I struggle with proportion

#1

Hi! So, for years and years, I’ve always struggled with proportion when drawing figures. I have a tendency to make my drawing too big, and the figure ends up not fitting on the page. I also have a hard time making all of the parts the right size in relationship to one another.

I can usually get proportions right (more or less), if I have a very long time to really work out the correct placement of things. But I need more than, say, a 20 minute pose from a model. I’d like to get faster and more accurate with the general proportions and placement of the figure on the page.

I know that the best way to improve my drawing is to draw. And to look at books with proportion charts, that sort of thing. Can any of you suggest specific exercises or techniques that I could use that would aid me in gaining a better, more accurate sense of proportion?

#2

The best book I’ve read on drawing figures is Anthony Ryder’s “Complete Guide to Drawing the Figure”. Blocking in the forms helps you to see from large to medium to small shapes. He also has a website where you can see his process shots:

www.tonyryder.com - check out the demo area. His book is also linked off of his site.

The best proportional rule is also to think of things in terms of head heights - the average human you can think of as being approx 7.5 heads tall - so if you draw a halfway mark along the length of the page, then a top and bottom mark, and then halve each of those sections until you have 8 approx. equal marks, you can take a little off the bottom and have about 7.5 heads. Generally people are about a head height wide across the waist (depending on the person) and that also helps to keep things in proportion.

#3

Oh, another thing is, to make sure that a drawing will fit on the page every time, just mark the top and the bottom of the page, leaving about an inch above the head and an inch below the feet. That way, you know where the boundaries are and that you must fit the figure within those parameters. Ryder is great for that also because basically the concept of the envelope helps you contain the graphic shape of the figure on the page. Hope it helps. :slight_smile:

#4

Thanks, Rebecca. I appreciate your answers a lot. I realize that mostly, what I need to do is practice. I also find, strangely, that just thinking about drawing, visualizing doing it, visualizing what the finished drawing will look like, often helps me.

But mostly, I just need to practice. It’s so hard to find the time!

#5

The suggestion about making two (or four) marks that represent the limits of your intended drawing is the best first step. If you want correct proportions you must “measure” not in inches but proportionally. Even before thinking about proportional measurements one must use a system of vertical and horizontal lines to see how objects or parts of objects align. The vertical lines are like plumb lines and horizontal lines are, well, horizontal and 90 degrees to vertical as well as being parallel to the edges of the paper/picture plane. By holding a pencil or straightedge at arm’s length vertically one can use landmarks and drop down along that line to place something in relation to it, left, right, or smack on. It is in essence a visual grid, though irregular, but must maintain absolute verticality and horizontality, two ridiculous words. One then can place vertical and horizontal lines on the page and locate the objects in the same Vertical and horizontal relation as the actual objects. One can never measure or judge relationships on a diagonal because one can never know if the angle is exactly analogous. The common mistakes most novices make are to either neglect to draw vertical and horizontal lines or to think that they don’t need them. Both are wrong and unfortunate. Michelangelo, Durer, Ingres, and many others have used this technique throughout their respective careers, and the rest of us are surely no better. The contemporary artist Antonio Lopez Garcia not only builds actual grids from pipe and string, but he spots the landmarks on objects with small crosses of white paint so that he can go back later to check to see if he is still accurate. Find and watch the film Dream of Light to see him inaction. Once one finds the placement, one can find like sizes along the vertical and horizontal lines - again with a straight arm and using your thumbnail to mark the bottom (or left or right) of something and your pencil point to find the top (or right or left, respectively), one can compare that size to any other vertical or horizontal distance in the filed of view. 1:1 proportions are easiest but sometimes it won’t be that simple so one must consider that. I would say that the first true proportions to be found are the half-way points top to bottom and left to right, or along your vertical center of vision and the center of the object or objects left to right - finding the sagittal and transverse midpoints. The large proportions will provide a solid foundation for the smaller one. Oh, and I would caution against predetermined proportions such as "a human figure has x many heads… That’s nothing but baloney, or bologna to some. Everyone has different proportions and trying to foist them on everyone belies reality. Find the proportions by analysis, not formulaic laziness. Proportions are like a big puzzle that’s there for the finding.

The reason for wanting and finding proper proportions is to draw as closely to what is observed as possible. Nature doesn’t make many errors so being true to nature is a positive goal. Beginning with accurate placement on the page is the cornerstone of observational drawing. Anyone can draw, but few really draw well, and those that do come to the drawing situation with curiosity and the humility of knowing that only through analysis can the drawing begin to represent what is being observed. Be curious and remember that every drawing situation is different from any one before it. Drawing is learning and learning lasts a lifetime. And, it’s fun. I apologize for the length of this, but as your question indicates, proportion is important.

#6

Thanks for this, painter33! It’s very helpful. I’ll definitely see about getting my hands on that movie you recommended. My friend Sadie also has a lot of good information on her blog. She is fortunate enough to be able to devote herself full-time to this sort of thing, and the payoff of the hard work and invested time is obvious in her work. I will try using “boundary” lines, grids, and marks for surface features. We’ll see how it works out.

#7

Small digital world! :slight_smile: I’ve been following Sadie’s blog, having stumbled on it over Christmas. I love her work, please send regards and compliments. :slight_smile:

#8

When I went to your friend Sadie’s site I liked her gesture discussion because gesture is after all the essence of the physical reality of an organic form (and geometric form aas well but it’s not what we’re talking about). It’s the form’s long axis and as Sadie shows, all gestural movements (distance and direction) of the parts are connected to each other in a natural and an expressive way. If one thinks of gesture as a line of energy that occupies the center and long axis of all parts of a complex organic form and that small lights move quickly through all of the forms, following the path of energy, one can imagine how everything is connected and not stiff, jerky motions. A good gesture exercise is to look at a model, or even a tree, hold out your pencil and follow the insides of the forms in rapid movements and pretend you are drawing those movements on an invisible, transparent piece of paper (Mylar®?). You’ll notice that your pencil cannot leave that invisible page simply because it doesn’t have to, and all of the forms are connected through that continuous movement. Your hand is making elegant motions from your shoulder and not your fingers, hand or wrist. You should immediately begin to draw on your real paper with those same motions that you can now feel and not just think you can see then. Don’t let your pencil leave the real paper and let your lines flow in those same connected and elegant movements. Like a symphony conductor there are really no unconnected, staccato or jerky motions; no small movements, only large sweeping lines that quickly move from one spatial extreme to another, from toe to top of the head, from fingertip to fingertip and fingertip to toe, all the time coming back into the center of the large form so that all movements are in concert (aha!) with on another. Soon you will convince yourself that those lines are actually moving in spatial ways and that drawing is three-dimensional. Warning: don’t just create a messy congregation of lines that look like filled-in form with implied edges (The Nicolaides book shows this type of misunderstood gesture and the examples are so repugnant that the title should be “The Natural Way to Scribble”). Gesture is indeed the essence of what things do without consideration given to outside edges or contours. Those only get in the way and make you think you are drawing instead of feeling and following the energy. I also have students take the pose that the model takes so they understand by literal feel where the stresses are, and the balance requirements of actions and reactions. Were you to begin each drawing this way, you’ll have a good map from which you can begin to see the volumetric qualities of the subject and then proportion becomes an important editing tool.

#9

vilppu manuals and andrew loomis are the best figure drawing books you can get, very comprehensive , and to think these were made during the earlier part of the last century even by todays standards’s it beats most books i’ve read

#10

Try the Andrew Loomis style of measuring, its a good way to create a grid inside your mind
its the secound top caption
http://fineart.sk/index.php?s=72&cat=12

#11

Here’s my advice. I’m currently in a Life Drawing class and I’ve done a few outside of the realm of college and a little bit in high school. So throughout the past 4-6 years I’ve gathered some pretty nice ideas on how to help. I still struggle with proportion. It’s tough.

  1. For getting the figure to fit the whole page take a minute and analyze the space the model takes up and then analyze it onto the page. Even drawing a quick border on the page to define your space helps. Also, have you ever used a viewfinder? They’re great for still life but they’re also very helpful for life drawing as well. They can help you map out the space. You can even just use your fingers like a movie director. Works the same.

  2. For weird poses and to help with proportion. Try to triangulate with points of contact. Where the foot contacts the floor or stand, to where the knee is. There is always a mapping you can follow. Map out where, along the plane the model is sitting or standing, things come into contact. If the model is sitting with his/her legs out, the foot is contacted, the hips are farther up, and the support hand is close to the hips. Follow points of contact. It’s a little tricky to get at first but it’s very helpful for foreshortening and odd angles as well as just general poses.

  3. Make a conscious effort to get the entire model on the page no matter what. Just get in the habit of doing it. And if you don’t, make a note saying that you didn’t and try to analyze why it didn’t work out.

Hope this helps. :slight_smile:

#12

In the tradition of Robert Beverly Hale (and to a good extent, Vilppu) I like to use the head width (not head height) an important measurement also known as the 5-eye line.

Unlike full heads, this unit hits a lot of important bony landmarks.

It is the distance from top of head to just under nose.

Another one takes you to the pit of the neck.

Another one takes you to the bottom of the sternum.

Another one takes you to the points of the ribcage.

Another one takes you to the pelvic points.

It is the width of a head.

It is the length of a sternum.

It is the length of a scapula.

It is the length of a clavicle.

Two of them make a humerus; the lower arm is 80% of this.

Three of them make a femur; the lower leg is 80% of this.

It is a handy little measuring tool that I try to make the basis of all my judgments of figure proportions.

The goal is NOT to make everyone conform to this. The goal is to have a reference in mind so that you can recognize and draw deviations from it as you encounter them.

#13

I suggest this thread:

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=177&t=730905

for more detail. I don’t want to cross post again.

#14

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