Two tools, different jobs
Artists often treat the Loomis head and the planar head as competing methods. They are not. They solve different problems.
The Loomis head is best for:
- proportion
- head tilt
- feature placement
- rhythm and flow
The planar head is best for:
- light breaks
- surface direction
- plane changes
- simplifying rendering decisions
Start with Loomis when the pose is still unstable
If the head angle still feels slippery, the Loomis construction is usually the better first pass. It gives you a clear cranial mass, jaw block, and centerline without overcommitting to small plane cuts too early.
Use it when:
- the drawing is still exploratory
- the perspective is unfamiliar
- you are checking eye-line and brow placement
- the portrait needs gesture first, precision second
Switch to planar when the lighting question becomes the main problem
Once the head is placed correctly, the next bottleneck is usually light logic. That is where planar structure becomes more useful than round construction.
Use a planar pass when:
- the cheek, temple, and forehead need stronger separation
- the nose form keeps flattening out
- the shadow design feels muddy
- you want cleaner value grouping
A practical sequence
The strongest workflow is often:
- Loomis for position
- planar pass for surface logic
- final drawing for edge and value
That sequence prevents a common mistake: trying to render planes on top of a head that was never placed correctly in space.
What this changes in practice
If your portraits usually feel off-structure, stay longer in Loomis. If your portraits usually feel soft and indecisive under light, move into planar earlier.
The choice is not ideological. It is diagnostic.