Tracing With Extra Steps

Even though I have been enjoying practicing the basic head model it started to feel quite repetitive and boring and I felt my motivation to practice quickly dropping. To solve this I decided to start drawing unique head shapes. To do this I created a bunch of test drawings using different shapes as their base, trying different chins, and even a (poor) attempt at a hat. Though the drawings were rough, I felt like I had reached some sort of milestone on my drawing journey as I was able to take very simple ideas from my head and actually put them vaguely onto the physical page in front of me. Though I am aiming for a higher quality in the future, I feel like even these rough drawings are leaps and bounds above what I was capable at the start of these weeks.

Later I found a nice video called How To Draw Different Head Shapes by comic book artist David Finch but had already moved on to a different form of practice (it was still very nice and informative).

My main form of practice came from referencing and trying to copy the image myself using both tracing, and building a framework around the image to help me study how the images were structured on a more base level. Below are two examples where I first built a skeleton around the image similar to the skeletons I was using weeks prior, before adding details such as the eyes, mouth, ear position, and hair, before erasing all the guiding lines I had created for the final product.

(Reference image Above: Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell)

(Reference image below: Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop)

By breaking down these images into a multitude of parts like this I feel like I got a better grasp on how the face naturally flows, and got a LOT more insight into how hair can work (at least in the cartoon/anime context). After creating these images based off the references, although I was happy with the results I wanted to produce something that I made without the help of a reference. So I made an attempt at creating a better drawing freehand with no references, straight onto the blank page with the goal of getting something better than what I started with at the beginning of the week to show myself that the practice was paying off and helping. After doing this exercise a few points stood out: First, eyes are still hard and I got frustrated and gave up, choosing to give the drawing simple dot eyes. Second, I got better at hair but it still feels awkward as it looks a little off, namely the bangs and the angle the hair sits on the head feels different to the angle the face is looking, but I am happy with my progress overall. And third, I gained a way better understanding of how to create a head shape overall. There are more small things I would like to fix but those were the two main takeaways I gained.