HERE WE GO!

I promised you that all you need to know, to start this book, is how to draw a
lopsided ball. Whatever shape you draw can be used as a foundation for a funny
face. Do the best you can, even if the ball looks more like a potato.

14
THE FUN STARTS!
The big idea is to start with a “form.” Then develop other “forms”
on it. Build your final lines in by selecting, eliminating the lines
you do not use. I leave mine in to show how it’s done.

15
A SURE METHOD FOR ANYBODY

16
IT’S REALLY GOING TO BE EASIER THAN YOU EXPECTED
Now, if the first drawings you do are not the last word in cleverness, don’t be
discouraged. You will soon get the idea. When you begin to sense form, you
will have the whole works. Then we’ll polish up, and they will have to admit
you are good.

17
THE “BLOOK BALL”
If you will now turn back to page 12 and look at the string of balls, you will see
that we are getting right into big business. You need some practice on these.
Never mind if they are a little off.

The better you can draw these balls in any old position you wish, the better you
are going to be. The line from the top to bottom is the “middle” line of the face.
The horizontal line, which looks like the equator, is the “eyeline,” and it also
locates the ear.

18
JUST PRACTICE ON THESE “BLOOKS”

19
THE BEST WAY TO GO ABOUT IT

20
WE ADD ANOTHER LINE TO THE BALL
Look at the diagram. This last line goes completely
around the ball, thought the axis at each end, and cuts
the eyeline just halfway round on each side of the middle
line. The ear joins the head at the point of intersection of
the eyeline and the earline.

21
THERE IS NO LIMIT TO THE VARIETY
I am a lot more anxious to have you understand the method and
create your own forms than to copy mine. But copying mine
now will get you started.

Always construct the head from the cranium down. There is no

other satisfactory way. You can see by now that the position of
the ball determines the pose of the head. The pieces you build
on determine the character.

22
“BLOCKY” TREATMENT LENDS CHARACTER
“Blocky” shapes always combine interestingly with round shapes.
It is a good idea to make the final lines angular even around curves.
It gives a sense of bone and ruggedness of character. You would
not do this when drawing pretty girls or babies.

Now I’ve got a surprise for you. Instead of drawing all there
lunkheads, let’s try something real. I’m going to pose for you.

23
BLOOK POSES

24
EXPRESSION

25
EXPRESSION

26
DIFFERENT EXPRESSIONS OF THE FACE

27
TRICK STUFF
Try this on the folks. Tell them draw two overlapping circles, any
size. Draw a middle line through both and build on your own pieces.
You can make a head out of any combination. Of course, tell them
to draw lightly.

28
TRICK STUFF
Draw a circle. Attach two smaller circles, not far apart, any-
where. You can put a third above and between them. Then
draw the middle line so it passes between the two small circles.
Proceed as usual.

29
HERE’S A STUNT
Draw three balls, one of them small, in any position. Con-
nect the larger balls. Draw a middle line under the small ball.
This suggests a head. Now use your imagination to complete
the drawing.

30
DON’T MISS THIS PAGE
Here we combine the ball with other basic forms. With “solid
forms” to build on, the head begins to take on more reality.
You can almost anything you want to with the supplemen-
tary forms, and come out all right. The is real character draw-
ing, and a challenge to you.

31
PROJECTION
This page is for the clever folks. It is a method of projecting
the characters you have created into various poses. Try it with
very simple heads at first. You must use your eye and build
very carefully.

32
VARIETY BY DISTORTION
Take any head. You can distort it by the following methods.
This is valuable in caricature. You can trace a photo, and draw
from the tracing, or take any of your own drawings and dis-
tort them.

Here again is a chance for your own invention. Draw a square

around your subject. Divide each way into eight or more parts.
If you wish to distort separate features, change the size of the
squares into which they fall. Make the line cut through each
square as it does in your copy, but changed to fit the new
proportion of your squares. 1/2, 1/3 square, etc.

33
BABIES

34
BRATS

35
THE DIVIDED BALL AND PLANE METHOD
The Method Developed by Andrew Loomis, Which Makes
Construction Simple for Any Type of Head.

We go now into the most important section of the

book. The method here worked out is a develop-
ment of the simple groundwork you have already
accomplished. It need not frighten you, since it is
but slightly more complex than the work up to this
point.
The cranium, as you perhaps have realized, is never
a perfect ball in shape. To draw it correctly we must
make alterations, some slight and others quite exag-
gerated, to fit the various types of skull. Neverthe-
less, we can take as a basic form a ball sliced off at
the sides, leaving it a little wider one way than the
other, and adding to it or taking some away. The
forehead may be flattened, cut down, or built up as
the case may be. The cranium may be elongated,
widened, or narrowed. The facial plane may also be After this book was pub-
altered as we see fit without destroying our working lished, I learned with inter-
principle. The plane simply attaches to the ball est that a similar basic
wherever we want it, which makes our method head form has been used for
entirely flexible, so that we can represent any type years by Miss E. Grace
of head we choose. All other methods I have yet seen Hanks of the Pratt Insti-
tute, Brooklyn, and that she
do not start with a form anything like the skull, or has written a book based
make any allowance for the variety of shapes. on this method.

36
THE DIVIDED BALL AND PLANE METHOD

37
THE DIVIDED BALL AND PLANE METHOD

39
AS APPLIED TO DIFFERENT TYPES

41
SOME HEADS BASED ON PAGE 41
This page must give you some idea of the unlimited va-
riety of types and characters possible through building by
the Divided Ball and Plane method. There are thousands of
types, and each looks different mostly because of the skull
rather than the features. It’s fun to study an individual, and
try to figure out what kind of ball and plane go together to
make up his face. You really learn to look deep into charac-
ter, and beneath the surface. This method calls for no clair-
voyance, but a quick eye and a skillful hand.

42
COMIC HEADS BY THE DIVIDED BALL AND PLANE
The above are simple applications of the method. These are no
more difficult than by the previous plan of attaching forms
directly to the ball. However, the chance of error is greatly less-
ened. You might as well have the complete method as part of
it. Time spent on these pages will prove of sound value to any-
one sincerely interested in the drawing of the head. It is sug-
gested that you go on with the book and come back to this
section at intervals. As you try you will improve. By all means
do not give up. That hand of yours will be doing surprising
things before long.

43
THE PRETTY GIRL
A pleasing head of a girl depends ninety-nine percent on how well
you draw it. More exactly, the ball must be drawn well, the con-
struction lines correctly placed on the ball and plane, and the fea-
tures nicely placed. Remember there is the width of an eye be-
tween the eyes. Do not place the mouth too low or get the nose too
long. I have used a pen here. Try it sometimes.

44
A METHOD OF CHECKING
The blue lines in the diagram above are our same construction lines.
They may be done on tracing paper over any face. You can thus quickly
find a feature that has been incorrectly placed. You can also “find” the
ball and plane position in a photographic head this way. Whether you
are building or tearing down, the method applies.

45
THE WOMEN FOLKS

46
TWENTY KIDS

47
ETERNAL YOUTH

48
THE OLD FOLKS

49
HERE WE GO!
The proportions of your little figures may be varied in any
sort of way. Below we show a variety of comic exaggerations.

54
WE START ON THE FIGURE
We shall start at once to put them into action. There will always
be movement of the parts. Draw this page carefully and become
thoroughly familiar with the movement of each part.

55
DOOHINKUS MOVES ABOUT. STUDY THE FRAMEWORK

56
PURPOSELY OFF BALANCE

57
DO SOME OF THESE

58
TRY THESE, THEN INVENT SOME OF YOUR

59
BUILDING ON THE FRAMEWORK

60
BUILDING ON THE FRAMEWORK

61
HOW YOU USE THE DOOHINKUS POSES
Here is the way to go about the preceding poses. I have chosen figure
No. 8 at random. First, it is a good idea to know what the normal
figure is like. You needn’t draw this unless you are interested. The
bottom figures illustrate how the exaggerated is based on the normal.

66
JUST PLAY WITH THE FIGURES
The main idea is to enjoy yourself. Some day you may just
put clothes right over the framework. But it is better always
to sketch in the figure. Do not follow the photos literally. Do
a lot of inventing, I wish I had more space here, but perhaps
these will give you a working basis.

67
THE SUIT

68
THE DRESS

69
HOW TO DRAW A HAT CORRECTLY

70
FREAK HATS

71
THE HAND

72
FEET

73
NOW WE BUILD THE FIGURE AND PUT ON SOME CLOTHES

74
EXPERIMENT ON FELIX THE ICE

75
TRICK STUFF

76
TRICK

77
NOW HAVE SOME FUN

78
TRY TO WORK OUT THE CONSTRUCTION YOURSELF

79
EXPERIMENT WITH THESE

80
I’M PUTTING YOU ON YOUR OWN

81
THESE OUGHT TO BE INTERESTING

82
BUILD THEM UP; DON’T JUST COPY

83
NOW LET’S MIX UP THE RACES

84
YOU CAN DRAW THEM ALL BY OUR METHODS

85
ALSO THESE

86
AMONGUSMORTALS

87
DOWN ON THE FARM

88
WHEN YOU AND I WERE YOUNG, MAGGIE

89
ANNABELLE

90
JUST NATURALLY ATHLETIC

91
VAMPS

92
AND MORE VAMPS

93
HOW TO ESTABLISH FIGURES ON THE GROUND

99
PERSPECTIVE IN THE FIGURE

100
COMMON FAULTS

101
WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE, NATURE IS YOUR
BEST INSTRUCTOR

116
LEARN TO DRAW FROM LIFE

117
118
120