Drawing Figures

In co-op yesterday we did a very successful lesson on drawing figures. We looked at Leonardo DaVinci's Vetruvian Man drawing and talked about body proportions. We did an initial directed drawing, starting with a head. We added curved lines to the head talking about how the lines made the head look round because they are curved. One line went slightly above halfway down where the eyes would be and halfway across (vertically) where the nose would be placed.

After the head was drawn, we talked about how the average person's height is about 6-7 times the length of the head. We talked about how to "measure" in art using estimation and the length of your pencil as a measuring tool. We marked five additional spaces below the head and then began drawing the body. The spine goes about 2 head lengths down to the hips. The shoulders are put in just under the head, leaving a short neck. The hips are slightly narrower than the shoulders. We looked at our own bodies to see this in real life. We talked about joints and placed dots where the joints were. We drew two arms with joints. When drawing arms it is good to note that elbows hit just above the waist and wrists come just below the hips. Hands are about 2/3 the length of the head. We used simple curved ovals for the hands and feet. Legs are generally about 2 1/2 -3 head lengths from hip to ankle, and feet are as long as the forearm (elbow to wrist) or as long as the head.

After we drew our initial directed sketch, I handed out pictures of people cut from magazines. Each student was to draw the skeletal position of three different figures from three different magazine clips. I gave them precut papers to make their three figures on. When they finished we glued their three studies onto colored paper to display them. Here are a few examples, all from the 5th/6th class. I think they did very well. Daughter M's is the top one.

At the end of class, I handed out three pipe cleaners to each student. They were asked to bend the pipe cleaners into figures, using the proportional tips we had learned. I did not give them any direction in this, since I thought they would do a better job with them than I could! This gave the early finishers something to do at the end. Great for kinesthetic learners! A wire cutter can be useful here if any pipe cleaners need shortening. Scissors can be used in a pinch, but it is hard on the scissor blades.