This article will tell you how to draw man, a child, and a human skeleton. Every artist should know these basics.
Table of Contents
How to draw man: Proportions
Usually a woman’s body is slightly smaller and thinner than a man’s, but of course people are different, so you will need all your skill to see exactly what you are going to portray. Notice that in the examples below, the male figure is wider than the female figure in the shoulders, and the female figure is wider than the male figure in the hips. These are the classic proportions of human figures, but real people sometimes have less perfect shapes. Be that as it may, as a base such a diagram of the contours and proportions of human figures will do you well, will work for you and you will know how to draw man.
The picture shows a man and a woman of the same height. The full height of a man is equal to eight lengths of his head. Notice how the human body is divided by length marks: two-eighths from the crown are at the level of the armpits, three at the navel line, four at the level of the groin (pubis), five at mid-thigh, six at the knees, and seven below the calves. This scale will help you get started.
A man’s neck is thicker than a woman’s. Also consider that a woman’s waist is usually narrower than a man’s. In general, the outline of a woman’s figure is smoother and softer than a man’s. To summarize, these differences are related to childbearing and nursing, which is why women’s hips are wider than men’s.
Figure of a young man on one leg
How to draw man: Child proportions
These skills will help you understand how to draw man.
A child’s body proportions change very quickly. Children grow at different rates, so don’t be surprised that two children of the same age can look completely different. Consequently, the following drawings can only serve as the most general diagram describing the changes in a child’s body proportions as he or she grows up. A child’s head is much smaller than an adult’s head.
It reaches its full size around the age of sixteen. The most pronounced difference between a child, a teenager, and an adult is the way the limbs and body elongate as they grow. Sometimes a small child looks soft and rounded because of the child’s swollen body, while boys and girls are almost indistinguishable from each other until they reach the age of puberty.
At the very beginning of human life, the head in relation to the body is much larger: the child on the left is one and a half years old, and the proportions shown here are average for his age. His full height is only three and a half head lengths, hence his limbs are much shorter than they would be in an adult. In the middle is an image of a child six or seven years old; the full body length is just over five head lengths, but this size may vary, however, depending on at what rate a particular child is growing up.
At about age twelve (right), the full body length is about six head lengths. Look: the middle of the child’s body is much closer to the navel – this line will gradually decrease as the child grows. The body and limbs become thinner: a small child looks chubby, while a twelve-year-old seems very frail at his height.
How to draw man: Human skeleton
The human skeleton has about 200 separate bones. Sixty-four of these are in the hands and arms alone. The chief concern of the art student is to acquaint himself with the “show” bones that have bearing on the surface forms. They if are important and not as difficult to learn as one might first imagine. The a long bones, found mostly in the four limbs, play the biggest role in body movement. Besides being strong support bones, muscles convert them into marvel- & ous mechanical levers. Their smooth extremities are designed for articulation.
The plate-like bones such as the skull and ilium of the pelvis serve in a protective capacity for delicate tissues and organs beneath. In addition, a few powerful muscles find their origin on these bones like the temporal muscle on the side of the skull which raises the lower jaw, and the thigh and hip-joint muscles which have their origin on the crest of the ilium. The cage of ribs forms a basket protection for life-propelling organs, besides being elastic for breathing expansion and contraction. Then we have long bones, plate bones, and thirdly, irregular bones found in the face, spine and in the hands and feet.
Source: “Learning to Draw in Six Days”
