Because I get asked a lot, all my resources are in the description!
All my materials, books I mention and other tutorials related to this topic 🎨

I think people often forget that Loomis created his method because he drew perfect people for magazine ads. He wasn’t creating portraits of real, imperfect human beings. I’ve used his method to study & practice proportions and structure but the limitations of the method very quickly became apparent. My skill development completely stalled until I started exploring other ways to begin a drawing.

My mom was such a savant - she never used any method, but her drawings captured perfectly what people looked liked and she was quick - no measuring or angle drawing.  I wish I got drawing lessons from her before she died.  Plus she could draw from memory. Thanks for your explanation.

In my personal opinion, it is wise to use the envelope method, Reilly method, and Loomis. They all help. Loomis isn't concrete, it is used as a guide to mainly draw from imagination knowing how to draw basic tilts of the head, while Reilly is more about the features of the face using rhythms based on anatomy knowledge, shadow patterns, and skull knowledge. The envelope method is like you said perfect for drawing from photos and long head drawings. It is literally how a painter would draw or paint it with a paint brush. Using all the tools is the best in my opinion.

I don’t know who needs to hear this but:
ALL these “methods” are tools in your toolkit that can be utilized to find and map the structure of the head and face.

They aren’t meant to be religious dogma fighting each other for dominance.

As a chef, I feel that debates of this kind are like saying, “I ditched the “spatula method” and now I use the “knife method”!

Use what works for the project. You can even (gasp) MIX methods to achieve your goals in drawing.

The point of mastery is not that you figure out the “one ring to rule them all” method with a capital M, but rather that you master different techniques so that you will be better able to select the tool that will best serve your aims in this drawing. By learning various “methods” and techniques we are empowered to make choices based on the project. ❤

That being said, great video. ✅ Subbed! 🎉

I made a drawing that won't haunt me in my nightmares with this video!! Thank you!

It is a technique used by many old masters, which has proven its effectiveness and remains undeniably the best method taught in France in the great art schools. I recommend the very famous book : "Cours de Dessin" by Charles Bargue, which explains this approach and provides numerous drawing plates to reproduce using this technique. Jean-Léon Gérôme, one of the greatest painters, sculptors, and draftsmen of the 19th century, used this method to teach drawing to students at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris ! Best French method ever 🥰

I like how your eyes match your t-shirt. That's crazy

4:07 same goes for 2-tone value studies.

It's really difficult to decide what part belongs to the light or dark value in some images.

An approach I've been practicing for a couple weeks now is to draw the entire silhouette first with the lighter value and then follow up with the darker one.
Both steps require a similar view of The image in simple shapes, angles and lines and ignore the details as best as you can, at least at first.

The resulting images are actually quite cool, it doesn't take super long to do a couple of those and I'm under the impression it really helps me see more objectively.

11:05 - exactly the dilemma I faced when I got back into drawing portraits recently!

This is incredible! If nothing else this is really a reminder to not be afraid to do something different or outside of the box just because you don’t see it being done by other people, but also to take your time when drawing. Doing things in steps, though it takes longer, always seems to create better outcomes

First good drawing tutorial that goes in detail on the very beginning of drawing - the construction.

Finally someone who said it!!!! I felt the same always. Thanks!!!!!

6:29 for me, it’s basically “eyeballing” reference points. That’s where Loomis method helps, if you can notice and see the spots in the image that the Loomis method works with. Some people don’t see it. Like the roundness of the top of his head on the back side, or the roundness of the ear. Or even the hairline along with the ear… But with the envelope, I’m just having a hard time tying reference points in to the straight lines and where they meet. If anything, I think the Envelope Method combined with some Loomis would be really beneficial

Such a good explanation, thank you!👏

Idk why but this just makes a lot more sense in my head...loomis kinda limits me to an ideal proportion trying to find things that dont exist in real life references...is this guess work that we all did as a kid ? yesss BUT its different because you're training to breakdown and refine your guess...something that seems simpler to me....thank you for sharing it !!!

You demonstrated this technique masterfully! The envelope method wasn't taught to me in art school. However, I noticed classical atelier artists use it and I've tried it with a lot of improvement for the reasons you mentioned. It helps to develop a sense of noticing the overall shapes and angles. However, like every drawing method, it may work for a time until you've mastered it and you might move on to your own method. You retain the habit of looking for angles and big shapes. One method I recommend for portraits is what I learned while drawing caricatures at en entertainment park. We learned to draw people in just a few minutes. The key for us was to practice a variety of lines in order to make a variety of stylized eyes, noses, mouths, face shapes, and hair. After practicing that for a year, I noticed my traditional portraits improved by a lot. Traditional portraits are a lot easier after having learned to stylize and exaggerate them. Exaggerating actually also improved my ability to capture their likenesses, because you notice what is unique about each person and highlight it. We also didn't do any construction. We only drew with permanent marker. We did do warmups and practice. Sometimes I would do a 10 sec. rough sketch and place it underneath my paper as a guide, but that's about it. The key is learning to draw every part of the face the way you want it in the first strokes. It takes practice, but it definitely helped. But knowing about construction and the envelope method certainly helped me as I imagined the shapes I was about to draw in permanent marker.

I just discovered this book on amazon recently - and it's so wonderful! The Loomis method keeps me locked in the analytical part of my brain which is NOT the part I enjoy about art. I love this approach, and I haven't seem very many other creators discussing it. Your videos are super encouraging and I've really enjoyed discovering your channel. Thanks!!

I learned to draw from Betty Edwards- never even thought about drawing. She opened up a whole new world for me. I am always looking for diff ways to do portraits. TY

I glad you made this video. It's basically confirmation for me. This is exactly how I draw as well.