FIGURE PROPORTIONS
November 17, 2023
The human figure is truly a work of art and artists throughout the ages have developed various ways of representing the beauty of the form we've been endowed with. Sure, creatives often come up with their own unique figure style that departs from the assumed standards. And others such as Picasso or modern-day sculptors resort to intentional distortion of the figure & its features, so this short post isn't meant to be a comprehensive take on all the various treatments that exist. I know this is way overdue, Cheryl, but at long last, here's my promised introduction to drawing the human figure.
A) THE HUMAN FIGURE - NYU archaeologist Christopher Ratté stated that the ancient Romans didn't have a set standard of measurement such as the ones used today (…feet, meters, etc.). So when they were constructing their magnificent buildings, at the onset they would define their own unique architectural measuring unit, called a modulus, and then build the surrounding structures in proportion to that single measuring unit. Borrowing this concept from the field of architecture and applying it to the height of the human figure, our "modulus" will be the height of the human head.
Different artists have proposed different total head heights over the years, and there's not really a one-size-fits-all proportion that works for everything. It all depends on who you're drawing, as well as the type of figure style you're depicting (…realistic, superhero, cartoon). For the example below, you can see that I used a total of 8 heads for this standing female figure. In other words, if you're making your own drawing of the full figure of a person, you would sketch out the head and use that as a guide to map out the proportions of the rest of the body. You'll notice that certain key parts of the body are proportioned almost exactly with the stacked heights of our modulus (the human head), and in effect, they line up perfectly with specific markers in the drawing below. (…Well, at least they're supposed to. I've become so accustomed to drawing women in high heels or in pro cheer poses, that I did the same here without even thinking. And this specific pose threw off the dynamics of what I'm trying to explain here. Sorry about that!)
(Note that some artists use the stacked head approach you see on the left (especially for some character model sheets), while others simply mark the corresponding head counts with lightly drawn lines or even just small marks. The latter approach makes for a much cleaner drawing once you're finished.)
Obviously, individuals have different body proportions (…some people have shorter legs, others have longer arms), so if you're drawing an actual person, you should adjust accordingly. One of the primary keys to becoming a better artist is observation. Learn to look closely at the world around you, and soon enough you'll be noticing things that others don't. And if you're interested in further developing your figure drawing skills apart from this very basic primer, study history. Study the greats and the variations they implemented within their characterizations of the human figure. (As I've mentioned before, I didn't take any college-level figure drawing classes, so with my next update I may provide the names of a few books that have helped me along the way.)
B) THE HUMAN FACE - As with the human figure, there are various schools of thought when it comes to drawing the human face. Some artists build a semi-complex assemblage of shapes, while others rely on a very basic oval to define the core outline of the human head. For my purposes here, I'll stick with the basic oval shape.
The simplest way to begin drawing the face is by sketching an almost egg-shaped oval, with the wider part at the top and the narrower section at the bottom (representing the chin). From there, we can position the facial features using, you guessed it, fractions.
• (Notice that the following guidelines and markers are sketched in pencil, making them easier to erase once we have our art finalized. Or if you're working digitally, you can simply place these lines on a disposable base layer.)
• (I've designed three of the following image sequences to loop continuously. Certain web browsers allow you limited control over the behavior of animations and can even prevent them from repeating. If the last three animations below aren't looping, try checking your browser settings to remedy that.)
Again, there are different ways to do this, some depending on the style of the art you're making.
1) But first I'll divide this egg-shaped oval vertically in half to delineate the line where the person's eyes should be, as you can see in the animation below.
2) Next I'll subdivide the bottom part of that oval into two halves again. This line will eventually mark the position of the base of the nose.
3) And here's where many figure artists diverge. Some go on to subdivide the remaining bottom section of the face into a ⅔ portion in the top and a ⅓ portion in the bottom, and then draw the mouth somewhere in the top portion. But in order to keep things more simple today, I'm just going to split this bottom section in half, and subsequently draw the mouth right above that line.
4) And now comes the fun part! After briefly dealing with a few fractions and guiding measurements, you can begin to sketch in the eyes, nose, & mouth, and finally begin to instill some life into your drawing:
5) Add in some key details such as eyebrows and long flowing hair, and you have a basic sketch of a woman.
6) Once I'm satisfied with the sketch, I perform some quick line work with a pen.
7) And after all the ink has dried, I erase all the pencil marks and guidelines. (Or if you're working digitally, you can simply hide the sketch layer/toggle it off & on as needed…) Et voila!
Now, your drawing doesn't have to look like mine. In fact, I sort of hope it doesn't. Part of being an artist means being an original, so I hope you keep experimenting with different looks and techniques until you find your own voice. And I hope you also realize that this very brief introduction to drawing people is a vast oversimplification of all that's involved. (…not to mention the fact that part of successfully depicting the human figure includes learning how to illustrate a three-dimensional person within a two-dimensional medium. Most of us aren't as simplistically designed as Clarus the DogCow.)
In closing, a true mathematician once proposed a theory that people find certain mathematical proportions to be more harmonious and visually appealing. Consequently, he briefly touched on this idea within music, as well as within the concept of inter-person attraction. While I can clearly see how certain acoustic harmonies are more pleasing to the ear than others, I have to strongly disagree with any premise that maintains that "mathematically perfect" individuals are the most attractive. That kind of logic can be used by some to argue for an "ideal" look for our species, while callously discarding those who don't fit the supposed mold. This can also result in others eventually proposing erroneous concepts of "superior" and "inferior" races, and history has already shown us the tragedy & horrors that can result from that kind of thinking.
I'm sure this mathematician meant no harm, and I'm not opposed to casting calls for certain character or body types. Ad agencies and fashion brands often seek a specific look for their campaigns or runway shows based on their target market or the fitting sizes of the designs that have historically sold well for them. (Yet it's good to see brands embrace a growing diversity of shapes and sizes in recent years. Those who neglect to cater to some more common body types are missing out on a huge portion of market share!) But it's important to remember that we're all built a little differently and we each have inherent value no matter what we look like on the surface. And yes, all those "mathematical imperfections" that we all have to some degree are beautiful, too.