Drawing Human Proportions

Tips to help ease the stress of sketching humans.

Nov 30, 2006 Alina Bradford

This article will help you draw and sketch human proportions with ease.

What artist hasn't had the urge to draw the human form? But wanting to draw it and actually accomplishing a realistic version are two separate things, unfortunately.

But there is help! This article is here to cover all the basics, from the proportions of the human body to how to find subjects.

1. Proportions

The human body comes with easy to follow standards to use as a guide when drawing. The human head can be used as measurements for the body. For example, the average male body is 7 1/2 head lengths long. So, you can take the length of the head and multiply it by 7 1/2 and you will come up with the length for the entire body.

The basic rule of thumb is:

Average Male:

  • 7 1/2 heads tall
  • Shoulders are 2 heads lengths wide
  • Hips are a little over 1 head wide

Average Female:

  • 7 ½ heads tall
  • Shoulders are 1 ½ lengths wide
  • Hips are 2 heads wide

On both female and male, the hand is generally as long as the length from the hairline to the bottom of the chin and from the point of the chin to the back of the neck. See drawing, below, for an example of what I mean.

To draw female breasts, read this article.

2. Choosing a Subject

This can be hard, most people don't like to be stared at. You really don't have to ask to draw someone, but don't make a show of it. The more covert you are the better. Try getting a back booth at an all-night waffle house and drawing the characters you see there. Or sit on the back pew of a church service. My favorite sketching time is to sit in the parking lot of a shopping center and drawing the people passing. They can't tell you're watch, or drawing for that matter.

3. Getting Down the Important Stuff

When sketching a person you really just want to catch the things that make that person unique. Whether is their quirky smile, loose legged stance, or their unusual attire, you want to cement that part on the page before adding anything else. Humans are flighty, they may not stand still long enough for you to get all of it.

4. Practice!

Here are a few of my early sketches leading up to my most recent.

Notice how they got better with time?

5. Get Variety

I've known some artist to specifically only draw ballerinas or football stars. As you can see from my sketches above they aren't the same subject over and over. They are of different types of people. This is how you get good. You try everything, not just a the "pretty stuff." Why? Because not everyone is pretty. Most people have lines, wrinkles, bulges, scars, etc. If you want to get good at drawing people, draw real people.

The copyright of the article Drawing Human Proportions in Painting/Drawing is owned by Alina Bradford. Permission to republish Drawing Human Proportions in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
Human Proportions, Alina Bradford
Human Proportions
Man in Thought, Alina Bradford
Man in Thought
  

Comments

May 2, 2008 10:54 PM
Guest :
nt reali useful...
May 2, 2008 11:00 PM
Guest :
u should show some pics,...............................................................te instructions r nt clear
May 3, 2008 3:32 PM
Alina Bradford :
Umm...there are pictures, lol.
May 10, 2008 10:17 PM
Guest :
instructions r not clear not able to understand plzz give some more information
May 11, 2008 7:00 AM
Alina Bradford :
Article has been edited to contain more information about using head lengths to measure body proportion. Please take a look at the explanation illustrations, as well. It clears up a lot of questions. I seems that many people are overlooking the illustration and that is the source of the confusion.
Thanks, Alina
Aug 16, 2008 2:48 AM
Guest :
tanx for the hepl
Oct 2, 2008 2:48 PM
Guest :
pffft....no offense, but you need to fix some stuff.

1. The human head-hand ratio.
If you measure your hand using your head, you will notice it only goes up to the eyebrows, not the entire head(as you drew in the picture). But even in words, you cannot say the hand is usually from the chin to the hairline, as different people have different hairlines.

2. Woman are not typically as tall as men.

3. Your guide does not tell how to draw those tiny little details, like wrinkles, eyes, eyebrows, mouths etc. it only tells about bodily proportions.

4.You should include more pictures. You only have, like, what 2 pics?
it would be a lot more useful if you included more because then people can really understand what you mean, and as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

5. You should also talk about shading, because it really gives the picture depth and will make it more realistic. Without shading, the portrait is just a couple of lines on a piece of paper.
Oct 2, 2008 7:43 PM
Guest :
it is very useful to us but you will some other parts ratio also.
Oct 5, 2008 11:54 PM
Guest :
u should show some more picture descriptions.
9 Comments