Pointy Chins - Episode 42: September 2017

Hi Thiago, You're right, I used to draw based on head measurements in the past. Now, I don't so much draw 7 head tall or 6 or 5 or anything like that characters based on measurements. I just draw by eye. I think it's much better to learn to draw these things just by eye than by using measuring. In this way, you will be able to include all the variation found in real people. People vary a lot. Some are 5 heads tall, some 7.5... All these guidelines are just ideas for either average or ideal figures, but it's important that you find what you like best on a personal level. It takes a little longer to train yourself to draw by eye rather than by measuring, and maybe learning a default measurement may have helped me get down some basic proportions, but I feel like it's best to learn to draw what looks right to you, and not conform to any specific guide. Even the iconic 8 heads model is just a template from which you should change depending on what character you are trying to draw. I hope this makes sense...

Hy Sycra, big fan here from Brazil :) Can I ask you a question? I did notice that in 2012 you always use the 8 head proportion, but now you are using the 7 head proportion, there is a motive for that? What do you recommend to decide what head proportion to use for each draw? Thanks

Thiago Ferreira Fernandes

Awesome! I'm glad to hear it's helping. :)

Hey Sycra, I like that you now re-draw the sketches, I think it's a great idea to make the review more active, and that idea you gave about drawing something from reference and then drawing that something from the imagination, is an exercise in which I had already thought about it but I have not put it into practice yet, but seeing you doing it made me think that it is a good time to try it.