Pre and post Loomis

Spring is nowhere to be seen...so I am using photo references to draw. I usually draw myself - obvious reason: always available. But I decided to stop doing that because I realized I unconsciously transfer my features to other faces. I have a picture taken in Utah of my friend and I used it.

First attempt:

I could not believe  the result, I think if I would see this by mistake before going to bed I'd have nightmares.

So I tried again:

OhMyGod!!! What's with those eyes??!! I pulled out Loomis's book and also checked the videos on proko.com. This is third trial:

At least this one looks more human. There is one major problem though - it does not look like my friend at all. Not even 5% like the sketches made Monday.

I think the problem is with the angles. The only time I was able to draw a face that resembled the original was when I scrupulously paid attention to the angles. This is the next step - redo the sketch, apply Loomis to find the placement of the features and then pay attention to the angles. I enlarged the pic on my computer, hopefully that will help. This will definitely be the topic of practice for the next few weeks at the portrait meeting.