Proper proportions

Comic Draw: Proper Proportions

7/4/2018

Becoming a familiar with drawing proportions well are a fundamental pillar of figure drawing. Whether you are drawing regular characters, cartoons and even super heroes it all builds from a solid understanding of basic human proportions. In this tutorial I highlight the aspects of generating proper proportions in your characters.

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To draw characters we must start with a basic understanding of the human figure and its proportions.

The head is the common unit of measurement for bodies. The average body is usually about 6 & half heads tall for male and female. Superheroes are usually drawing 8 and three quarters to 9 heads tall.

Feel free to push your imagination and experiment. Exaggerating and distorting is encouraged as long as the figure is believable. This comes from basing your manipulation on good anatomy.

Typical shoulders are about two heads lying sideways wide.

The body bends below the pelvis. This is also the halfway point. Useful knowing to make sure the body is balanced when standing up.

Milestone markers are reference points and rules of thumb to remember on the body you can use to measure parts in comparison to each other. You can guess the ones listed below or come up with your own that flow with your drawing style.

If you divide the arm at the elbow would be equal from the shoulder & from the wrist.

The elbows themselves hang just below the waist.

The hands hang from the wrist at the mid-thigh.

When drawing men, a differentiating feature are the shoulders being wide while the waists & hips are narrow.

Comparatively with women the hips are wide & round relative to the shoulders.

Hands are 3/4 the length of the face. Roughly the same length of the chin to the hairline.

Use your own body as a reliable real life reference.

It takes time to master the locations of milestone markers. As you gain a grasp on this concept you will develop your own system to draw proportionate figures with facility.

This fundamental understanding of the human figure will allow you develop the skills to draw them simply and further be able to build upon your characters with accuracy. Most of all, they will demonstrate believability to your audience.

Thank you for checking out this week’s tutorial. I hope you’ve found it useful. Please add any comments below. I’d love to help my fellow artists on their comic journeys. Additionally Prime Vice Studios is available to help people on their comic creation journeys. Hire us for professional assistance at any level of your creative process.

Check out the additional resources below for links to the references & materials used.

Peace,

Loso

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