Feet First!
01 Oct 06
Some of these blog entries will be more important than others as to the weight of the instructional content. This one is a good one!

om. ; D

Fitting the whole figure on a page is a tough challenge for most artists. The majority of artists start with the head, then work their way down the page only to discover that by the time they reach the end of the page, they've run out of room needed to fit the feet into the picture.

If you've experienced this, here are two things for you to try:

-Draw a few lines to establish the background within which the figure occupies. This helps you to size the figure within a defined space. Note where these lines intersect the figure and adjust your drawing accordingly.

-Start from the feet and draw UP in order to establish the action of the pose. This is a powerful way to create a dynamic pose, and to keep the figure within the page. Remember to exaggerate the pose and to draw the whole figure so you know it will fit. As you can see above, with just a few lines, the figure fits within the page and the action of the pose has been established.

Once the whole figure is placed on the page, you can make adjustments, then begin to fill in the form.

In this more finished state, there are many things that could be adjusted to make the drawing more acurate. However, this is just a warmup drawing and doesn't make an artistic statement, so I won't take it any further.

If you would like to try this pose yourself, here is a photo of the pose from which I was drawing. I would like to thank the lovely Olivia for allowing me to include this photo.

E-mail me at: terry@terryvision.com I'll gladly post your comments if you like.