Odea Fashion NY

The human body in proportion

• Fashion Drawing Figure Templates Ebook
• How To Draw Figures And People
• Designer Brand Names And Fashion Designer Wholesale Sources
• Become A Famous Fashion Designer
• Mens Style and Mens Fashion Seduce With Style

As a fashion designer you should always remember that clothes are made to be worn by real people. It is important, therefore, to gain some understanding of the structure and proportions of the human body.

The exercise in figure drawing described in Unit 8 will Introduce you to a simple and easy system that you can use to draw figures that are roughly in proportion. The exercise has nothing to do with creativity but will help you grasp the possibilities and restrictions of the framework on which your creations will hang.

There are obvious differences in the male and female forms, such as narrower waists and wider hips for females and squarer chests and faces for men. However, these variations should be incorporated once the basics have been sketched. Male and female bodies can both be broken down into

Head

Upper

Pelvic area

Chest

Calf

Thigh

Thigh

A Vitruvian Man

Leonardo da Vinci is renowned for his realistic representations of the human body. He drew this illustration of a precisely proportioned figure to accompany his notes on Vitruvius. This architect wrote in Roman times that the human body Is the Ideal architectural model because It fits, with arms and legs extended, Into the perfect forms of both the square and the circle.

■4 Eight-and-a-half heads

The height of a realistic human figure from crown to toe is around seven-and-a-half times the height of the head. For fashion purposes, this can be stretched (below the waist only) to eight-and-a-half head sizes.

the same simple block shapes. The head can be portrayed as an egg; the chest as a wastepaper basket; the pelvic area as a wide gymnastic vaulting horse; the limbs as tapering tubes; the feet and hands as cones; and the joints as balls. Once you have drawn these shapes in the relative sizes shown (opposite), in a straightforward front view, you can move them around like parts of a wooden drawing dummy to create the pose you want.

There is a convention in fashion illustration that a figure should be elongated to give it more elegance. However, that elongation should involve only the legs. A real-life body will measure around seven-and-a-half-head sizes; in fashion this increases to eight-and-a-half heads, with the extra length added below the waist. All the other proportions of the basic block shapes should be based on reality.

I When you come to draw from life, a grasp of these principles will help you enormously in understanding the mechanics of the figure in front of you. It is always good to remember that these "rules" are just conventions, but by gaining a basic understanding of the structure and proportions of the human body you will be better placed to break the rules later.

A ► Exploring movement

A wooden artist's dummy can help you analyze movement.

A ► Free illustration

A drawing based on an awareness of correct body proportions can still be free in execution and will still allow you to experiment with the presentation of the garments.

THE HUMAN BODY IN PROPORTION 51

An exercise in figure drawing

I f you are inexperienced in drawing figures, using this I easy method can add to the confidence of your illustrations by ensuring that your figures are roughly in proportion and all drawn to the same scale. The simple shapes and proportions of the method ensure that the figures are easy to draw and look correct. Furthermore, by grasping how these basic shapes fit together to form a human figure, your drawings will become better anchored on the page and the poses more convincing. For the sake of this exercise, the body, broken into its component parts, remains unclothed.

After you have completed the task, you should keep the drawings as a reference. You can always come back to this book, but nothing stays In the memory better than something learned by actually doing It yourself.

the project

Using a simple paper-folding method, divide your page to make a proportional blueprint of the human figure. Then draw in the basic block shapes that represent different parts of the body to make an easy-reference tool for use when you create fashion drawings in the future.

the objective

• Gain a framework to strengthen the more creative aspects of your work. • Practice drawing an elongated figure to use in fashion illustration.

SELF-CRITIQUE

• Have you followed this exercise step-by-step?

• Have you gained a better understanding of the basic shapes and proportions of the human figure?

• Will you be able to use this knowledge when creating fashion designs in the future?

o a the process

The human body is remarkably consistent in the way it divides up into sections. Make a mark just below the top of a page of paper (11 x 14 in.). Then draw a straight plumb line down the page, leaving about an inch at the bottom, and mark the end of the line. Fold your page at the halfway point between the top and bottom marks. Fold the page again, finding the halfway point on the plumb line as before, and then repeat once more. Flatten out the sheet, and you can now fill in your proportional blueprint of the human figure.

From the top mark to the next fold draw your egg-shaped head. Divide the line between this fold and the next, and mark across the plumb line. This mark forms the base of the neck and the shoulders. The next fold indicates the middle point of the rib cage. One fold down is the navel, followed by the crotch on fold four. Ignore fold five. On fold six mark your ball-shaped kneecap, and ignore fold seven. At the level of the bottom mark, fill in the ankle with another ball shape. The

<4 The folded-paper method

Once you have folded your page, marking the creases as described below, you can begin to sketch In the standard body shapes to achieve a correctly proportioned figure.

gap left at the bottom of the page is for the cone-shaped foot, which will protrude by about half the distance of the spaces between the folds.

You now have an eight-and-a-half-heads fashion figure that you can use as a basis for your designs. If you wish to elongate the figure further (some designers work to a nine- or even ten-heads measurement), remember that extra length should be added only below the knee. Using the block shapes, you can then draw in the remaining body parts to fill out the figure. Draw

< Using the framework

Using the "eight and a half heads" proportions as a rough framework for your illustrations will support even the most stylized representation of a figure.

the chest from the neck base through fold two and three-quarters of the way down to fold three. Draw the pelvic box up from fold four, extending three-quarters of the way to fold three. When you add the limbs, remember that the upper arm is shorter than the lower. The elbow, with arms hanging, is just above navel level; the wrist is just below the crotch.

SEE ALSO

e Drawing from life, p. 58

The basic forms remain in proportion, but have been manipulated, the limbs rotated to create a sense of life and movement.

▲ Manipulating the basic forms

This sequence of drawings shows how scribbles made using the folded-paper method can be worked up Into sketches for a final illustration.

The basic forms remain in proportion, but have been manipulated, the limbs rotated to create a sense of life and movement.

on HDD'S

Although It Is essential for a fashion designer to strive to break new ground and sometimes disregard conventions, it is nevertheless also useful to be grounded in a few basic design principles. It is important for designers always to keep in mind the fact that, whatever flights of fancy they may be exploring, their garments will eventually have to fit on a human body.

In fashion illustration it is usual to stretch the legs a little, but all other body parts should conform to their real proportions. This simple folded-paper system achieves a pattern for a fashionably elongated but correctly proportioned figure that can then be used as a foundation for illustrations such as those pictured here. It Is always possible to break completely with convention, but a student should start with a framework to support the free ideas that might follow. It is only once the basic principles have been absorbed that a designer can enjoy true artistic freedom.

A A Hidden structure

These figures have all been created using the folded-paper method, but the nuts and bolts of the construction are hidden under a free-and-easy representation of the garments. A stylized depletion of garments Is more likely to be successful If the viewer can accept the underlying figure as realistic.

A ►Taking liberties

Because the basic structure of these figures is correctly proportioned, the designer has been able to take liberties with details such as the broad shoulders and long arms to achieve a consistent stylization that gives cohesion to the overall look.

0 -1

Average user rating: 1 stars out of 1 votes