Drawing the human figure

Drawing people can feel hard, but artists use the head as a measuring stick to get proportions right.

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Measuring with heads

Artists often measure a figure in head-heights.
In many drawing guides, an adult is about 7 to 8 heads tall (people vary).
The halfway point of an adult standing figure is roughly at the hips.
With arms hanging down, the elbows are roughly at the waist and the wrists near the hips; the fingertips reach about halfway down the thigh.
Children's heads are bigger compared with their bodies, so a young child is fewer heads tall.

Gesture and structure

Gesture drawing: quick drawings (30 seconds to 2 minutes) that capture the movement and pose, not the detail.
Stick figures and lines of action show the direction of the pose.
Mannequin or block figures build the body from simple forms: an oval for the head, cylinders for arms and legs, boxes for the chest and hips.
A wooden artist's mannequin with movable joints can help you practise poses.

Proportion in history

The Roman architect Vitruvius wrote about the ideal proportions of the human body.
Around 1490, Leonardo da Vinci drew the Vitruvian Man: a man with arms and legs spread, fitted inside a circle and a square, based on Vitruvius's ideas.
Artists also exaggerate proportions on purpose for effect, for example in cartoons or in the very thin figures of the Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti.
Worked example

A figure drawing is 24 cm tall. Using a proportion of 8 heads, how tall should the head be?

  1. The figure is 8 head-heights tall.
  2. Divide the total height by 8.
  3. 24 ÷ 8 = 3 cm.

Answer: 3 cm.

Key idea

Measure figures in head-heights: an adult is about 7 to 8 heads tall, with the halfway point near the hips. Use quick gesture drawings for movement. Leonardo's Vitruvian Man (around 1490) explored ideal proportions.

Quick check

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Extra practice

2 more questions

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  1. Using the usual guideline, about how many head-heights tall is a young child of about three?

    1. About 7 to 8
    2. About 12
    3. About 4 to 5
    4. About 2
    Show the answer

    Answer: About 4 to 5

    Young children have big heads compared with their bodies.

  2. Using the usual guideline, where do the fingertips reach when the arms hang down?

    1. About halfway down the thigh
    2. The ankles
    3. The waist
    4. The shoulders
    Show the answer

    Answer: About halfway down the thigh

    Fingertips reach mid-thigh.

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Practise this lesson free (7 questions)All KS3 Art and Design lessons

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Sources and references

Last updated 2 October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we will fix it.

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