Today we’ll show you how to draw proportion.
Every feature of the face and body follows its own rules of proportion, or, measurement in comparison to the features around it.
While these rules may be broken or bent from person to person, the general guidelines will apply to most, and so are extremely helpful to keep in mind when drawing realistic faces and figures.
-
The adult body is approximately eight head lengths long, with the legs joining the body at the halfway point.The shoulders begin a little less than halfway between the first head length, and by drawing a double triangle between the shoulders and hips, you can easily see the waist.
Every other head length represents a different start, stop, or midpoint of the rest of the body as shown here.
-
The head is about five eye lengths across, so you can begin to draw a proportional head by drawing a straight line divided into five equal sections.Draw a circle around the line to represent the top of the head, and mark off two more eye lengths going down from the bottom of the circle.
Draw a second circle around these lengths, and you now have two circles which, connected with rounded lines, form a head.
-
If you draw a line straight across the head from the points where the lines join the two circles together, you have a guideline for the top of the eyes.The line that marks the bottom of the uppermost circle becomes a guide for the bottom of the nose, and the lips fall half an eye length below that point.
Want To Learn More …
Drawing Made Easy is a simple course which shows you step-by-step how to draw people, hands, eyes, faces and a whole lot more from beginning to end, and a goldmine of sample illustrations for further ideas.
With clear (and fun) instructions on how to draw … you’ll learn at your own pace in the comfort of your home.
