How To Draw A Proportionate Body

Today I thought I would turn the tables on myself, and try at making a tutorial myself. From the tutorials that I have reviewed so far, I feel I will need to include:

• Images
  
• Short concise steps
  
• Comment feedback
  
• Extra detail where needed
  
• Making accessible to beginners in the art world
  

Since I feel I have a better understanding of the human form, my tutorial will focus on how to draw human body proportions. To make it more accessible, I will leave the figures stationary, i.e. I will draw them standing, facing the front. Keep in mind this is how I draw my proportions, and is not the end all be all for how to do this.

Step 1: I usually start off with drawing the head. To do this I create an inverted egg shaped.

Step 2: Next you draw in an extended vertical line down the center of the head. Make the line about the length of seven heads from. Then you’re going to draw a horizontal line a little below the chin. This will be a reference to the shoulders. The length of the shoulder is about the length of two of the heads.



Step 3: This step deals with the torso and pelvis. In this area, men and women differ in that men have a more boxed shaped and women tend to have curves. So, keeping that in mind, a basic rectangle can be used for a generic man, and hourglass can be used for a woman.

*Note that not all body frames are the same (even among the same sex), so the shape really depends on the type of body you want to draw. For example, an inverted triangle is good for someone with a bulkier upper body, and circles and ovals are good for heftier people. Also, men’s’ torsos tend to be more elongated than females.

Step 4: after you’ve gotten the step 3 out of the way, you’ll want to draw the arms and legs. During this stage you may want to use circles to identify the joints, i.e. shoulders, elbows, wrists, and knees (basically where any part bends). For the arm—the elbow stops around the bottom of the rib cage, and the wrists stop around the pelvic area, and the hand is 2/3 the length of the head. The thigh of the leg is about equal length as the arm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. The calf is around the same length (if adding the length of the ankle to heel of the foot)—so just a bit shorter.



Step 5: Now we flesh out the figure. When doing this, I just imagine putting a skin suit on a stick figure. The frame you’ve created should serve as a nice guideline, just be sure to add bulk to the legs and arms (unless you want the person to be super skinny).




And there you have it, a proportionate human being.