i uh….found a new painting technique???? i’ve been drawing in white this whole time and shading in white n all that and i flip the colors and….woaauaghhhhh

The Loomis method is a drawing technique by Andrew Loomis that uses a geometric construction with a sphere and grid lines to accurately represent the human head from any angle, establishing a framework for placing facial features like eyes, nose, and mouth according to the "rule of thirds" for correct proportions.

It begins by drawing a sphere for the cranium, cutting off its sides to represent the flattened sides of the skull, and then adding horizontal and vertical crosshairs to mark the brow line, the middle of the face, and the other proportions.

—

William Andrew Loomis (15 June 1892 – 25 May 1959) was an American illustrator, writer, and art instructor. His commercial work was featured prominently in advertising and magazines.

However, Loomis is best known as the writer of a series of instructional art books printed throughout the 20th century and also as the inventor of the "Loomis method."

Here is my process for this piece. This is a mix of techniques I learned in school. I forgot to take pics of some steps in btwn so here are just the main steps. If you all appreciate this I'll go into more detail with my next piece. But lemme explain exactly what I do:

1. I draw a rough sketch of where I want the figure to be. Then I use a technique called Sighting which is when you hold up your pencil and mimicking the angles in the piece you're trying to imitate. I use straight and very faint lines. This step is incredibly important but in the end you dont even really see these lines at all.

2. I use Sighting to place facial features and determine angles. This is where the second technique comes in which is just BSing it. As one of instructors always says: "If it looks wrong it's wrong. If it looks right it's right." This part takes a long time bc likenesses are a biSh!

3. Next I re-outline everything keeping curves and concavities in mind to give character and accuracy. I also lowkey skipped it but I block in aka outline where the shadow shapes go and fill them in with a solid shade then blend that into the non shaded parts. Later I go back in and darken up certain areas. (Do that for everything.)

4. Then with the hair I usually outline important strands and fill it all in with an even shade. I go back in with my eraser to make the lighter shades of hair and highlight then once again with my pencil to darken up certain parts and add detail.

5. Then I add whatever design elements I want (in this case the triangles and the style of his jacket).

6. Last but not least I add highlight as my finishing touches for sure in the eyes, most of the time the lips and sometimes the nose and hair.

I didn't add the final final piece in this post, but you can check it out here ◇.