Hello and thank you for watching Proko. I'm your instructor Andrew Joseph Keith and
this is the figure sculpting fundamentals course. In this lesson, we're going to be talking
about how to sculpt the Loomis head. It'll help if you've already watched the lesson
on how to draw the Loomis head and if you happen to have a Proko Skull that you can
refer to as you sculpt, that'll come in handy too. Andrew Loomis created this method of removing
the facial features to help students better understand the primary forms of the head. Sculpting the Loomis head will help us better
understand the planes and forms of the head. This simplification forces us to focus on
the primary forms. This is something that I'll keep coming back
to throughout the course. If the primary forms are not correct, then
the secondary forms and the surface detail will not be enough to save your sculpture
from looking deformed, askew, misshapen, irregular - whatever you want to call it, it just looks
bad. Probably the biggest problem that beginners
have when sculpting the is not getting the shape of the skull correct. That means that when we put the eyes, ears,
nose and mouth on things still look off. So let's avoid this mistake by becoming familiar
with the Loomis head. The Loomis head starts with the ball that
will make up the cranial mass. While sculpting the head, let's keep in mind
Robert Beverly Hales' cranial unit system. That way we'll be able to create the right
sized head for the armature. This sphere that we start with will be slightly
larger than one cranial unit in diameter. About one and one fourth of a unit. Once we our ball of clay as close to a sphere
as we can manage with our hands, we will want to use a knife to create the center line that
separates the ball into two equal halves. This will help guide the rest of the measurements. So, take your time when making the center
line. We wanted to be as accurate as possible. Now that we have a center line, we'll choose
a spot along it and draw another line around the sphere that is perpendicular to the first
line. If we were to cut the ball in half at these
lines, it would create four equal section like the sections of an orange. This second line will represent the brow line
of the head. Now let's create the side plane of the head. When we look at the head from above, it's
not a perfect circle. It's more like a circle with the side planes
cut off. Those planes taper slightly towards the front. This means that the thickest point will be
closer to the back of the skull. To make things easier, let's look at the sphere
from above with the brow line pointed towards us as we remove those slices to create the
side planes. Remember that the plane that is created from
cutting off this slice of the sphere will create a circle that should be two thirds
the diameter of the sphere. It can be tricky to cut off the right amount,
so don't stress if it isn't perfect your first try. You can always add the clay back on and try
again. Again, focus on the shape of the head from
above. Once we have removed these side planes, let's
take some time to draw some additional lines to help us place the facial features. Start from the brow line and continue it all
the way around the cranium on the flat planes we just created. This should again separate the sphere into
two halves; a top half and a bottom half. Then on each of the side planes, we can draw
a line that is perpendicular to the line that we just drew, separating the sphere into a
front half and a back half. We will use these guidelines to place the
jaw. As you're sculpting, some of the lines may
be smudged or covered, so be sure to redraw the lines when this happens so you don't lose
the important points of reference. Okay, now let's add on the facial mass so
that the ball starts looking like a head. Turn the ball to the side so that the brow
line is pointing to the right. We are looking straight on at the side plane
that has now been divided into four equal parts. When looking at it from this angle, the facial
mass will be attached to the bottom right section of the sphere. Start at the brow line and create a profile
of the face with a thin strip of clay. Add this clay the first centre line that we
drew that divides the face from left to right. From the side view, it will come down from
the brow line relatively straight down to the tip of the chin. If we draw another line that starts at the
bottom of the flat plane on the side of the sphere and is parallel to the brow line that
extends over to the facial mass, that will give us an indication of where the bottom
of the nose should be. We can then double the distance from the brow
to the nose to find the bottom of the chin. Now let's extend the chin back to the bottom
of the sphere where the line divides the head from front to back. Remember that the angle of the jawline extending
back from the chin is not a right angle. Though the angle varies from person to person,
the angle is usually halfway between 45 and 90°. What is that? 67.5°? This means that the angle of the jaw is not
a right angle either, it's more obtuse. The male jaw be closer to 90° on both the
angle from the front plane of the face to the bottom of the jaw as well as the angle
of the jaw itself, whereas females will usually have a more acute angle from the front plane
of the face to the bottom of the jaw and a more obtuse angle of the jaw. This is why men tend to have a more prominent
jawline than women. Now we have the front plane of the face, the
angle of the bottom of the jaw and the angle of the jaw. The jaw ends at bottom centre of the flat
plane on the side of the head. We can then look at the head from the front
view and redraw the center line of the face on the facial mass. Now, we begin to fill in the mass of the face. Remember the rhythm that passes from either
side of the chin up past the cheekbones to the top of the ears. We will indicate this rhythm by creating a
plane change that will help us differentiate the front plane of the face with the side
plane. Once all these features are in place, we can
take some time to clean up the planes and the lines of intersection. We can draw some lines on the facial mask
to indicate where the features are to be placed. The separation of the lips would be one third
the distance from the bottom of the nose to the chin. The face can be divided into three equal lengths;
the hairline to the brow line, the brow line to the bottom of the nose and the bottom of
the nose to the bottom of the chin, and there you have it. This will make a great foundation that we
can build the features on top of or is a reference to help us draw the Loomis head. Sculpting this yourself will help you keep
in mind these primary forms of the head that you should lay in before adding the features. When I start building out the head on a sculpture,
this is what I have in mind. Though it doesn't have to be as smooth and
perfect. Your assignment is to sculpt the Loomis head. It's easy to watch and feel like you've learned
a lot but until you actually sculpt it yourself, you haven't learned as much as you think. As you sculpt, you'll build muscle memory
and solidify the measurements that we talked about in this lesson. Share your assignments on social media using
the #prokosculpture. For this particular assignment, you could
use the #loomisheadsculpture. In the premium course, there are additional
demos, lessons, 3D models, and much more. So, I'll see you there at proko.com/sculpture.
