Drawing the Proportions of the Body

Even if you aren’t the greatest artist in the world, if the proportions on your figure drawing are accurate, the realism and integrity of the figure is preserved. We see bodies all the time and the eye knows instinctively when the proportions are out of whack. “Everything that is drawn realistically is drawing with the laws of perspective, even if the artist doesn’t realise that he or she is using them.”1

The human body is one of the most complex shapes on the planet. Proportions are the first thing to learn when drawing bodies because they teach you how to be anatomically correct. This can be accomplished by charting out the body and identifying which joints match up to the others.