Proportions, Drawing Figures

After my attempts to draw inanimate objects, I have been moved onto figures. These are some of my initial sketches done to test my perspective of figures.

My sister was kind enough to pose for me for some simple every day poses. As you can see, I have difficulty with perspective, and making a figure fit to the page properly. I know how important it is to be able to draw what you see with a sense of perspective. Some of these figures display those skills, and others need serious improvement. I am working on using a method that works in order for me to see the figure in front of me and translate onto a page. I've been trying not to focus too much on details as I feel it would confuse me, so I'm just trying to get used to putting figures onto paper with a basic outline. I did study art at school, and learnt some fundamental basics there, such as eight lengths of a head make an entire body. I found this very strange at the time, and remember thinking that the body was far too long. It wasn't until my teacher pointed out how long our arms are, and that actually our arms reach half way down our thighs, that I began to understand that just because you see something everyday, it doesn't mean that you are fully comprehending it. Another example is the proportion of our faces. The eyes are around half way down our heads, in line with our ears, which I initially thought was ridiculous, but realised was completely accurate. One trick my teacher taught me whilst I was learning to draw in school was to put a circular line down the middle of the head, and one across the middle so as to get the facial figures in the right position. Even now, this is something that I apply to my drawing.
Other things that were particularly difficult when I started drawing was foreshortened limbs, and general sizes. I know what you're thinking; that drawing figures in proportion is relevant to the overall size of the figure you're drawing, but when drawing a figure that is slightly heavier than I am used to, I find that the figure ends up disproportionately large and really unflattering.
Then of course there's the difference in shape between male and female figures. Males tend to have harder lines and are more angular in shape, where as women have more curves, and their body shapes tend to flow from one curve into another. Trying to establish the difference between the two and identify the traits that make up the masculine and feminine is a skill that I need to establish quickly if I am to successfully draw figures of all shapes and sizes.
I haven't had any particular preference to materials as yet, I'm enjoying using them all, but as the marks I'm making at the moment are a bit timid as I'm unsure of myself, pens can sometimes prove difficult to use.

I love that I can make an organised mess when sketching. The mark making used here was controlled, but still makes sense (I hope) to those who are looking at it. You can quite clearly see where I made mistakes in terms of relatively of one limb to another, but was pleased to find that I didn't make as many as I anticipated. I did attempt to make some use of the light and shade available in the room, and I think I portrayed the basic shades. I tried to focus less on the facial features and minor details and more on the prospective, general outline and tone. Sketching like this enables me to look more closely at my, (for want of a better word) muse in it's entirety then if I were to use lines that are more precise and less...hasty. However, using this type of mark making requires a certain amount of trust in your ability to draw what you're seeing without constantly looking at the paper. As I continue to draw, the more confident I am with my mark making.

I think that this type of mark making is becoming a distinctive part of how I draw. It's definitely food for thought.

I wanted to do some more quick sketches of everyday natural poses. These are some of a family member lounging around the house doing various fairly immobile activities. Again, I  used different materials to try and establish which materials work for a certain style of drawing. As my model sat cross legged most of the time when I was drawing her, I tried to draw from different angles for a full composition of the figure, much like I suppose you would if you were to sculpt a figure.

Another relaxed pose. I should have used more depth in shade for this sketch, and the fact that I'm still a little unsure of myself as yet is evident in my sketching. I tend to have a reoccurring problem of not being able to press heavily on the pencil for more dynamics in shade. The thing about using all of these different materials is that I feel like I've forgotten how to use a pencil, which is the material that pretty much every artist starts off using! Unbelievable. I'm not decided as to whether this is because I now don't like using pencil, having discovered all these other materials, or whether it's me just needing to reacquaint myself with pencil once again. To get the broadest outlook possible, I will continue to use as many different mediums in as many different ways as possible.

Anyway, back to the sketch above. The leg closest to me, the one propped up is out of proportion, the thigh is too long, which inevitably means the shin is too long. It's frustrating to have everything so out of sink because I have one detail wrong. I really need to work on drawing what I see instead of drawing what I think I see. I suppose I'm taking it for granted that I'm able to see in perspective all the time because of light and shade, and I need to be able to translate this confidently onto paper. You can also get a sense from this sketch that the model is in a fairly relaxed pose, although I think my muse was very aware that I was drawing them and so was unable to relax completely, which is a shame.

That being said, just because a lot of this is wrong, it wasn't a total waste of time. I am learning a lot from my mistakes. It's a trial and error basis; this doesn't work, let's try a different way. It is a rather long process, but I know I'll get there eventually.
One thing I have learnt, is to be more observant about the materials the model is wearing, because of course it shows the contours of the figure. I know that this is something that I will be looking at later on in the assignment, so I shall continue to observe the clothing on figures carefully.

This pose is wrong in it's proportions. I've fallen victim to a very common mistake, which is that everything above the waist is in proportion using the head size, but everything below the waist is too short and makes the sketch look ridiculous. It's definitely something that I'm really struggling with and find really frustrating. I need to work on being able to fit the figure comfortably on paper. The bottom half of the figure is seriously off. The crossed legs in the air completely threw me. Where I was sitting the crossed legs were leaning slightly towards me and so part of the legs were foreshortened whilst others seemed elongated in contrast. I will try to do more difficult poses such as this one to work on my weaknesses.



I am very proud of this particular piece of work. It displays tone and proportion, and lots of definition that gives the figure a three dimensional feel. You get the sense of the figure coming off of the paper; especially with the blurred/smudged background. If I am unsure of myself, and the proportions, I prefer to use pencils or charcoal; something soft that can easily be drawn over, or manipulated. I found that using the clothing helps illustrate the shape and proportion of the figure underneath, and I think I demonstrated these skills successfully.