Evening Drawing
Week 2: Measurements & Proportions
Helena Lukášová, Hana Pokojná

Easels
•You can stand or sit
•Stand easel onto your drawing hand side (right handed on the right side of your body, left handed
on the left side).
•Stay roughly an arm’s length away.
•Stand in a way where you don’t have to move your body to see the model or peek over the easel.
Just move your eyes/ turn your head slightly.
•The drawing paper shouldn't be too high or too low, (usually eyes roughly middle of the big paper)
make sure you’re comfy.
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Measurements
•Last week we focused on quick intuitive measurements through movement. The aim was to push you to
not think but to draw.
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•This week we will look at measuring:
1)Extend your arm and close one of your eyes
2)Have the top of pencil aligned and starting where the top of the head is
3)Place your thumb where the head ends (chin), this is your 1 unit.
4)Move the pencil along the body and see how many head measurements it is.
5)When measuring, don’t make heavy marks, make general marks of where key body parts are.
6)Everything is in a relationship with other things! Look at relations of placements in space!
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7) Pencils are also good seeing directions, for example, slouching shoulders, pelvis direction….
angles
Source (image): https://www.artistsnetwork.com/art-mediums/drawing/3-figure-drawing-mistakes/
Direction

Proportions (adults)
•These are the general proportions for men and women. Of coarse there are anatomical variations,
but this is a great way to keep figures proportional.
•General measurement is 7.5 heads measurements in the whole body
•2 heads can fit between top of the scull and nipples
•Source: Velká kniha anatomie pro výtvarníky by Barber and Barrington

Age and proportions
•Different age = different proportions
•For example, 1 year old toddles
      is roughly ‘4 heads tall’ compared to
      adult how is about 7.5 heads tall.
•Source: Velká kniha anatomie pro výtvarníky by Barber and Barrington
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Composition
•Think about proportions to fit the figure in the paper
•Do not make an entire arm smaller just to fit it into the paper. It’s better to have better
proportions and invisible appendage than the other way around….
•You don’t have to draw until the end of the paper, just to make a suggestion of continuation.
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