Mastering Figure Drawing with the Loomis Method – Break The Static #9

This week in my sketchbook I am really working on the human figure, poses specifically. Recently I stumbled upon this book at our local library and I’m really surprised with it. I have heard people reference the “Loomis Method” before but i didn’t really know what it meant until now, as far as I can tell this is like the authority of figure and proportion drawing. The Loomis method is basically breaking the figure and face into simple geometric shapes and measured landmarks.

As you can see from the few pages I shared above he goes into pretty extreme detail with figure drawing, even down to bones and musculature, a person could spend a long time studying these techniques. I have to return it soon, but I’ll be copying some of it for future reference.

One thing I have found to be incredibly helpful with this, (as well as piggy backing off my last post about thumbnails), is to fill an entire sketchbook page with some figure silhouettes:

And then once I have the basic shapes correct, or close enough, I can go into much further detail, without wasting a bunch of time adding details to something that isn’t ultimately going to work out. Below is some pirate crew concept sketches I’ve been working on. No names or backstory yet, but they will eventually go into my story “Under the Black Flag”, I will post some of that in the future when it nears completion.

I think learning figure drawing should’ve been a harder focus in the past, but honestly, when it comes to art I’m always learning!

Stay tuned for the next post and subscribe so you don’t miss it! Also, Get out that sketchbook!