Isn’t it amazing when you begin teaching figure drawing, the figure’s
arms appear to end at the waist, the head is larger than the torso, or the legs
end where the knees should. That's art - right? I don’t let my students go out
like that! We start with non-standard measurement. I have them measure the
height of their head by standing in front of a piece of paper on the wall and
then – measure each other to determine how many ‘heads’ length they are… and
they say, “What are you up to now, Ms. Hill?!”
Next, I talk with them about proportions and the relationship between
the size of the head and the body. In a recent lesson, I tried something different. I asked the students to find
standing figures in magazines, paste them into their sketchbooks. Next they used
a piece of paper to determine the size of its head; then the torso; and finally
the legs and arms. They seemed to get the idea of human proportions by
comparing the images, and it helped them with their figure drawing. I believe
that everyday students can draw once they connect the dots, lines and shapes.
[smile]
No comments:
Post a Comment