Book Review: Drawing the Human Head

For artists who want to get up to speed with drawing heads, Drawing the Human Head will get you creating them in no time.

There are six sections in the book. The first illustrates and describe the basic head structure — bones, form and proportion — and the major features on the head. One has to note that Burne Hogarth's drawing for heads are a bit stylised. So they are not 100% realistic in that sense.

Section 2 is probably why you're buying the book for. Here, a simple model is introduced for drawing heads. It is actually the one that's shown on the cover. It helps to locate features on the head in any angle easily, and makes basic construction from memory a breeze.

In section 4, there are drawings of heads from babies to old men, showing the wrinkles and sagging skin. Section 5 talks about head types and presents a gallery of heads highlighting the features of people from different countries. The last section 6 looks at some sculptures and paintings from old masters, interesting but not necessary.

Overall, this is really a speedy guide to learning head drawing. But for truly realistic heads, you have to look elsewhere.

4 out of 5 starts. Recommended for the beginner artists.

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