Freehand and guided drawing, from life and from images
Drawing from life means looking at a real person or object in space. You see the true 3D form, the real light and can move around. Hold a pencil at arm's length to compare sizes (sight-size measuring). Drawing from an image (a photo) is easier to hold still, but the camera flattens depth and can hide shape, so use it as help, not as a replacement.
Freehand means drawing by eye and hand only. Guided drawing uses a help: a grid laid over the photo and a matching grid on your paper (copy square by square), construction lines, or a light box. Guided methods teach accuracy; freehand teaches seeing. Good artists use both. Gesture drawing (30 seconds to 2 minutes) catches the flow of the pose before any detail.
Proportion: measuring in heads
Proportion is how big each part is compared with the others. Artists since ancient times have used the head as the unit. A typical adult is about 7 to 7.5 heads tall; drawing ideals use 8 heads for a tall, heroic look. Babies are about 4 heads tall, a 6-year-old about 6, a teenager about 7, because the head grows less than the body.
Handy landmarks (8-head figure): chest line at 2 heads from the top, waist at 3, and the middle of the body at 4. Another old rule, from the Roman architect Vitruvius, says arm span is about equal to height. These are guides, not laws. Real people differ, and a drawing can bend them for style.
Human anatomy for the artist
You do not need every muscle name. Learn three layers. Bones give fixed lengths and show at the surface in a few places: collarbone, elbow, knee, ankle. Joints are the only places where the body bends: hinges (elbow, knee) and ball-and-socket joints (shoulder, hip). Muscles wrap the bones and give the smooth bulges: shoulder cap, upper arm, thigh, calf.
The big rule: a limb does not grow or shrink when it moves, it only turns at the joints (try the Arm slider). If a raised arm looks longer in your drawing, check the shoulder. Also check balance: the weight of the body must sit over the feet, so in a relaxed stand the weight rests on one leg and the hips tilt.
Colour theory and perception
Mix colours with the colour wheel: primaries (red, yellow, blue), secondaries (orange, green, purple) and complementary pairs that sit opposite (blue-orange, red-green, yellow-purple). Mixing complements gives soft greys and browns. Value means light or dark, and it matters more than hue to show form.
Skin is not one colour. It is a mix that changes with light. Under a warm lamp the lit side leans yellow-orange and the shade leans cool, blue or violet. This warm-light, cool-shade pair makes a figure feel round. Perception also plays tricks: a colour looks different next to different neighbours (simultaneous contrast), and the eye adjusts to the room light. Paint what you see next to what is around it, not what you think the colour "should" be.
Sketch, study and model
Work in three steps. A sketch is quick (1 to 5 minutes): catch the pose, the flow and the big shapes. A study is slow: you look hard at one part (a hand, a face, the folds of cloth) or one problem (light, proportion). A model here means the careful, planned drawing from which a final piece is made: it combines your sketches and studies, and may be squared up for a painting. Keep your sketchbook full of the first two and the third will be easier.
Photo archiving of your work
Photograph each finished piece to keep a record and to build a portfolio. Use soft daylight from a window (no flash, no shadows), hang or place the work flat and square to the camera, include a ruler or a grey card in a test shot, and fill the frame. Name the files with date and title (for example 2026-03-figure-study-01.jpg), keep the large original in a backup, and make a smaller copy for sharing online.
Try it: ten-minute figure
In the 3D, switch to Bones and lift the arm: do the bones change length? Now draw a figure on paper in 8 heads: mark 8 equal steps, then put the chest line at 2, the waist at 3 and the half-way mark at 4. Build it with an egg, boxes and tubes. Photograph it and name the file with today's date.
Key formulas and definitions
- Head unit = total figure height ÷ number of heads
- Typical adult ≈ 7 to 7.5 heads; drawing ideal = 8 heads
- Landmarks (8 heads): chest 2, waist 3, half-way 4
- Arm span ≈ height (Vitruvian rule of thumb)
- Grid enlargement factor = new width ÷ old width
Worked examples
1. A figure is drawn 24 cm tall and 8 heads high. How big is one head? How far from the top is the waist (3 heads)?
One head = 24 ÷ 8 = 3 cm. Waist = 3 × 3 = 9 cm from the top.
2. A child figure is 6 heads tall and is drawn 30 cm high. Find the size of the head.
Head = 30 ÷ 6 = 5 cm. The child's head is bigger compared with the body than an adult's.
3. A model is 150 cm tall. About how wide should the arm span be by the Vitruvian rule?
About equal to height, so about 150 cm.
4. A photo is 10 cm wide and 15 cm tall. You draw it on a grid so that the width is 40 cm. What is the new height?
Factor = 40 ÷ 10 = 4. New height = 15 × 4 = 60 cm.
5. A lamp is on the left of a figure. Which side of the arm is in shade, and what colour would you lean to for the shade?
The right side is in shade. With warm light on the lit side, the shade leans cool (a bluish or violet brown).
6. You see the arm look longer after lifting it in your drawing. What do you check?
Bones do not change length. Check that the upper arm and forearm are still the same lengths as before, and that the shoulder joint is where it should be.
Common mistakes
- Starting with outline details (eyes, fingers) before the big shapes and proportions.
- Making the head too big or the legs too short. Check against the head ruler.
- Stretching limbs in a lifted pose. Bones keep their length.
- Colouring skin with one flat tone. Use warm in the light and cool in the shade.