Apply proportion and measuring in drawing, including comparative measuring with a held pencil, using a unit of measurement, checking angles and relationships, and the basic proportions of the human figure and face

What this dot point is asking

SEAB wants you to apply proportion and measuring in your drawing: techniques for keeping the sizes and relationships in a drawing accurate rather than guessing. You should be able to use comparative measuring with a held pencil, choose a unit of measurement, check angles and relationships, and know the basic proportions of the human head and figure as a starting framework. The central insight is that accurate drawing depends on relationships, how big each part is compared with the others, and that simple measuring techniques let you check these relationships instead of relying on a brain that habitually distorts them.

The answer

Why proportion matters

Proportion is the relationship of sizes within a drawing: how large each part is compared with the others and with the whole. A drawing can have lovely individual marks yet look wrong because the proportions are off, a head too big, a table too narrow. Because the symbol-making brain consistently distorts sizes (it tends to enlarge faces and important features), proportion has to be actively checked, not assumed.

Comparative measuring with a pencil

The main tool is comparative measuring, also called sight-sizing. Hold a pencil at full arm's length with the arm straight and one eye closed, so the pencil stays at a constant distance. Align the tip with one edge of a feature and slide your thumb down to mark the other edge: this gives you a unit. Now compare every other part of the subject against that unit (this object is two units wide, that one is half a unit tall). You then transfer these relationships to the paper at any scale you like, as long as every part keeps the same proportion. The arm must stay the same length each time, or the unit changes.

Choosing a unit and checking angles

A good unit is a clear, medium-sized part of the subject: the head when drawing a figure, or a particular object in a still life. Everything else is measured in terms of it. The same held pencil also checks angles: hold the pencil along a sloping edge of the subject and note its tilt against an imagined vertical or horizontal, then match that angle on the page. Checking key angles stops a drawing from leaning or distorting. Together, comparing units and checking angles keeps the whole structure true.

Basic proportions of the head and figure

Standard guides give a useful starting framework. On a front-on adult face, the eyes sit roughly halfway down the head (not near the top), the space between them is about one eye-width, the base of the nose is about halfway between the eyes and the chin, and the mouth about a third of the way from nose to chin. For the whole figure, the classical guide is that an adult is roughly seven to eight heads tall, with the halfway point of the body around the hips. These guides are averages: real people vary, and any tilt or turn changes everything, so the framework must always be checked against the actual subject by observation and measuring.

Examples in context

Example 1. A measured figure study. An academic figure drawing is built on measuring: the artist establishes the head as a unit, then plots the figure as a number of heads tall, checking the angles of the shoulders, hips and limbs by sighting. The finished study reads as anatomically convincing because its proportions were measured rather than guessed.

Example 2. Renaissance proportion systems. Renaissance artists were fascinated by ideal proportion, famously expressed in drawings relating the human figure to simple geometry, such as the well-known study of a figure inscribed in a circle and square. These systems show a deep interest in measurable proportion, while reminding us that they are idealised frameworks, with real bodies always varying from the ideal.

Try this

Q1. Describe the correct method for comparative measuring with a pencil. [3 marks]

• Cue. Hold the pencil at full arm's length with the arm straight and one eye closed, align the tip with one edge of a feature and slide the thumb to mark its size as a unit, then compare every other part against that unit, keeping the arm the same length.

Q2. On a front-on adult face, where do the eyes sit, and why does this surprise beginners? [2 marks]

• Cue. The eyes sit roughly halfway down the head; beginners are surprised because they tend to place the eyes too high, near the top, leaving too little room for the forehead.

Q3. Why are standard proportion guides only a starting point? [3 marks]

• Cue. They are averages for a generic subject, but every real person or object varies, and any tilt or turn changes the proportions through foreshortening, so the artist must check and adjust the guide against the actual subject.