HUMAN PROPORTION: SIMPLIFYING THE FIGURE USING GEOMETRIC FORM ANDGESTURE

Before watching the video tutorial, print out the first two worksheets and read them. 

Get together with a partner and check if the proportions described on the worksheets are accurate. 

Drawing the human figure:proportion,geometry&gesture 101 from Rachel Wintemberg on Vimeo.

After watching the video tutorial, try drawing your own geometric figure drawing using accurate proportions.

Most beginners make the head too big, the shoulders too narrow and the arms and legs too short. Take special care to  avoid and correct these mistakes. It might be helpful to make your drawing the same size as the figure in the worksheet and draw your picture next to the worksheet so you can insure your proportions are accurate. 

There is normally nothing wrong with exaggerating certain features to create a cartoon but the objective of this lesson is to teach students how to recognize and draw accurate human proportions. 

When you are done creating your geometric figure, place a thin piece of drawing paper over your drawing and create a second picture of a person, using accurate proportions. This time, do not make the person look like a robot. Leave out the circles for the joints. Add a face, hair, fingers, clothing, shoes and other details. 

Be as creative and detailed as possible.

Next, try scaling your person up. Make your next drawing double the size of your first picture, while still keeping the proportions accurate.

Once you have learned to break down the human figure into simple geometric forms, you are ready to learn how to create a gesture drawing.

Print out this helpful worksheet to get you started.

Advanced work: Now that you have mastered geometric and gesture drawing, click here to take a look at Leonardo DaVinci's famous drawing, The Vitruvian Man.

Notice that the drawing is covered with mysterious writing. What does it mean?Click here to read a translation.

Vitruvius was a famous Roman Architect. Architects need to understand human proportions in order to design buildings that are the correct scale. DaVinci drew this picture in order to illustrate what Vitruvius wrote about human proportion.

If you would like to test out how accurate Vitruvius was, click here to get started. 

Click here to download a free ebook from the Metropolitan Museum of Art,Leonardo Da Vinci's Anatomical Drawings.

FORESHORTENING

Imagine that instead of standing in front of a human figure, you were gazing up at it from below. This is called a 'worm's eye view'. If you were looking down on the figure, you would depict a 'bird's eye view'. 

Here is an excellent worksheet describing how the proportions of the human figure would appear to be distorted depending on your perspective (point of view).   http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/263/e/4/perspectives_tutorial_by_dersketchie-d5fb8lk.png 

Foreshortening means that anything angled directly towards you or away from you will appear shorter than it actually is. In other words, the size of an object's dimensions along the line of sight appear relatively shorter than dimensions 

across the line of sight.

From Wikipedia:

Foreshortening is the visual effect or optical illusion that causes an object or distance to appear shorter than it actually is because it is angled toward the viewer.

 Here are some worksheets I created to demonstrate foreshortening in both a geometric and contour line drawing of a human figure, from a worm's eye perspective. 

Drawing Process: Human Figure, Three-point Perspective, Worm's Eye View from Rachel Wintemberg on Vimeo.

Somebody recently asked me how I would draw the human figure in three point perspective from a worm's eye view. Whenever I draw something new I take a very systematic approach. First, I searched online for a worksheet with examples of human figures, drawn using three-point perspective foreshortening, like this one.

Next I searched for and downloaded some stock photos.

Finally, I  played around with the forms and made a few practice drawings. I experimented, erased and drew some more, until my picture looked right. 

I used the time lapse feature on Sketchbook Pro to record my trial and error drawing process.  All successful artists learn from their mistakes. 
The trial and error learning process is actually more important than the finished product.
 It is my hope that, by sharing my process, I will encourage my students to
 try new things without fear of failure.

For more practice drawing the human figure in different poses click on the links below:

http://www.reddit.com/r/SketchDaily/comments/36ywmk/may_23rd_30_second_figure_drawings/

http://artists.pixelovely.com/practice-tools/figure-drawing/

THIS LESSON REINFORCES THE FOLLOWING COMMON CORE MATH STANDARDS

Apply geometric concepts in modeling situations Use geometric shapes, their measures, and their properties to describe objects (e.g., modeling a tree trunk or a human torso as a cylinder).★ CCSS.Math.Content.HSG-MG.A.1

                           

Published in 1543, The Fabrica, written by Belgian physician Andreas Vesalius, is one of the most influential books in medical history and also an incredibly beautiful work of art. Look inside this pioneering book of anatomy:

http://www.rarebookroom.org/Control/vlshum/index.html

http://www.abebooks.com/rare-books/andreas-vesalius-fabrica.shtml?cm_mmc=nl-_-nl-_-C141127-h00-fabricAH-341424GP-_-01cta&abersp=1