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Sol-Caninus [2016-08-13 14:01:19 +0000 UTC]

It's good to see what you are doing, so I can give a few words of advice.  First, there is nothing wrong with copying; it is one way that we learn; everyone does it, and should.  That said, it is done for a purpose that, if over done, or relied on too heavily, can get in the way of learning fundamental lessons, such as learning how to assess and create illusions of form.

These pages by Loomis show the end product of the process of construction. It's that process that should show, here.  Instead I see well manicured finish lines that look as if they were carefully copied from Loomis. Don't get me wrong.  That copying is valuable, but it targets a completely different set of skill than what is meant for you to gain doing the constructions according to Loomis's examples.  He wants you to 1) construct the head from basic forms (ball, box, pipe, wedge, cone, egg) - he does not want you to trace the outline, no matter how accurately you can do it.  2) Then he want you to locate main features (eyes, nose, mouth, ears) and build them the same way using basic forms.  

One thing you will get by examining the examples is that all the features have parts that stick out from the surface and other parts that sink into it.  It is not always obvious that this is so - when it is obvious, it's not always clear how to draw it.  So, these are instances where copying "consciously" can help accomplish a stated purpose.

Along the same lines he then directs you to the third objective 3) of describing sub-forms of the face that make for further individual differences - folds, bags, promenances, depressions, etc., that describe volumes of soft tissue, such as muscle, fat and cartilage.  These he approaches first as shapes (i.e. circles, squares, ovals, triangles), just to place them.  Then he develops them into forms by adding the third dimension.  This is called construction.  Then after he has constructed the forms, he throws light on the form.  Light casts shade and shadow, which, ultimately, is what will describe the form, as the construction lines are then removed.  

Every line of a Loomis drawing is there for the reason of explaining a form, be it the volume of the nose or a tiny fold of skin at the outside of the eye.  He is masterful at using line to do this, but you have to think not in terms of copying lines, but rather in terms of interpreting them - what form or forms does a given line help express?  It's up to you to recreate the portrait, expressing the same ideas of form, but in your own way - meaning, using lines that make sense to you.  

Loomis has many advantages over you, right now.  The biggest is knowledge of anatomy.  Basic Shapes/Forms, Light/Shade/Shadow, Anatomy/Proportions/, Linear Perspective and Aerial Perspective are the fundamental areas that play into doing these exercises well.  Of course, one has to start somewhere!  Haha.  You've done that.  The question is, where to go from here?  Some like to capitalize on strengths.  Others prefer to address weaknesses.  It's up to you.   

 

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