Before we get into any anatomy, we settle in, get to know each other, and make sure your setup and reference materials are sorted so Week 1 starts smoothly. I'll walk through how the weekly rhythm works and show a full demo of where all of this is heading, so you can see what's possible by the end.

For centuries, the skull has been the foundation of anatomy. It sets the proportions and the fixed hard points of the face, the parts that don't move. The face itself is soft and flexible, so those fixed points are what everything else is measured against, which is why we start here.

A solid understanding of the skull is also what lets you rotate a head and keep it convincing, since it is the primary mass we build on in Week 2. It is worth being able to draw on its own, too. Plenty of characters and creatures rely on it, and much of what makes a great orc, monster, or alien face comes from understanding how a creature's skull differs from a human one.

We look at it from the traditional, anatomical side, then from a more stylized one, and finish by putting it to work in a real illustration.

With the skull understood, we simplify it into the primary forms of the head: the sphere of the cranium, the jaw, and the major plane changes. This is the version you actually draw with day to day, the simplified head behind the Loomis method. It is what turns rotating a head and keeping it consistent from guesswork into something you can control, and almost every character you design begins from these few big forms.

The eyes are the most emotive part of a face, and the feature manga and stylised artists obsess over. We read eyes constantly, so the smallest mistake shows immediately: the character ends up looking vacant, distracted, or just slightly off.

Drawn realistically, the eye is a surprising mix of forms that shifts a lot from one angle to the next. The real payoff is the link between that structure and the iconic, simplified eyes you see in great styles. Once you understand how the structure maps onto the shorthand, you can draw eyes with full form and pare them back to a few expressive lines. Master the eyes and it can unlock your entire style.

We tend to think of the mouth as just the lips, but the whole region around it drives expression, and until you understand all of it, it is easy to land the wrong emotion. Happiness, fear, lust, rage: they all play out through the mouth, and the real trick is what sits underneath. To emote convincingly you need the teeth and the tongue, and to understand how they connect to the skull from Week 1.

Once that clicks, the stylised versions get much easier: a bean shape, a few lines, a couple of dots, pushed into real dimensional form. It is also the key to creature design. Once you can reshape the teeth, orcs, ogres, and goblins open up, and you start seeing creature faces in a whole new way.

Noses come in an enormous range of forms, and they move in small but critical ways. A flared nostril can be the thing that finally nails an expression, and often what makes a character truly unique is simply giving them exactly the right nose.

It is a tricky feature to master, a mix of flesh, cartilage, and bone that also changes with age. So we get hold of the underlying form and anatomy first, then learn to exaggerate it to build a whole cast of characters. That same exaggeration is the secret to fancy creatures and monsters, too.

Ears are tricky. They are surprisingly complicated, with a lot of forms to memorise, so the key is having a good system for remembering where everything goes. They don't carry the emotional weight of the eyes, but they are one of those features you just have to know, not least because misplaced ears are what break so many turned heads.

Stylising them is where it gets fun, but only once you understand how the real form maps to the simplified one. From there the feature opens right up: elf ears, orc, ogre, and goblin ears, even animalistic or monster ears thrown in for good measure.

The Loomis method comes from a long tradition of constructive anatomy, running back through Bridgman to the ateliers and academies of Europe, to teachers like Jean-Léon Gérôme and further still. The key thing to understand is that it is really just a system for placing the primary forms of the face and rotating the head. It was never meant to teach you anatomy on its own, which is why starting with it tends to fall flat.

By now, though, we understand the major features, so we are ready to deploy them. The Loomis method is one of the most effective and efficient ways to block in a head and relate it to the figure, and at this point it finally lets you put everything you have learned to use.

Extreme angles are a real test. You won't often need to draw a face from high above or far below, but when you can't, it shows, and the whole drawing looks awkward. Being able to handle these angles is a skill worth getting right.

So we look at the head from above and below, and how the Loomis method connects to the individual features we have studied. This is where it all starts to come together, and the head finally feels like a solid object you can turn any way you like.

You can draw a flawless Loomis head from a wild angle and it can still fall flat, because the real goal is interesting characters, and some of the most interesting characters are real people. This week we study them: how to look at the striking actors, faces, and features you come across in the world, and translate them into your own system so you can draw them from any angle and in your own style.

This is the point where we move beyond the simple foundational proportions, and structure turns into genuine character.

This is the part that makes drawing heads more fun and, oddly, easier: the finishing features. Facial hair, hairstyles, glasses, and the elements that frame and complete a face. So much of creating a real character is taking your underlying actor, understanding their form, and then dressing them up with a look, a signature hairstyle, distinctive features, and a proper costume.

Week 10 pulls everything together: structure, your style, real people, and these finishing touches, all combined to build your own little cast of characters you can draw from any angle.