Human Body Proportions

In order to correctly draw the human figure, it is necessary to understand the ratio of individual parts of the body. With the help of this article, you will learn what should be the proportions of the human body in the fine arts.

Each person is unique and the structure of the body is different for everyone, but there are general rules that help to correctly depict the proportions of the human body.

There are several methods, but most often in painting, the conditional division of the human body into eight parts is used, where the size of one part is equal to the size of the head.

It is the head that is the most convincing, simple and true measure for measuring the human body. It is generally accepted that the torso together with the neck are three heads, the upper limbs are also three heads, and the lower limbs are three and a half heads.

To draw a human figure, it is necessary to determine the position of the crown and heels and draw a vertical straight line between these points, which corresponds to the height of the person. The vertical line must be divided into eight equal parts.

First you need to divide this line in half, then divide the upper and lower parts in half again. The head will be half of the top segment. The hand should be drawn from the line that divides the growth in half. The fingers end approximately in the middle of the thigh.

The reference point for the elbow joint is the navel. If you number the vertical line from top to bottom, then the knee joints will be at the sixth mark.

The female and male figure has its own characteristics. The main difference between male and female proportions is the ratio of shoulder to hip width.

In men, the widest part of the body is the shoulders, and the width of the waist is almost the same as the width of the hips. Women have narrower shoulders and waist, but wider hips. The width of a woman’s shoulders is 1.5 times the height of her head.

Also, the proportions of the human body are very dependent on age. In children, the head is much larger in relation to the body than in adults. At the same time, in children, the torso is longer than the upper and lower limbs.

It should be noted that there are many nuances of drawing a human figure and now we have considered the main ones. Much comes with experience, and thanks to regular training, you can improve your eye and correctly depict the proportions of the human body.