Another great Andrew Loomis art book reprinted: Drawing the Heads and Hands

The good folks at Titan Books have released a beautiful facsimile edition of Andrew Loomis' highly-sought-after instructional drawing book, Drawing the Head and Hands. Earlier this year Titan released Loomis' Figure Drawing For All It's Worth, which I reviewed here.

Before Titan began publishing facsimile editions of Loomis's book, used copies would sell for $100 or more, depending on the condition. A lot of artists I know tell me that Loomis's books (and also Jack Hamm's drawing books) are the best instructional drawing books for teaching the human form. Amazon.com is selling it for $26.37.

After the jump, some sample pages.

Buy Drawing the Head and Hands on Amazon.

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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peregrinus

Where did all the wonderful people who looked like the lady on the cover go? I miss them.

This book just went straight to the top of my special gift list.
http://twitter.com/0ldblueeyes Chan

These books were suggested to me by a professor at an animation studio and I’ve seen read the online copies of them. I’ll be picking up this book for sure. That are some of the best.
EH

Apparently Disqus thinks that if I’m not logged in when I press the “Post as…” button, it means that I want to throw away my comment. Note that it also won’t allow you to log in until you type something, which is a nice real-world instance of Catch-22.
- emmalish
  
  Same thing happened to me earlier. Harumph.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ROVGMU7U6DJ2Y74KQWFLDY4HHQ octolover

some might say that we’ve been liberated from such stuffy expectations of dress and grooming — others, that we’ve become slovenly in our appearance.

i stand somewhere in the middle, i guess. i enjoy the visual image of the dressed look that everyone seems to have in old movies and photos, even casual ones. but i also appreciate being female and no longer being expected to wear so many “foundation garments” under my clothing (to say nothing of pantyhose), makeup, excessively styled hair, et cetera.

(thank gods for the women’s movement — it’s all cute and quaint that my other had to wear gloves to her first job interview, but the fact that her boss was abusive and had her running all kinds of personal errands for him, on top of her normal job, and that it was “okay,” is anything but.)

but, back on topic — as my husband has pointed out, by yesteryears’ standards we’re going out in public in our underwear all the time. and i see so much actual underwear, panty lines, thong straps, and bras exposed that it makes me wish for just a *little* more conservatism in the public’s idea of proper dress sometimes.
- http://profiles.google.com/joshuabardwell Joshua Bardwell
  
  I don’t mean to be blythe, but what does it matter if you see the outline of someone’s underwear under their clothes? Or a slip of their actual underwear?
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  …as my husband has pointed out, by yesteryears’ standards we’re going out in public in our underwear all the time.
  
  Formal dress of yesteryear, like ruffed collars and fabric showing through slashed sleeves, are actually undergarments that morphed into outer garments. Elizabeth I is showing off all kinds of lingerie in her formal portraits.
- penguinchris
  
  A more careful study of how people used to dress (not just hollywood movies, but old photos and documentary film and so on) shows that there used to be a lot more sloppy people than we realize – though certainly not as many as there are today :)
  
  I think a big part of it is simply the clothing that’s available. You didn’t really have much choice in the old days, and the thing about those old clothes is even if you just throw them on and they don’t fit that well and you aren’t groomed too nicely you still look OK because the style of clothing is not as casual as today. The people who do that today universally look pretty awful.
  
  It’s interesting to me that besides businessmen in boring suits, the most likely person you’ll see wearing a suit jacket or sport coat in an average day is a hobo or homeless dude. You see this in old movies too – hardcore hobos try to make an effort (though it tends to be hopeless without grooming), and a sport coat is the best and easiest way to immediately spruce up your look.
  
  I always think of the heartbreaking character from The Man with the Golden Arm, the loyal friend of Frank Sinatra’s character who looks hopelessly bad in his badly-fitting, tattered suit – that he would never be seen in public without.
  
  As long as we’re talking about hopelessness, I’ll note that yes, I realize we’ve gone hopelessly off-topic.
ahmacrom

His books have stayed on my coffee table and near my sketch pad forever. He gets a seat at my ”fantasy dinner”.
Adora Tsang

I bought the 2 books in Chinese version because English was out of print. Still among my favorite books after 20 years! My favorite is the chapter in Heads and Hands where he shows how to draw a baby in different angles and expressions. That baby look so lively!
benher

The online versions are available from the Save Loomis folks still, but a hard copy is worth every penny for the serious artist!!!
ndart

Apparently mid-century men experienced extremes of emotion, and women took Valium.
- Tango Charlie
  
  Plus, men are made of square shapes. Women, of circles.
  
  Beeeauuuuuutiful circles.
dm10003

Look at the spread of the women’s faces. The world has broadened since those were drawn. We know all eyes don’t look the same as the artist has drawn them.

Chalk one up for the 21st century.