson.

Let’s go through that one more time.

1. Start with a circle for the cranium

2. Oval for the side of the head
3. Angle to show the person looking up or
down. I’ll go with a subtle down tilt.
4. Draw an identical curve to find the nose
5. Double that distance to find the chin
6. Attach the jaw

Now you have a 3D representation of the head ready for the features. This approach is really good to
establish the perspective of the head. A good exercise is to try to think about the head as a simple
elongated box.
The angles on the front plane of the face such as hair line, brow line, nostrils, lips, and chin will be the
same as the angles on the front plane of the box. The angle from brow line to ear is the same as the
angle on side plane of the box.

These angles are really important because they establish the head as a 3-d form in space.

This may seem overly technical with so many details to remember but with practice it actually
becomes very easy so get that sketchbook out and practice it a hundred times with a variety of angles!
You’ll find you improve much quicker than you think.

Drawing the Head and Hands – by Andrew Loomis

This video summarizes this book. The full version is a great resource.

Like what you learned? Check out the next lesson How to Draw the Head from Side View!

2K

Filed in: Fundamentals • Portrait / Head • Videos

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Comments (53)

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1. Susan B. says:
September 29, 2012 at 7:41 pm

Excellent. I hope to see more of these videos. I’ve watched the first eight? several times, and
learned something new every time. I’m not a new artist, but struggle nonetheless. Please keep
these coming. Thanks.

Reply

2. Glenn Doughty says:

October 4, 2012 at 6:57 pm

Stan I want to thank you for your “drawing head, eyes, nose” series. They are excellent and
deeply appreciated. How kind and big of you to freely share this with the public. I sincerely
hope that all leave you a donation, which I will do shortly.

Reply

3. Jan V says:
October 30, 2012 at 8:58 pm

I recently subscribed to your email newsletters and have just watched this video for the first
time. It is excellent, detailed but not too long to absorb. I love the smiley face and music and
that you imposed the lines over your face. great work. great communication. Thankyou.
 Reply

4. Keith says:
November 21, 2012 at 5:39 am

Excellent stuff!
Determining the width of the sideplane is obviously important for drawing an anatomically
accurate face. How do you determine that though, other than making an educated guess? Also,
when does it touch the back of the head, disappear around it, or make it show?

Reply

kathleen says:
January 16, 2017 at 3:43 pm

Good question. I’d love a reply, too.

Reply

TC says:
January 23, 2018 at 10:40 pm

I’d like to know that too, as well as at what angle you see the side oval attach to the top
and bottom of the head circle vs what angle it just touches the bottom and top 3rd of the
head circle (when you’re measuring for its height). My heads end up too tall and not wide
enough and I’m really getting annoyed :/

Reply

tamilore says:
April 16, 2018 at 1:52 pm
 Stan the way you described the head is amazing but i am confused about one part
though. There is a a region that start at the top of the ear and curves down to the
outside of the chin. there is also a a region that start at the bottom of the eye and
curves down to the outside of the chin. which one is correct.

Reply

5. photo to pencil sketch says:

January 5, 2013 at 3:53 am

Excellent, very nice tutorial, thank you.

Reply

6. Jaylene says:
October 8, 2013 at 6:13 pm

Very well explained. Thank you.

Reply

7. Buckler says:
October 9, 2013 at 4:20 pm

Great stuff Stan! I’m greatly appreciative of all of the sources you put out for us aspiring artists.
Thank you!!

Reply

8. Buckler says:
October 9, 2013 at 6:25 pm
 Do you ever find yourself using the oval before the circle?

Reply

Stan Prokopenko says:

October 10, 2013 at 10:34 am

No, I pretty much always establish the outer shape of the head before moving inside. Big
to small.

Reply

9. Chester Micek says:

December 28, 2013 at 2:07 pm

Your instruction is the best I have found on the internet; however, I’d like to see more exercises
that develop the lesson. Put another way, this lesson is an excellent quickie precis of an hour
lesson. It’s good; I watched it seven times and I was able to pause it. Still, for me, it was as if the
lesson were on fast forward. To put my comments in perspective: compare the first lesson on the
head to the first lesson on the figure. I bought them both because they are both good, but the
figure lessons are better subdivided, better paced, and have better examples. The first draw a
head at any angle was too past and information thin for me. Still, it is the best bang for my buck.

Reply

Stan Prokopenko says:

December 28, 2013 at 2:26 pm

Chester, thanks for your feedback. I’m glad you like the content. I try to make the best
content on the web and glad you think it is

You’re right, the figure course has much more content and examples for each lesson than
the Portrait course. I made the figure course after the portrait, and so I made a lot of
improvements in my format. Really that’s why the Portrait course is half the price. I
started by uploading a few short tutorials on youtube and it grew into something much
bigger. Though it’s a bit overwhelming, I’m not complaining.

I want to possibly make a supplemental portrait course with more details and more
examples. I have so many ideas of things I want to do. So little time!!

Reply

ph3 says:
July 22, 2014 at 11:22 am

Well – I really like your lessons. Figure drawing is very good – got it premium and
love it. But the head… – Im struggling with it a lot. Actually combinging basic
head shape and features together seems to be a trouble. So I wanted to ask – if there
is going to be an extended version of portrait drawing as you planned? I would
gladly purchase it, as many of other ppl I guess

Reply

Stan Prokopenko says:

January 3, 2015 at 5:11 pm

I’m planning on doing an advanced portrait course after the anatomy courses
are complete. So, it will be a while. It will include head anatomy, facial
expressions, variations of age, gender, and race.

Reply

barnes.dane@gmail.com says:
March 31, 2015 at 9:22 am

I look forward to these immensely.

10. DL-Draw says:
July 9, 2014 at 8:49 pm

How can I download these videos in case the internet stops

Reply

11. ไวอาก&า says:

July 21, 2014 at 12:08 am

These supplemental plans are labeled A through N, and cover

different things for different amounts. The other part of the study that I
liked was the fact that Dr. Providing a lower price to VIP customers and empowering women
and men with an incredible business opportunity to change
their lives for the better by improving their health and wealth and paying back a huge part of
the company’s business revenue to the distributors make these companies extremely attractive.

Reply

12. Tana says:

August 17, 2014 at 4:52 pm

Hi Stan,
I’m loving your tutorials, the best around that I’ve found anywhere.

I’d like to ask also if you could get out a supplemental portrait course with more details and
more examples. It would be great to have examples of all the heads to download with the notes
you give us.

Thanks and blessings!

Tana

Reply
13. David bryant says:
August 28, 2014 at 12:45 pm

stan im having trouble keeping the portions of the head balanced when i draw them at different
angles any tips on this. I was able to do this correct on your to views of the head but i become
lost when i try to angle the head . thanks for all your videos im a premium member and love it !!

Reply

14. online business says:

August 31, 2014 at 4:54 am

But, once we go from the clients of homebased your own. We walked through the yellowish
pages sensing for new customers?

Go too the midd term elections had a lot of support for CHP research
and consulting, selling your knowledge too.
Don’t fall into the future.

Reply

15. Pat says:

September 30, 2014 at 10:51 pm

Good tutorial, a tad too quick but great nonetheless. I was wondering if you have any tutorials
on how to divvy up the features so we get a likeness of the person we are drawing as I can’t find
any here. Thanks..

Reply
16. windel says:
November 1, 2015 at 11:28 pm

i really love watching your videos, i learned many things and the best thing is that you make it
fun to watch it. i really want to learn how to draw realistic portrait, do you have any manuals
along with this videos? did you published any tutorial books?

Reply

Stan Prokopenko says:

November 8, 2015 at 10:09 am

Not yet. I am planning on making a portrait book someday.

Btw, the method in the video is from the Andrew Loomis book “drawing the head and
hands”.

Reply

17. Selsky says:

February 3, 2016 at 5:58 pm

Hey Stan, love the video, it’s helped me more than I could have imagined. I’m confused about
one thing though. You say that the height of the oval never changes and stays consistent, but
wouldn’t it change if the subject (viewed as a profile) were to tilt their head right or left?

Reply

18. Teri says:

May 19, 2016 at 11:49 am
 Thank you so much for adding the images on here!
It’s easier to understand what’s going on when I’m reading it and not looking at the video!

Reply

19. Rachel Burns says:

July 3, 2016 at 6:16 pm

Thank you so very much for posting all this! Especially the text and images separate–it helps so
much to be able to read and hear what you’re saying.

I’ve learned more from your videos than I ever had by trying to learn alone!

Reply

Stan Prokopenko says:

July 8, 2016 at 12:19 pm

You’re welcome! I’m currently working on updating all the other lessons as well so
check back frequently!

Reply

tamilore says:
April 16, 2018 at 1:55 pm

Stan the way you described the head is amazing but i am confused about one part
though. There is a a region that start at the top of the ear and curves down to the
outside of the chin. there is also a a region that start at the bottom of the eye and
curves down to the outside of the chin. which one is correct.

Reply
20. Pat says:
July 22, 2016 at 10:19 pm

How do I use this method while trying to get a realistic likeness?

Reply

21. Mario D'Amelio says:

September 21, 2016 at 2:26 am

Proko is the number one. enjoy it!

Reply

22. Thomas Wiederhold says:

October 30, 2016 at 3:54 pm

Hi Stan,
I read a few of the comments above, about the head video being too brief, or too little detail. I
found it difficult to use at first, because it was a different approach to what I have seen before.
So I watched it a few more times, and drew the circle and the oval and all the other lines, and
then contemplated my drawing. All this has been over this last week. Today, Sunday, I just
started drawing two of my frieds, and the drawings have started VERY well. And NO problem
with the likeness. I’m really pleased!
Can`t wait to watch more videos.

Reply

23. Ana Windham says:

February 28, 2017 at 7:12 am
 I am just beginning to learnng how to draw the human figure. Have enrolled in a life drawing
and sculpture class. Want to improve so I can gain speed. I found your head tutorial very clear
and easy to understand. Great template for stating. Look forward to viewing the others you have
done. Thanks, Ana

Reply

24. Ezmerelda Thunderpants says:

April 7, 2017 at 2:16 pm

Why he look like mr clean

Reply

Anon says:
November 4, 2017 at 10:48 pm

Oh nooo just add a pointy hair spike and he becomes Chad Thundercock from those
memes

Reply

25. Pat says:

May 4, 2017 at 7:51 am

I love the way you explain how to draw. HOWEVER, I am not interested in drawing people, so
I do not purchase any of your lessons. If you decide to expand to include animals, I would
definitely be interested.

Reply
26. joe says:
July 4, 2017 at 4:11 am

one tiny detail re you video. How come the blue lines move as you move your head?

Reply

Sean Ramsey says:

July 4, 2017 at 3:31 pm

They’re there to help you visualize the drawn lines on a real face.

Reply

joe says:
July 5, 2017 at 3:21 am

As if I didn’t know that! But what I want to know how these lines MOVE as he
moves his head. In other words they are not drawn on the screen but part and parcel
as the subject.

Reply

Sean Ramsey says:

July 6, 2017 at 4:20 pm

They’re just bezier lines that are animated and tracked in After Effects.

Reply
27. Sean Amador says:
October 14, 2017 at 6:03 pm

Hey “Proko”,

I just wanted to let you know that I have shared your content with my Animation class at “The
Art Institute” and my teacher wound up posting up for every one of her future classes to see
because she enjoyed the concepts you hit on and your delivery very much. Thank you for
helping me become a better artist, this tutorial will and has helped many beginning and adept
artists. You rock!
Thank you and take care.

-Sean Amador

Reply

28. Pankaj singh says:

November 20, 2017 at 8:35 am

Hi Stan,

“I’m planning on doing an advanced portrait course after the anatomy courses are complete. So,
it will be a while. It will include head anatomy, facial expressions, variations of age, gender, and
race.”

You wrote above in 2015 and its already 2017 end and i am not seeing anything like that. Please
let us know if it will be available in 2018 first quarter as i am planning to buy the premium
version. Appreciate your efforts!

Reply

29. dan jakes says:

February 13, 2018 at 4:07 am
 i like it. woooow. make more, it triggers my emotions

Reply

30. Invisible says:

May 8, 2018 at 12:09 am

In the video, theres a line that starts from the chin to the top of the ears. But in the description
below, why is the line starts from the chin to the forehead?

Reply

31. Deepthi says:

December 21, 2018 at 10:12 pm

Hi Stan,

How do we determine the centre line going from the head to the chin. I could not get it.

Reply

32. Jem says:

April 2, 2019 at 5:56 am

This was definitely very useful. I generally struggle with combining proportions and
perspective, and this tutorial was a little miracle. The only issue I’m having is the size of the
forehead tends to be a little too small, and I’m worried about it throwing the proportions off.

Reply

33. Verica says:

 May 10, 2019 at 4:08 pm

Great stuff. It helps a lot.!

Reply

34. Winnie says:

September 29, 2019 at 2:36 am

I’m a new struggling artist and I like your illustrations….. would need some help though

Reply

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How to Draw the Head – Front View »

Drawing Fundamentals

The Basic Elements – Shape, Value, Color, Edge

 Shading Light and Form – Basics
Drawing Supplies I Use for Longer Drawings
How to Hold and Control Your Pencil
How to Shade a Drawing
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