Human Figure Proportions

human body proportions in this video lesson you will discover the classical human body proportions that every fine artist must know this knowledge will help you to draw realistic human figures not only from life but also from your memory and imagination without knowing the proportions of the human body it's almost impossible to avoid mistakes in figurative art so let's begin one of the most important lessons in this course I will do a quick sketch of a standing male figure the vertical line that runs through the middle of the figure from top to bottom is called the medial line it is the central axis of the figure the medial line divides the body into two equal halves left and right let's divide the figures height in half I'm using a pencil to measure this proportion the mark in the middle coincides with the pubic bone of the pelvis the top half is also divided into two equal parts once again I'm using a pencil to indicate the division this line marks the location of chess and goes through nipples of a male chest the top quarter of a figures height is also have the smallest division is 1/8 of the body this is the size of a head as you can see it would fit eight times in the total figure height I'll draw an oval to represent the head you will learn two proportions of the human head in another video lesson dedicated to that topic not every adult person has one to eight head to body ratio on average this ratio is between one to six point five and one to eight infants and children have relatively bigger heads and as they grow the body becomes considerably taller while the head doesn't grow as much at the base of the neck there is a notch which is called the suprasternal notch it is located just above the breastbone the Latin name suprasternal comes from two words Supra above and sternum breastbone this notch is a good indicator of where the line of the collarbone should lie the Latin it name for the collarbone is clavicle in the middle of each collar there is a notch this notch is a gap between the muscles of the breast and deltoid men's nipples are located on the chest line below the notches of the collarbone the waist line is located three eighths or three heads down from the top the head's height is marked here as H the ribcage is shaped like an egg with its thicker end down the lower edge of the ribcage marked in red is slightly higher than the waistline the height of the face is the same as the length of the breastbone and also the same as the length of the collarbone the spine runs along the medial line I will outline the pelvis here the upper border of the pelvis or top of the iliac crest is located slightly below the waistline later you will see a separate video lesson on pelvic Anatomy so we will skip it for now the pubis is located exactly in the middle of the male figure with classical proportions the hip joint sockets are aligned with the axis of the pubis the axis which is one fourth from the bottom goes just below the knee joint the thighbone also called the femur is the upper leg bone it is a very strong bone capable of supporting mass much greater than one's body weight in fact it is the strongest and heaviest bone in the human body the upper end of this bone is connected to the pelvis via the hip joint the lower part of this bone is connected to the lower leg bone via the knee joint note that the direction of the upper leg bones is not vertical their black sea's converge down forming a v-shape here the line of the knee-joint is located a quarter of the height of the human head above the line of the bottom quarter of the overall figure height the distance between the top of the kneecap and the line of the bottom fourth of the figures height is equal to one half of the head the line of the lower quarter of the figure height goes through the tibial tuberosity which is the elevation on the shin bone called the tibia you next to the tibia is the calf bone which is called the fibula it is located on the lateral side of the lower leg you may notice that at the bottom the calf bone ends lower than the shin bone the way to remember it is by placing a triangle inside the feet now you can see that the outside end is lower and the inside is higher I will schematically indicate two feet by drawing their outline the height of the feet is equal to the 1/3 of the heads height the distance between the upper edge of the ribcage and the lower end of the breastbone is equal to the height of the head the upper arm bone is called the humerus it runs from the shoulder to the elbow the lower end of the humerus coincides with a line that is three times the height of the head from the top of a human figure when the arm is hanging down the bones of the forearm are the ulna or the elbow bone and the radius the upper part of the ulna is thicker at the elbow joint while the lower end of the radius is wider at the wrist joint the wrist of the hanging down arm is located at the level of the pubic bone halfway up the body the length of the hand is equal to the height of the face you will learn the proportions of the hand in another video lesson dedicated to that topic the two bones of the right forearm on this drawing run parallel to each other this position is called supination I'll draw another arm as you can see the humerus ends at a level three times the heads height from the top of the figure I'm drawing the forearm of this limb in the pronation position pronation is when the radius is rotated around the elbow bone and crosses it the wrists position is on the same level as the pubic bone halfway up the body I will outline the body's contour and while doing so will tell few things that you need to keep in mind when drawing a human figure in this drawing we are exploring the proportions of the classical male body with the total height of the figure being 8 times the height of the head such proportions will vary from person to person in real life not everyone fits this Canon sometimes you will find that a person's head might fit not 8 times but six and a half or seven in the female body the body - head ratio is different the classical canon of the female body has the figures height at seven and a half times the height of the head throughout the history of art human body proportions have not always been measured by heads some cannons were based on the length of one's feet thus creating the Imperial measurement system hands arms fingers were also used as a measuring units the word cannon or set of proportions comes from Latin and means measuring line cannons have changed throughout history according to artistic needs taste and sense of beauty in ancient Egypt artists used feet as a measuring unit while the head fit into the body eight times early Greek art had a seven and a half head cannon while later classical Greek art shifted to eight heads making legs longer to create an athletic body structure in the Renaissance artists rediscovered the classical canons and developed their own old masters like Vitruvius Leonardo da Vinci Albrecht Durer and many others were fascinated by the human body and studied its proportions with a great thirst for knowledge let's come back to the drawing here is a male figure in profile it has been drawn in the same eight headcanon as the previous one inside view the height of the head is the same as its depth so it could be inscribed in a square the waste has the same depth as does the pelvic region one half the height of the head is the same as the thickness of the arm and the depth of the leg at the knee joint the distance between the hairline and the top of the breastbone is equal to the depth of the chest and the length of the foot there are many more proportions which we will cover in later video lessons the purpose of this video lesson is to establish the main proportions which will be essential to know when drawing a human figure from life or imagination if you feel a bit overwhelmed by what we've covered here and you're wondering how you're going to remember these proportions in a life drawing class for example you might want to watch this video once again making sketches and writing notes while you pause this video from time to time here is a bonus tip for you if you are going to the life-drawing studio tomorrow and find that you've forgotten most of the information you've learned today keep in mind the following rules they will ensure your figurative artwork is well proportioned 1 the anatomical center of the body is the pubic bone to the distance from the toes to the top of the kneecap is equal to the distance from the top of the kneecap to the iliac crest and this is the same distance between the pubic bone and the top of the breastbone

Channel: Drawing Art Academy

Views: 100,439

Keywords: Human Figure Proportions, Anatomy Master Class

Id: GGn5cHAk5yM

Length: 13min 44sec (824 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 23 2020