Trying to learn human proportions

Post Reply New Topic

I've been trying really hard!! really really really hard!! !!
Reading on internet, learning at school, trying to find that answer by myself!

but my mind seems to not be able to process it.

Any advices?

http://cedarseed.deviantart.com/art/Gui ... 1-32046017
http://cedarseed.deviantart.com/art/Gui ... 2-33220929
http://cedarseed.deviantart.com/art/Gui ... 3-34877428

http://cedarseed.deviantart.com/art/Big ... y-15014442

I'm assuming you need it for drawing purposes. I've never really bothered to remember the ratios involved myself, but then I don't draw as often as I used to. I like Cedarseed's tutorials because they take into account ethnic variation, which most books and tutorials and classes do not.

Like many things, it takes practice to get proportions down. Maybe if you tried looking for patterns on your own, it would stick better. At least, that holds true for me on other subjects.

If it is for drawing/painting, concentrate less on the body's shape itself, and pay attention to the shapes made around the body - what shape is made between the arm and the trunk of the body? What about drawing a triangle in your mind from the shoulder to the elbow to the navel?

If I remember from art class, the body is usually 7 'heads' high; a head on each side.

One of the strangest (but simplest) sources I used back in the day was a book called 'how to draw comics the Marvel way'. might show up in a used book store.

Gottfried Bammes "Der Nackte Mensch" (The Naked Man) is a nice book, also Vilpu's book is very good for learning (:

saludos!

My favorite rule: the legs are the same length as the upper body. In other words, where the leg bends at the hip, that's the middle of the body. The hand reaches to about that point, too. And when the legs are bent, the knee can just reach to the clavicle.

If you remember those, you'll usually be fine. ;D The rest has more to do with the shapes you use.

THANKS EVERYONE! This week I haven't try to do it since last week was extenuating... but for sure this will help me understand it :D:D

Well, it's hard, I certainly haven't mastered it, but a lot can be learned just by getting good pictures or models and measuring as you go. Compare the length of a part to another part, and be sure to work from these throughout, maintaining proportion (and scale) in the body. For example, the length from the hairline to the eyebrows, and how it compares to the distance from the nose to the chin, and how yet another lengthwise measurement compares to the width of the head at a certain point. Do all the mapping, then overlay with tracing paper and work out any further problems, back away and check, look at it in a mirror and see if it still looks natural. If it's right, it should. If it looks like it has depth and everything is where it belongs. Because you can learn statistics only so much; humans vary in proportion just enough to throw things off. I have a high forehead and one eye just slightly more open than the other, and the curve of one cheek is a little sharper than the other, for example.

Even when trying to get clear proportion, remember to start with the large shapes. Get them roughed out to help get the position of the form, then work and adjust. And that tracing paper thing works for any drawing, helping you keep from getting it too set before having the problems solved. Keeps you from starting on small details too soon. Once you have the drawing you want, you rub pencil or whatever on the back, tape it over the final surface, and transfer it.

Of course, you may have heard all this already or think it's not quite what you wanted, but it helps me a lot.

That I've been doing with magazines from clothes store. Seem quite hard to learn, but I'll keep on.

computerlove, that's great ! the book I have has the adult body at 7 1/2 heads, but your book gives it at several ages - very informative.