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GUIDE TO DRAWING THE BODY

Joumana Medlej, cedarseed.com

The ideałised body proportions used to learn anatomy are essential to the learning process (it simplifies a very complex subject for the student), but that you are not expected to abide by them at all times as they do vary slightly in reality. Once you have integrated these rules, you too will veer from them to develop your own style - but I honestly don't recommend skipping ahead. Understanding them first is key to knowing how to change the proportions of a body without making it look distorted.

I. GENERAL

The first thing you should do when you want to draw a human body (or anything else, for that matter), is a quick, gesture-style sketch of the underlying volumes. Never start from the head and draw your way down. You have to work in layers, from the rough shapes to the fine details. This way you insure that your body proportions are correct and everything is in place before you put too much time into details you can't change anymore.

To illustrate this, here are three steps in my sketching process:

II. PROPORTIONS OF THE HUMAN BODY

The unit of measurement of the human body is the head. In Western art, men are conventionally 8 heads high, and women slightly smaller at 7.5 heads. In reality, even the Northern European models for this convention are usually closer to 7 heads, not to mention other human types whose proportions may be very different. Nevertheless, the 8-head model (shown on the right) is very useful for the beginners because it allows for easy-to-remember alignments:

I recommend accepting these guidelines in the begin-ning; once you are thoroughly familiar with them you wili naturally veer away from them to draw a variety of body types. What is really essential to a well-proportioned body is the way articulations are placed in respect to each other. (By "well-proportioned" I don't mean a model's body but one that doesn't look misshaped.)

The next step is to understand the differences between the małe and female bodies. They are shown below along with some important |x>ints in common:

III. PROPORTIONS OF THE FACE

The skuli is a morę or less flattened sphere to which the jaw is appended: together they give the head and overall egg shape from any angle. An adult face is proportioned as follows:

Seen headon.the face can be divided in quarters.

The eyes are centered on top of these two middle points

The lower half is dividedin5.Counting from the middle linę, the nose is at 2/5th and the mouth at 3/5th

The depth of the skuli varies between these two lines (see Human Types)

2/5th: Nose 3/5th: Mouth

forward, especially for women.

Foreshortening the face

As hinted by the diagrams above, the lines on which the features were placed run around the head, as does the linę that divides the face in 2 vertically. As a matter of fact, the quickest way to give volunie to your egg-shape, as well as to locate the face on it, is to draw the 2 centerlines, now following the head's contour, that cross in the center of the face (right).

To draw the head in perspective, then, simply add the refcrence lines on the contour, bearing in mind that distances shorten with perspec-tive. Then add the features in their respective places.

Looking down

The curve of Ihe eyebrows is flattened

Woman

Both

Man

From the side the eye has an arrowhead shape.

The distance between the eyes is equal to 1 eye. Wide-set eyes may make a face look infaniile.and dose-set eyes may inspiredistrust.sobe aware of what you do with this part of the face.

Indicating the lower lip is always a nice touch.

The ear is in the rear half of the head. Its height of the ears is equal to the distance from nosetip to top of the eyes.

The hairline varies between 2/4 and 3/4

The browisat 1/4 of the upper half.

The hol Iow of the root of the nose occurs at or slightly above the midline.

Features curvc up.

The ear moves up

The nose oversleps Ihe linę, looking much closer lo Ihe moulh. If Ihe perspeclive is sirong enough it wi overlap ihe lips.

In real life Ihe moulh curves up, which looks like a smile on paper, so adjustment may Im* needed.

Foreshortening from the side

Differences in the female and małe face:

(In relalive terms this applies throughout the world, but the (haracteristics of the basie face varies with type - see the section on Human Types.)

At the extreme, only the jutting points of brow and cheekbone can be seen.

The ear seen from ihe back deiaches itself r\ from the head 1 fr like a funnel. II

Part of the eyebrow shows

Lower eyetid juts out, but no eyeball yet

Nose becomes visible behind the curve of the cheek.

Al most profili the eyebrow seems tocurve on itself

A smali part of the cheek still hides the nostril

Lips appear, mouth slit very smali

Chin linę joins throat

eyeball appears, pupil may be hinted at

IV. EASY PROPORTION REMINDERS

V. MUSCLE GUIDE

Here are a few diagrams that should help you remem-ber porportions. I visualize them when drawing to place the joints and scalę the limbs accurately.

These distances are the same!

shoulder to bułtock shoulder to birth of fingers knee to buttock

Understanding muscle structure is a great asset in building bodies. This scction offers a guide to this structure thafs very simplified, but sufficient for most drawing needs. The muscles or protrud-ing bones are shown as areas of colours while the black outline shows you how that muscle would show on the surface of the body. For reference purpose I emphasize all the important muscles. Bul it is only in athletic lxxlies that they would show this much: the less muscular the character the less muscle strokes you should show, and the softer the outline of the skin should /x* as opfx>sed to closely .idhering to the muscles (which is what creates a toned look). Also rememl>er females’ muscles are morę graceful and less hulky than males

A. Torso

C. Legs

Proportion of hand and foot to the face

Where the hand would reach if you tried to touch your shoulder

Sole and palm are half as wide as the face

Notice how smaller they are in women.

sterno-mastoid . - claviclc bonę deltoids pectorals

For women, replace the pectorals with the breasts (using the nipples as guides for placement).

latissimus dorsi gluteus

trapezius

Shoulder linę is not a straight horizontal linę

Neck is not a straight cylinder

Neck tapers in

Trapezius creates a transition from neck to shoulders

Man

Woman

Wrist-elbow nieasure when arm is bent

In the diagram below, the measures are all equal to the length of the index

B. Arms

With the arms we need to be aware of the way muscle behaviour determines the |>osition of the arm, so I offer different views. Notę how the same muscles manifest differently in each.

Relaxed (out)

It is this extensor Ihat *pulls" the hand into a flexed position, therefore it bulges in this case while its antagonist, the flexor, is rclaxed. If the wrist was bending downwards instead, the reverse would occur.

Wrist-elbow measure when arm is stretched

Bent (out)

The forearm słarts thick and tapers till halfway between elbow and hand, then its width is nearly even.

Similarly the biceps bulge when the arm bends (assuminglhere is resistance, for instance if the hand is hoUling somełhing heavy), and the triceps bulge if the ^fm is making an effortjojinbend.

Notę the alternation in the arm's contour:

deltoids

The arm doesn't hang straight down in resting position. Notę the relationship to the linę dropping from the back of the neck.

Arm bends OUT when thumb is IN. Arm bends IN when thumb is OUT.

ankle bonę higher inside

Front

Out

adductor —

semi-

tendinosis

calf muscle lower inside

Achilles' fendon

Back

biceps rectus femoris sartorius

calves

patella

In

MS

Bent (in)

Bent (out)

The biceps bulge to bend the leg

If there is weight on the leg, these muscles bulge too to prevent it from bending completely.

no weight on this leg, so these muscles are relaxed.

To flex the foot, the tibialis anterior bulges while the calf relaxes. To point the foot, the reverse happens

When the leg is straight, the lower part is staggered baekwards and outwards.

side

front

Breasts

To draw breasts, simply place the nipples a little outwards, just inside the body contour, then add the volume.

From the side, draw a circle that is centered on the linę where the nipple falls. Half of it isoutside the body.

The breast shape starts at the armpit.lt either bulges out from it or dips in a little first /

ProfKMtions of Ijerfeci breasts, by Western standards:

The bottom half of the circle corresponds to the bottom side of the breast. For the upper side, connect the nipple to the birth of the neck in a slight curve.

Volume may show here.

You can see here the relationship between breast and biceps, The hollow of the armpit flows into the breast, though part of that linę may be omitted.'

Only fake breasts show a break or bulging here!

The hollow and nipples form an eguilateral triangle where the sides are around 20cm

Ideał bust proj>or-tions are attained when the circumfer-ence at the nipples is 15 cm morę than the circumference of the thorax under the breasts (for instance, 90 and 75 cm)

FAKE

For this cleavage effect to happen.one needs either a special bra.or breasts shaped like balloons, in other words a badly done boob job.

Nipples point forward and / slightly out

Breast projecls 1 to 3 cm out of the thorax linę

1/3 of the volume of the breast should lx* l)ove the areola, 2/3 under it

See Catalog of Human features for breast shapes.

VI. THE BODY IN PROFILE

Drawing a silhouette in profile starts with the usual skeletal structure, with additional details from this angle:

The shoulder joints are forward from the spine, not level with it, because the'linę" of the shoulders is in reality an arc.Top view:

shoulder joint

top of spine

Balance

To make surę a body is balanced, picture a vertical linę shooting up from the centre of its support.On two legs that will be the midpoint between the feet;on one foot, the centre of the foot. If a hand is on the ground it's the center of the feet-hand triangle, and so on.The body must be positioned in a balanced way around this linę:

These will work for a moment. The centre of gravity pulls the body. so it either has to be brought back in linę or the body must step back or forward to move the linę itself.

Notę: this isn't an exact science because muscles play a role in opposing gravity-induced imbalance. Also, this doesnt apply to motion, because imbalance is the motor of the motion (running is nothing morę than falling forward while pumping your legs to use that vector). It's important to learn to evaluate what looks right, morę than what is right.

The body’s centre of----

gravity is right below the belly button, inside the body. The body is most balanced and rooted when this point is on the linę of balance (see Balance box below.)

The hip joint-knee-ankle linę is angled slightly baekwards, so that the knees are aligned with the centre of gravity,the hip is forward, and the ankle is back.Overall the effect is of ahead-hip-feet arc

The spine has a curved shape like a fiat S. How strong this curve is varies with the individual.

It peaks baekward between the shoulder blades.from where it juts forward to form the neck.

There is an opposite peak, inward.a little above the hip bonę, before the coccyx heads out again, creating the arch in the lower back and flowing into the curve of the buttocks.

The ribcage and hip bonę are set. but the way you choose to attach them together (basically by adding flesh) individualizes the character.

. Women’s spines tend to be morę

arched, and morę flexib!e,than men's..

In reasonably slim bodies, women's stomachs tend to a gentle curve / while men's tend ' to flatness.

Similarly, women's bottoms are rounded while men's are not.

(that is.when the posturę is erect. Nowadays many people slouch.)

© loumana Medlej 2009. All rights reserved.

NO PART OF THIS TUTOR!AL MAY BE USED IN ANOTHER TUTOR!AL. NO REPOSTING OR REDISTRIBUTINC.

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