Planes of the Head Drawing 9 x12

[Jan]

I used the Planes of the Head 3D Model as the reference for this drawing. Organizing the values was a challenge, so I’m not sure the forms read correctly. I feel like this exercise did help me consolidate what I’ve been learning from the various constructive head drawing videos. After completing it, I realized there is an Asaro Planes of the Head Lesson with Iliya Mirochnik that is part of the Russian Drawing Course. I was already planning to take this course, so it will be interesting to see how my approach changes after I complete it.

[bart]

Hi, this looks great! About reading the shapes correctly: I feel that the way the shapes turn away from the pictureplane in the neck aren’t as clear on the (our) left shoulder. The (our) right shoulder reads more clear. So in the left shoulder I don’t know which shapes are in front of which.

hope this helps! Bart

 

[Jan]

I really appreciate the feedback! I agree with you that the planes on the neck were not reading well. I did some more work on both sides and I think that area is a little clearer now. Thank you again for the helpful suggestions!

[Jan]

I decided to start from the beginning with the Russian Academic Drawing Course instead of jumping right into the Asaro Planes of the Head portion. At this point I’ve completed the first seven sections. As others have stated, Iliya’s teaching is fabulous! Following along with him in real time has been especially helpful. I didn’t worry too much about proportion on these particular drawings, so I know they are all a little “off”. I tried to follow his marks exactly although it proved to be a little tricky since I’m right-handed. I’m posting three of the more “finished” exercises before I continue with the Skull Drawing Project.

[Jan]

This drawing is from the Asaro Planes of the Head lesson. As I mentioned in the previous post, the proportions are off since I was trying to follow Iliya in real time.

[erikdennes]

Hey Jan,

This is a really nice job.  This kind of thing is not easy and is really good training.  Watch your perspective.  All of the parallels in the face such as the eyebrow line, corners of the eyes, corners of the lips, chin, etc should all converge to a vanishing point.  Sometimes when doing the lay in, it is helpful to draw the horizon line, locate the vanishing point (even if you have to add another sheet of paper to the drawing to do this), and use a ruler to draw orthogonals from the vanishing point.

I did a little draw over to help you out.  The blue lines show the parallels as you have them in the drawing.  The red lines are my corrections given a vanishing point just above the head.

[Jan]

Thank you so much, Erik! I really appreciate your critique, and the diagram is extremely helpful. Drawing the planes of the head correctly was much more difficult than drawing the geometric forms in the previous exercises. I became so focused on following Iliya’s strokes, trying to align the planes, and understanding the light and shadow that I didn’t realize I had neglected perspective in this assignment. I always thought perspective was a tool for showing distance, so using it in portrait work is a new concept to me. I can see why Andrew Loomis said the handling of perspective in portrait drawing marks the difference between an amateur and professional artist! Thanks again for taking the time to provide such valuable feedback.

[Jan]

Here is the corrected drawing which I think reads better. I watched the section of the lesson again where Iliya said always go back and make sure all the lines on the face are parallel or slightly converging. I actually did start out working within the box, but I got off track after I cleaned up some of the construction lines. Thanks again for pointing it out, Erik! Hopefully I’ll be able to start recognizing perspective errors as I begin to internalize the concepts.

[Author]

Posts