You've finally gotten comfortable drawing a face straight on. Then the model tilts her chin up a little, and suddenly nothing lines up. The eyes look like they're sliding off the face, the nose feels flat, and the jaw just looks wrong.
That happens because an upward head angle changes the whole structure, not just the features. If you keep using the same straight guidelines you'd use for a front view, the drawing will fight you the entire time.
In this guide I'll walk you through how I draw a face looking up with the Loomis Method, using a real portrait from start to finish. We'll build the head, curve the guidelines the right way, place the features, and then finish the eyes, lips, and even a headscarf.
If you haven't tried a straight-on face yet, start with my front-facing Loomis Method guide first. This one builds on it.
What Changes When the Head Looks Up?
When a person lifts their chin, you're seeing the head slightly from below. That one shift changes three things you need to watch.
The guidelines curve upward. In a front view, the brow line and nose line run almost straight across. When the head tilts up, they bend into arches, like a rainbow wrapped around the sphere. The more the head tilts, the stronger the curve.
The proportions compress at the top. The forehead looks shorter because it's turning away from you, and the features seem to move up the head.
You see the undersides. The bottom of the nose, the nostrils, the underside of the chin, and the neck all become more visible. These are the details that sell the angle.
Keep those three ideas in mind. Every step below is really just applying them.
How to Build the Loomis Head Looking Up
Step 1: Draw the Circle, the Brow Line, and the Center Line
Start with a light circle for the cranium. Remember to measure it from the top of the skull, not from the hairline. In this reference the hair is wrapped in a scarf, which makes it even easier to draw the circle too small, so imagine the skull underneath.
Now draw the brow line. Here's the first big difference from a front view: don't draw it straight. Bend it upward into a gentle arch. That curve is what tells the viewer we're looking up at the face.
Then add the vertical center line through the middle of the face. Let it continue below the circle, because the jaw and chin will hang from it in the next steps.
Step 2: Mark the Hairline, the Nose Line, and the Chin
Add a curved line near the top of the circle for the hairline and another one near the bottom for the base of the nose. Both should follow the same upward curve as the brow line. If one of them goes straight while the others curve, the face will look twisted.
Next, mark where the chin ends with a small line on the center line below the circle. Compare the distances with your reference. In an upward view, the forehead section will look a bit shorter than the other two, so don't force all three sections to be equal.
Step 3: Cut the Side Planes
Slice a flat section off each side of the circle. These side planes show the width of the skull and where the ears will sit.
Start the cut near the end of the brow line and bring it down toward the nose line. Keep both sides balanced, but check the reference. If the head is turned even slightly, one side plane will look narrower than the other.
Step 4: Build the Jaw and Chin
Draw the jaw from the bottom of the side planes down toward the chin mark. Then draw the bottom of the chin as a short curved plane rather than a sharp point.
This is where an upward view gets interesting. Because we're looking from below, the jaw shows a little of its underside. Keep the chin shape slightly wider and flatter than you would in a front view, and don't pull it too far down. A chin that's too long is the most common reason upward portraits look stretched.
Step 5: Place the Ears, Eye Sockets, and Nose
Draw the ears inside the side planes, roughly between the brow line and the nose line. When the head tilts up, the ears tend to drop a little lower compared to the eyes, so if your ears look too high, that's usually why.
Next, block in the eye sockets as two rounded shapes just under the brow line, and place a small ball for the tip of the nose on the center line. Lightly mark where the mouth will go and add a couple of lines for the muzzle area around it.
Before you move on, stop and look at the whole construction next to your reference. This is the cheapest moment to fix anything.
This construction stage is the part most people rush, and it's exactly where my Complete Loomis Method Course spends the most time: building the head correctly at every tilt and turn before a single feature goes in.
How to Draw the Features on an Upturned Face
With the structure in place, the features are mostly about following the curves you already drew. If a feature doesn't sit on its guideline, trust the guideline and fix the feature.
The Nose and Neck
Build the nose around the ball you placed. In this angle, the underside of the nose is very visible, so pay attention to the nostrils. They read as two small dark shapes and they're doing most of the work here.
This is also a good moment to sketch the neck and the line of the shoulders. A lifted chin stretches the neck, and getting it in early helps the head feel like it's actually tilting back on the body.
The Lips
Draw the line where the lips meet first. It should follow the same upward curve as your nose line. Then add the upper lip and the fuller shape of the lower lip.
From below, the upper lip looks a bit thinner and the lower lip looks a bit fuller, because we're seeing more of its underside. Keep the corners of the mouth soft. Dark, hard corners make the expression look tense.
Refine the Face Shape and Add the Earrings
Now go back to the outer contour of the face. Use the construction as a guide, but match the real cheek and jaw shape from your reference. Every face is different, and this is where the drawing starts to look like her and not like a generic head.
Add accessories like earrings now, while everything is still light. They also help confirm that the ears are in the right place.
Draw the Headscarf and Eyebrows
A headscarf or any hair wrap sits on top of the skull, so its outer shape always extends beyond your original circle. Draw the big shapes first: the main mass wrapped around the head and the fabric that hangs down at the sides. Leave the folds and the pattern for later.
Then add the eyebrows. Their arch should follow the curved brow line, which is one more thing that helps sell the upward tilt.
Check That the Eyes Line Up
Before you draw a single eyelash, check the eye level. Hold a straight edge (or just your pencil) across both eye sockets and make sure the eyes sit on the same curve.
When the eyes don't line up, the whole portrait looks off, even if each eye is drawn beautifully. This quick check saves you from that.
Draw the Eyes
Start with the upper eyelid. It's the darkest and thickest line of the eye. Then draw the iris and the pupil. When someone looks up, the iris moves higher and tucks under the upper lid, and you'll often see a little white below it. Don't draw it as a full circle floating in the middle.
Keep the lower lid lighter, and add the lashes with short curved strokes that follow the lid. Finish one eye completely, then use it as your guide for the second one so they match in size, angle, and direction.
Finish with Light Hatching
To finish, I add light hatching to the shadow side of the face, under the nose, under the lower lip, and down the neck. You don't need heavy blending for this style. A few directional strokes are enough to turn the line drawing into a portrait with real form.
Common Mistakes When Drawing a Face Looking Up
Keeping the guidelines straight: Straight lines lock the face into a front view. Curve the brow, nose, and mouth lines upward.
Making the forehead too tall: From below, the forehead turns away from you and looks shorter.
Stretching the chin: Look closely at where the chin really ends in your reference. It's usually higher than you think.
Placing the ears too high: In an upward tilt, the ears drop slightly compared to the eyes.
Forgetting the undersides: The nostrils, the underside of the jaw, and the neck are what make the angle believable.
Drawing the scarf or hair inside the circle: Anything that wraps the head sits outside the skull.
How to Practice Upward Angles
Don't jump straight into a full portrait. Draw a page of quick Loomis heads, about two minutes each, tilting the chin up a little more every time. Focus only on how much the guidelines curve and how the chin and ears move.
Then grab reference photos of people looking up and do the construction only, no features. Once the structure feels natural, the features become the easy part.
Final Thoughts
Drawing a face looking up isn't harder than drawing one straight on. It just follows different rules. Curve your guidelines, let the forehead get shorter, watch the chin, and draw the undersides you can now see.
If your first try looks a little off, that's normal. Compare it with your reference, find the biggest structural mistake, and fix just that one on your next drawing.
Learn to Draw the Head from Any Angle
Upward views are only one angle. If you want to draw heads looking down, turning to the side, and every angle in between without guessing, the Complete Loomis Method Course walks you through the full system step by step.
You'll learn how to build the head in 3D, place the features correctly for any tilt or turn, and draw faces with confidence instead of copying them line by line.
