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Description
#DATutorialWolf

After the #DATutorialProfile work that I did I really wanted to do more tutorials as they seem to be something others are looking for. Plus they reinforce my knowledge. This badge work was intended to be a wolf, but I went outside the box a bit and made a wolf man so I could do what I wanted with another head tutorial. Below are my thoughts to each corresponding numbered box.

1. Shapes. It may seem a waste of time to do this, but even the greats lay out shapes and don't go straight to drawing the outlines (Kin Jung GI aside). A drawing, like any structure whether natural or man-made, is supported by it's foundation. A poor foundation can ruin both. For the forward facing head I do a circle and then a rectangle. As seen above I get started with the jaw line as well. I do this because here is where the foundation is laid to whether this is a male or a female head. Also note the width of the neck. Generally thicker for a male and thinner (but not too thin!) for a female.

2. Placement. It is time to place the human parts where they belong. In my profile tutorial I didn't dwell upon this step too much. But here and in a 3/4 profile view standard measurements are recommended to be followed our your results will have you scratched your head as to what went wrong.

A. Center line: The center line is the most important of these measurements in my opinion. In this instance we have our most basic frontal shot of a face so the center line marks where the face should be a mirror image of each side. Don't go crazy trying to make them match. Humans are not perfectly matched on either side. You will want them lined up though. The medium length set of red lines shows the ends of the mouth should not pass the center of the eyes. And the shortest red lines show the spacing of the eyes on a face. Rule of thumb is the space between the eyes should be the same distance as the width the eyes you are drawing.

B. Eyes, nose, and mouth. The yellow lines show how to divide up the face. Again we are going by the general rule. There is a line at the top of the head. Roughly half the distance to the chin from that line is where the eyes line up. Half of the remaining distance to the chin is where your nostrils for your nose go. Divide by half again the remaining space to the chin and this is where the mouth goes.

C. Ear placement. The orange lines show were the ears are placed on the sides of the head. The top of the ear to the bottom of the ear lobe should fit between the tip of the nose and the eye brows.

D. Disclaimer. The above guide lines are just that, guides. These are never concrete or must be done precisely every time. Humans have differently proportioned heads. And when we get into the realms of comic villains, monsters, and fantasy creatures we may have drastically repositioned facial features to deal with. This is why you will want to practice to the point that your own style of a human head becomes more of a muscle reflex to draw rather than constantly measuring to make sure.

3. Structure. Now it is time to getting your actual drawing going. Place your prominent lines and get your character ready for cleanup. Now your imagination can start to blossom with what extra things can be added. As can be seen above I did not strictly follow my guide lines of a "standard" human male head.

4. Cleanup. With pencil this would be the erasure of the light pencil lines used in the previous steps and darkening in the remaining line art. Or possibly starting to ink to save time. Digitally this is where I just tighten up everything and start to worry about line weight. Plan ahead here to know where your light source(s) are going to come from.

5. Shading and Rendering. Good artists probably do this with step 4. I usually like my line art more like a cartoon so I have my figure all fleshed out and ready to go. Since I already decided on my light source(s) due to the line weights from step 4 here is where I start to pay attention to shadows and how they are cast.

6. Color. After all of the penciling and inking here is where the coloring is done. This can be tradition with colored pencils, markers, or even crayons. Or your traditional line art can be scanned and finished digitally. If one is proficient at drawing with a tablet or pad then they are already ahead here. Digitally this is where I start making various layers for each base color as shown in the tutorial above. My drawing becomes my "line art" layer and always is placed above the stack of colors. Not shown would be the final coloring step of shading and highlighting the digital colors.

Just remember artists aren't identical and therefore their methods of creation aren't either. But we all pilfer from those before us and try to improve. I know I have from my favorite artists. I really wanted to get the mapping of a face into a tutorial after my last one so I hope this one proves helpful out there!

P.S. If you are in a hurry and want more info on drawing heads do internet searches for the Loomis head method. It seems all derivatives come from this method.

Description
#DATutorialWolf

After the #DATutorialProfile work that I did I really wanted to do more tutorials as they seem to be something others are looking for. Plus they reinforce my knowledge. This badge work was intended to be a wolf, but I went outside the box a bit and made a wolf man so I could do what I wanted with another head tutorial. Below are my thoughts to each corresponding numbered box.

1. Shapes. It may seem a waste of time to do this, but even the greats lay out shapes and don't go straight to drawing the outlines (Kin Jung GI aside). A drawing, like any structure whether natural or man-made, is supported by it's foundation. A poor foundation can ruin both. For the forward facing head I do a circle and then a rectangle. As seen above I get started with the jaw line as well. I do this because here is where the foundation is laid to whether this is a male or a female head. Also note the width of the neck. Generally thicker for a male and thinner (but not too thin!) for a female.

2. Placement. It is time to place the human parts where they belong. In my profile tutorial I didn't dwell upon this step too much. But here and in a 3/4 profile view standard measurements are recommended to be followed our your results will have you scratched your head as to what went wrong.

A. Center line: The center line is the most important of these measurements in my opinion. In this instance we have our most basic frontal shot of a face so the center line marks where the face should be a mirror image of each side. Don't go crazy trying to make them match. Humans are not perfectly matched on either side. You will want them lined up though. The medium length set of red lines shows the ends of the mouth should not pass the center of the eyes. And the shortest red lines show the spacing of the eyes on a face. Rule of thumb is the space between the eyes should be the same distance as the width the eyes you are drawing.

B. Eyes, nose, and mouth. The yellow lines show how to divide up the face. Again we are going by the general rule. There is a line at the top of the head. Roughly half the distance to the chin from that line is where the eyes line up. Half of the remaining distance to the chin is where your nostrils for your nose go. Divide by half again the remaining space to the chin and this is where the mouth goes.

C. Ear placement. The orange lines show were the ears are placed on the sides of the head. The top of the ear to the bottom of the ear lobe should fit between the tip of the nose and the eye brows.

D. Disclaimer. The above guide lines are just that, guides. These are never concrete or must be done precisely every time. Humans have differently proportioned heads. And when we get into the realms of comic villains, monsters, and fantasy creatures we may have drastically repositioned facial features to deal with. This is why you will want to practice to the point that your own style of a human head becomes more of a muscle reflex to draw rather than constantly measuring to make sure.

3. Structure. Now it is time to getting your actual drawing going. Place your prominent lines and get your character ready for cleanup. Now your imagination can start to blossom with what extra things can be added. As can be seen above I did not strictly follow my guide lines of a "standard" human male head.

4. Cleanup. With pencil this would be the erasure of the light pencil lines used in the previous steps and darkening in the remaining line art. Or possibly starting to ink to save time. Digitally this is where I just tighten up everything and start to worry about line weight. Plan ahead here to know where your light source(s) are going to come from.

5. Shading and Rendering. Good artists probably do this with step 4. I usually like my line art more like a cartoon so I have my figure all fleshed out and ready to go. Since I already decided on my light source(s) due to the line weights from step 4 here is where I start to pay attention to shadows and how they are cast.

6. Color. After all of the penciling and inking here is where the coloring is done. This can be tradition with colored pencils, markers, or even crayons. Or your traditional line art can be scanned and finished digitally. If one is proficient at drawing with a tablet or pad then they are already ahead here. Digitally this is where I start making various layers for each base color as shown in the tutorial above. My drawing becomes my "line art" layer and always is placed above the stack of colors. Not shown would be the final coloring step of shading and highlighting the digital colors.

Just remember artists aren't identical and therefore their methods of creation aren't either. But we all pilfer from those before us and try to improve. I know I have from my favorite artists. I really wanted to get the mapping of a face into a tutorial after my last one so I hope this one proves helpful out there!

P.S. If you are in a hurry and want more info on drawing heads do internet searches for the Loomis head method. It seems all derivatives come from this method.