An overview of basic proportion and landmarks for the human body.
Newest

@rickbush94
1mo
Hi! This is such a great video. The one thing I'm a bit confused about is why at 10:35 you draw the top of the ribcage above the "1/2" mark that you made earlier. Could you please explain if you have time? Thank you!
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1mo
I place the back of the rib cage higher than the front because the top of the rib cage sits at an angle. Hope that helps!

Christophe Dolbeau
2mo
Why does my video stop right when you said you're about to go over the arm/leg proportions? It just cuts off right as you're about to go into that so the last thing that was talked about is the back side of the pelvis and then it just ends. Am I not getting access to the whole video for some reason or did you just decide not to include that part? Just wondering cause I don't want to be missing a key part of the video. Thanks
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2mo
I don't go through the bones of the arms and legs here. We don't really need it for the perspective construction the same way we might need the torso landmarks.
Mario Ulloa
2mo
Interesting to see to see the similarities and differences this video is compared to gesture course.

@jshep88
3mo
I'm a super newbie and found this really helpful. For gesture I have been struggling with how long the neck needs to be and so I thought maybe it's useful to gesture from mid-head even if it is a font-facing model. Also it feels good to address the proportions for the pinch and stretch of the torso to get a rough sense of the length of each gesture. Once I move past gestures and on to shapes, I wonder if it's useful to pretend that the thorax is simply a two head tall oval that directly connects from the bottom of the head to the top of the pelvis and then start shaving off pieces so that the empty space remaining is the neck and abdomen. It seems to help during this exercise. Hopefully in practice it proves to be as helpful.
@reina1999
5mo
Here is my first attempt at the Proportions and Landmarks exercise. I will try to fit it in with my other regular drawing practices from now on. I can already notice what I need to improve on. I think I could have made the rib cage bigger to fit better within the boxes. I used a ruler to make the guidelines across the page. I had a bit of difficulty making them as accurate as I could. Overall that, I’m satisfied with my attempt on the assignment.
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5mo
Nice work
Zander Schmer-Lalama
5mo
My attempt at the proportions and landmarks.
Josh Drummond
6mo
Notes from the lesson. I really took notice of how the torso box starts at the top of the scapula and ends at the bottom of the floating ribs. I couldn't find this specific information in figure drawing books I've studied.

@fpi1337
6mo
One thing I'm wondering about when it comes to the whole proportions thing: I get how it is important to have a sense for proportions when it comes to drawings from the front/back/side without any extraordinary perspectives. However, as soon we begin to draw in perspective, these proportion guidelines become distorted. So how do we use these landmarks in perspective?
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6mo
While it doesn't apply directly in the same format, having an awareness of what is correct does help when pushing different angles as you have a better sense of those landmarks and their relationships.
Josh Fiddler
7mo
@Michael Hampton I like this version of the map a bit better than Loomis' version for proportion. Simpler and easier to remember. A couple questions on the legs: (I know they weren't covered and it's not about skeleton properly)
Loomis puts the width of the lower legs at the calves at about a head wide.
Where would you place the ankle bones? Loomis doesn't seem to explicitly say but looks like around 1/3 up from the heels.
would you say the same for these?
Quick question about the base of the neck in front and back view. I noticed that the back of the neck in front view isn't as high as it is the back view. Was that just an oversight? Should the first subdivision of the second segment of the body be divided into halves twice to get the back edge or is the back view incorrectly placed and should be lower at that first halving like in the front view?
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6mo
What fantastic questions
1. I break the last half head into thirds and place the medial ankle at the first and lateral at the second third.
2. I always put the 7th cervical at an angle.to the pit of the neck (in side view). If there's a discrepancy that you notice it might just be an inconsistency or error on my end.

@jianmi
7mo
Whenever I'm drawing the rib part, it kinda goes a bit roundish, making it a bit bulky, so i redraw it many times. Other than that i'm getting a hang of it. having fun!

@aub
8mo
Proportion and landmarks.
Potion
8mo
Had a blast with this once again :D
Super fun.
Potion
8mo
Is there a jpeg or psd file you can share that shares the landmarks you did as a template for reference? Screen capping the lecture again and again is a bit hard XD
Piyush LALWANI
9mo
sir in anatomy we study that for male shoulder area would be a bit broder then pelvis and for female we study that pelvis would broder then shoulder. based on this chapter how can we make that rule in practise here ?
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9mo
This is a generic skeleton. If you'd like to change body type feel free to distort those distances.

@steady
9mo
Two things: Any tips on accurate head shapes? If I make the head too skinny or wide early on, the rest of the body will have the wrong width.
Second, we seem to be missing the part for the legs. This was very helpful and the top half of the body is definitely the most complicated, but I feel like it's still important to have the rough lengths of the legs included here. It looks like some folks may have already known these proportions or got the rest of this from the book?
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9mo
The head shape should determine the rest of the build. In the proportion lecture I begin with the head and build everything out from that measurement. The torso width, in other words, is directly related to my starting proportion.
I only give the rough proportion here for the legs as this isn't intended to be a skeleton lecture, just something to support construction. Otherwise, I always put the knee 1/2 between the bottom of pelvis and foot.
Kevin Patel
10mo
Should we be able to draw this from memory?
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10mo
I think you'll be able to eventually!

@lucastoonz86
11mo
thought I’d share these here, need to work on my draftsmanship I think

@boltart48
1yr
I wanted to try this again, I'm trying to relearn proportions and landmarks so that I have a better time with my figures.

@lucastoonz86
11mo
Hello I like the diagram one thing I noticed from the lesson is the scapula should start on the third below the neck that may solve your arm length problem as the total length should end at the bottom of the pelvis

sara keyes
1yr
@bumatehewok
1yr
I tried to follow along but it got a bit messy. I think my head was too wide to start and I needed readjust things.
This was very helpful though. I am going to start practicing breaking down individual parts in the way you showed.
Side note once you add the spine to the ribcage it kind of reminds me of a popsicle or a sign.
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1yr
Oh cool! A like that! I never thought of a popsicle or sign before. Thanks for that
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About instructor
Educator, painter, writer, and art historian. Author of Figure Drawing: Design and Invention.