Learn to Draw the Human Figure

The first challenge is to make the sketch proportional. Start by locating the major dynamic lines. Position of the head in relationship to the neck and torso, locate the limbs and their joints so that everything is proportional. Make sure that the length of the torso is proportional to the head and limbs.

Artists will hold a pencil or brush in front of the model to measure various features,marking the length of a limb or torso by placing their thumb on the brush to transfer the proportion to the drawing.

In the first drawing the major lines are sketched in and joints marked by dots. The axis of the head is established and the head divided into sections for eyes and mouth. Notice that the head is directly over the leg which bears the weight of the body.

Next, make a contour drawing. Using the framework created by the major lines of the body that you drew, carefully observe and draw the contours of the body. Pay as much attention to the negative spaces as to the positive spaces. For instance, the triangle created by the elbow, upper arm, forearm and torso is as important a shape to creating accurate proportion as is the shape of the arm.

At this stage you can begin to place the major features, kneecaps, belly, breasts, hair, tendons and bones surrounding the neck, fingers, eyes, ears, nose, etc. Again, pay as much attention to the space between features as you pay to the size and shape of the features themselves.

Work out all the placement and proportion issues before you begin to shade the drawing.

Now that all the proportions are established you can begin to shade the drawing which will give it life. Begin by shading the shapes of the figure. I begin by observing the direction the light is coming from and going through every part of the figure and shading that part of the limb, head or body which is on the opposite side from the light to give a general form to the whole drawing.

At this stage also begin to show the shape of the form by the direction of your shading marks. You can begin to show the hair by the same means, making marks which mimic the direction and flow of the hair.

Notice that shading is not just a routine coloring of every shape, but rather careful observation of how the light falls, or doesn't. Some forms are completely in shadow, others totally in light. Some are half in and half out of the light and these neutral forms (the top of the chest for instance) give dimension to the other forms.

Once the general shape of the figure is established, finish the drawing by modulating the shadows and light. Some shadows receive almost no light and are shaded heavier and darker. Others receive reflected light and are lighter. Shading to show the way light flows around curves (the legs for instance) should have a soft edge.

Finally add the cast shadows, in this drawing the shadows cast by the chin, breast, arms onto the stomach and left leg onto the right leg. These final details add life and dimension to the drawing, by completing the interplay between light and shadow they complete the illusion and give atmosphere to the drawing.

Eakins perspective drawing the pair oared shell.

Eakins perspective drawing of the icosahedron

Process on Paper: Drawings by Thomas Eakins from the Charles Bregler Collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

Baldessari on Thomas Eakins's "Rock Thrower"

More Photographs by Thomas Eakins

The Figure: The Classic Approach to Drawing and Construction

On Drawing - by Norm Nason - The Scream Online

Like most 19th-century drawing series, the Bargue course was divided into three sections: the copying of plaster casts (a number of these ghostly white fragments and statues, some larger than life, appear here, lent by various institutions), then of master drawings, and then working from live (male) nudes.

Student work from the New York Academy of Art - Charles Bargue Drawing Class - September 2004

Charles Bargue Drawing Course - a student's review of another course.

Human Proportions for Artists (Spiral-bound) by Avard T. Fairbanks (Author), Eugene F. Fairbanks (Author)
This is a comprehensive studio guide to human proportions listing over one hundred measurements of both male and female figures with head and face details. Measurements are in both inch and metric systems and fractions are in columns from heroic to 1/12 life size. Section are included on relative and comparative proportions and of dynamic symmetry.