How to Draw in Proportion

It is not always easy to draw objects or people in proportion, but with a few techniques applied, you can soon learn to do so easily.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Paper
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Eraser

1. Gather supplies and pick out the object you wish to draw. For instance, if you decide to draw a person, you may want to have a live person or printed example available to view.

2. When viewing a printed example, it may be beneficial to draw on top of it to section it out. Draw a horizontal line to cut off the head, torso, arms, and legs, and divide the object into sections.

3. Use a ruler to measure each section. See how each section matches up to the another. You can then draw circles around each section to get the feel for how big each section is as well as how it relates to the other.

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   Draw a practice sketch of the same circles, trying to have them the same size as the picture you drew circles on top of. Once all are completed, they will be in proportion with each other. Take the head circle and then repeat it down the body. As a note, most bodies are seven and one half heads tall, with the middle being at the hips. By this scale, each half is three and three fourth heads tall.

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   manikin doll by amazon

   Take your figure of circles and draw in the definition of each section with the approriates shapes. For example, draw more rectangular shapes for the arms and legs and a trapazoid shape for the torso.

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   Add the curves of the face with the hair and jaw line. Draw in where the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears should be.

7. Define the shoulders, the upper and lower part of the torso, by marking the chest area. At the point where the rib cage meets the stomach area, draw the belly button and start of the pelvic bone.

8. Divide the arms into upper and lower, inserting the elbows, as well as the legs. Insert the knees and feet.

9. Once you have gotten used to the general dimensions, next move on to your live subject. Take your pencil and hold it out at arms length. Close one eye and focus with the other.

10. Start at the top of the eraser, and use the pencil as a ruler beside your subject to see how big their head is. Then, using this marked measurement, transfer it to your paper. Next, do the same for the subject's torso, arms, and legs.

11. Now that you have the general dimensions down for that person's proportions, fill in the details by examining them closer and then transferring your observations to your paper.

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    Use a model. There are also dolls available at art stores for about ten dollars, sometimes even cheaper online. These have each section visibly set apart to use as a reference for how big each section of the body should be. Set it up as a model and use its dimensions for drawing out the proportions on paper.

13. Apply the same techniques of the ruler or pencil to the object. Once you have mastered taking measurements with these tools and transfering the data to your paper, you will be able to set the proportions for any object you wish to draw.