Famous for his mastery of figure drawing and clean, Realist style, illustrator Andrew Loomis (1892-1959) is revered amongst classic artists like the great American painter Norman Rockwell and comics and graphic novel artists like Marvel and DC superstar Alex Ross.
This in-depth manual for drawing the human head and hands features helpful reference information, theory, and illustrations, with steps for:
• Identifying differences and similarities in creating heads between genders and age ranges
• Children’s heads from infancy to the teenaged years
• The basic block forms and proportions for bones and muscle, head tilts, perspective, and indicating character and expression
• Mechanics of the mouth, eyes, and lips, and how to construct noses and ears
• Hands of all ages and genders including foreshortening, the hand in action, knuckles, and fingers
With everything you need to know to draw like a pro, this 2nd installment in the facsimile editions series returns Loomis’ highly influential series of art instruction books to print for the first time in decades.
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2715 reviews for Drawing the Head and Hands
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Original price was: $39.95.$24.44Current price is: $24.44.
Correction Guy –
It’s a good book, that’s about it. The guy knows how to teach, and I still find value in it even if I’m looking to draw more stylized.
Janet Austen –
Ce livre est vraiment très bien fait et constitue sans aucun doute une aide des plus précieuse, après celà c’est à chacun de nous de savoir en tiré parti , un seul bémol il est en anglais donc vive DeepL excellent traducteur en ligne gratuit et de grande qualité, j’écris cela pour ceux qui comme moi parlent anglais sous la torture exclusivement.
Monica –
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This book has been out of print for decades, but has always been sought-after by artists and student.This has pushed prices into the stratosphere but that’s all over now that it is back in print. It is the grand-daddy of all portrait art instruction books, and it remains the best.
If you are a beginner in portraiture then this is almost certainly the best book on the planet to get you started. It takes you from the very basics of form and shape, continues to explain perspective, light and shade, facial expressions, the differing characteristics of different ages of face, and so on. It is divided roughly into two parts: male and female. Therein it also covers baby, child and elderly faces. Toward the back of the book is a chapter about drawing hands. This is the only weak part of the book, though hands are generally not a major component in a portrait. The examples have a rather 1940s look about them, but their quality is never in doubt. Loomis was a master of portrait and illustration, and this comes across clearly in each of the hundreds of examples he provides.
I also strongly recommend the accompanying book by Loomis: “Figure Drawing For All It’s Worth”, which has also recently made it back into print. Get yourself copies while they are still in print. If history repeats itself and they fall out of print, they will only rise in value.
LVTX25 –
Nicely written book for those who like his style. Great information and details are well explained.
Scott –
A classic, must have for any artist!
Amazon Customer –
Great book to learn the how to draw the head and hands. Easy to understand. Andrew Loomis is a knowledgeable, teacher who lays it all out for you. Lots of examples to practice with! Get it.
Heman Sabah Åkerlind –
What an awesome book !! I am thrilled to have bought this as i was watching YouTube tutorials on life drawing especially faces. That is where i was shown this technique and i knew right then i needed this book. It is so detailed and now i can truly say i will no longer have issues with portraits.
So excited please do yourself a favour and buy this book you will not regret it. I must say out of all of my drawing books this my favourite 😍
Mike –
The people-drawing go-to.
kikeo58 –
After many, many glowing reviews of the Loomis method for the head, I bought the original book. First the negative part. There are no simple geometric shapes, spheres, triangles, cylinders, or planes, on any human body. So why do people keep suggesting them e.g. the Loomis method? They think simple shapes get somewhat close and people then use their own mental model to adjust them up, down, forward, or back. Do they ever actually use the simple geometry? Not at all. Nor do they use anything derived from simple geometry like a truncated ball. Experienced artists just eyeball it and then if desired they can sort of fit the simple geometry to the finished piece after the fact. You can watch artists on YouTube draw a lumpy ball, then ignore it to draw in what they intended anyway. As if the lumpy ball had anything to do with it. If it is not a Loomis video, they will just draw a rough cross and get on with what is in their mind. So what do I like about this book? It discusses historic ideas. My opinion is that you need to consider many ideas such as the Loomis method before settling on your own ideas.
It helps to have others do the work to know what comes of things like truncated balls. Saves time. Thus I recommend this book Drawing the Head and Hands to aid your study.
Jean-Michel Floury –
Libro essenziale per qualsiasi artista. Non sono un fan della sezione relativa alle mani, ma per quanto riguarda il disegno della testa è utilissimo ed è estremamente chiaro, al contrario ad esempio di altri libri, pur utili, di autori come Bridgman o Hogarth. Un libro da comprare e da studiare con attenzione.
Heman Sabah Åkerlind –
Jag rekommenderar boken till alla som vill lära sig skissa eller förbättra ritnings Förmåga 👍
Judith Torres Sanchez –
Wdonderful to start with the human figure,remember that is a book from 1.943 with different techniques than those of today, excellent fot those who wnat to draw anime and manga later, also for ilustrators. What I dichn¨t like is that it is not made in the United States.
Melinda N. –
What a nice go-to book for artists. I love the way it’s so free spirit with so many tips and various problems being addressed in ways we all have to learn, if we want to master this very difficult art.