Painting and Drawing the Figure
Attaching the Body to the Head

This process involves accurately articulating a figure. That does not mean that we always want to!, but the educated artist should be able to reproduce a figure accurately. Note that many of the world’s most fabulous artists, well-known for drawing and painting figures have stretched parts, elongated limbs, and enlarged toes for effect. You will too. But, you need to start with the original. Studying proportion, rhythm, mass, and balance are keys to understanding the figure. Proportion sees the basic shapes of the body, and correlates them to one another. Rhythm brings visual fluidity to the body, and its shapes. Mass prepares the body with sufficient quantity, and balance keeps everything in its place, (or out of its place purposefully), and stable. We will start with exercises that train you in all four, with special emphasis on each every week.Proportion: Look for how the parts of the body relate to one another. Notice especially the head, and the size of the head to the size of the body. Often, various artists scale the body by the size of the head. George Bridgeman shows several "measurement" techniques. These are valuable to show how to not only illustrate an accurate appearance, but also how to alter those shapes convincingly.