Previous to doing these, the only sketches of figures I’d recently done were a few rapid scribbled gestures of the figure. So, to finish an outline sketch in 2 minutes and obtain accurate proportions was for me, a tall order by comparison. By the time I’d finished 5-6 sketches, using only basic outlines, I was beginning to feel more comfortable with this method. The instructions were to draw from the middle of the body out to the feet and the head. So far I’ve found, that I usually have more success with proportions when I begin with the head and work rapidly down to the feet and hands using a few very feint lines, then find the midpoint of the figure, followed by building up detail around the body.
If I do begin in the centre of the body and work outwards, I would find the midpoint of the figure in relation to where I’ve marked the rough position of the head and feet, I would then add the head using basic measuring, followed by the torso, arms, legs and feet. I have to admit I find the concept of beginning in the middle totally alien, without marking in the position of the head and feet first. In this set of sketches I also divided up the length of the body into roughly between 7 or 8 equal parts, using the head as a unit of measurement. It was easier to think in terms of shapes and forms for the various elements, such as the head as a sphere, the arms, legs and torso as cylinders and the hands and feet as ellipses and I think it helped promote a 3D effect.
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I struggled with proportions in the initial couple of sketches – exacerbated by the model sitting down, shortening the lower half of the body. The upper torso appeared too long in relation to other parts, but by trying to ignore logic and record what I saw I soon discovered that it wasn’t as far out as I first thought, when measured using divisions equal to the length of the head. That seems quite incredible considering how ridiculous it looks. In a shortened pose the body is naturally reduced to fewer divisions when measured (as the crow flies) with the usual pencil or similar tool, so I tried a piece of string following the angles and contours along the length of the body and reassured myself that the number of divisions were the same as on an elongated pose. As I expected, the longer 10 minute sketches looked more accurate in relation to proportions. In one of these – a seated sketch, the arms looked too long, but again when checked against the position and length of other areas on the model, I was quite sure they were more accurate than arms in other sketches. To correctly place the level of the top of the knees, because of foreshortening, was tricky until I lined them up with the top of the chair seat. On the lying down figure the arm on view was definitely too long. I made the lower legs look spindly in standing poses a couple of times. These kinds of faults will hopefully start to fade out as I become more experienced at figure drawing – we’ll see..
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Emulating the natural curves of the figure ie. legs and arms, helped to prevent their shapes from looking too flat and two dimensional, I think, but the changes of plane being gradual in most places on a human figure, would look more convincing if the line weight varied. Although the planes of the neck and upper torso, hands and feet would suggest flat sided shapes, this is not to say that all straight edges promote a flat appearance. , Helping to alleviate this are concave and convex curves at chin level and base of neck lines for instance, giving a cylindrical look. Receding and advancing planes would be been more convincing if I’d varied the weight of the outlines more. I would say the human figure is practically all curves, containing flat surfaces as part of its make-up.
Two of the 10 minute sketches – one seated, one standing – their differences are: that the torso, neck, shoulders, arms and hands in the standing pose look more three dimensional than in the other seated pose in black pen. In the latter sketch these areas have mostly straight edges, as is clear in the waist and shoulder line, which to me contribute towards a flatter look.
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10 minute seated pose
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| 10 minute standing pose |
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| 10 min lying down |
