Planes of the Head 6

Some more refinement... working toward the back of the head now and the ears.

Planes of the Head session 4

A little more planar work,,, inserting polygonal modifiers with increasing frequency where it needs the detail, staying with simple planes where most effective.

Planes of the Head

From the Portrait in Clay class at the Woodstock School of Art. This is session 3 with working the planes from the live portrait... in this case it's Primo.

Planes of the Head session 2

Here is the Planes of the Head bust with a second round of refinement. It is apparent early on that the concept of the planes of the head can be very different for everyone. There are what could be referred to as basic planes of the head, simple plane and wedge shapes without too much detail that most all can agree on as being representative of the most basic polygonal planes. These examples are represented in earlier blog posts from the work of such artists as Andrew Loomis, George Bridgeman , and John Asaro. There are also certain areas of the skull, the zygomatic arch and the frontal bone above the eye sockets for example, where the basic structure can be interpreted differently among artists.The polygonal mutilpiers which define detail in a 3d shape can be dialed up or down with selective frequency ( like slider bars), across the surface of the head. Too much detail in an area can actually degrade the overall shape, so this becomes a kind of art for the artist to evaluate through their own lens of taste.

Planes of the Head

In the Portrait in Clay class at the Woodstock School of Art we are exploring the most basic of all concepts when studying the structure of the skull and tha tis ..... The Planes of the Head!
Here are a few examples of skull to planes and conversely life head to planes.

Asaro Planes of the Head

Brilliant and troubled master of the figure, John Asaro created this planes of the head more than 30 years ago, and as such it's become an icon of artistic anatomy alongside it predesessor, Jean-Antoine Houdon's Ecorche .

Planes of the Head

After not a small bit of research it has become apparent that there is not a lot of good planes of the head reference, and surprisingly, some references that you would think would have great material are frankly dreadful- The Hogarth Dynamic Anatomy series are terribly inaccurate and overly stylized, the Famous Artists Course planes of the head offerings are meager and poorly drawn, Joseph Sheppard's classic anatomy books are totally lacking in the planes of the head, and nothing at all from Richer. What little I could locate appears solidly in  Bridgeman and Loomis. Here's a complilation of the two: