Body proportions: another approach
 

There was recently a discussion on the Forum about body proportions based on head size and I found this today. (I hope it's not too hard to read, I shot these pages with my camera). It's from the book "Drawing Those Bodacious Bad Babes of Comics"

Good Girls are 71/2 heads high and Bad Girls start at 8.

Thanks for the great laugh, Linda!

Jean

Someone please explain to me; why is the bad one also the prettiest one? :o
Allan

What a scream!

I must mention that my proportions are 8 heads. Ahem.

Linda, I didnt give you permission to post those drawings of me. I understand you posting yours, all that working out has paid off. BUT, I'd prefer if you post mine you give me a sweater next time. It's chilly in here.

:o

Freak of nature?
 

I measured my head today and figured out that I'm only 7 heads high! Does that make me a freak--or maybe an extra-good girl? Neither one sounds very appealing.

Alex,

Knowing you, you are definitely a saint! But Sargent would have proportioned you as he always did, as a Bad Girl. Although I must say, his eight-plus-head people don't really come across as being all that bad. ;)

Garth

I'm personally going for 8 1/2 heads. I'd go for 9 but I don't have the stamina.

I suppose the next thing you are all wanting to know from this book is, What is Bad Girl body language and what is Good Girl body language? (I actually learned something from this chapter, by the way.)

I'm reading comics, and the rest of you are out there reading Masterly Secrets of Masterful Oil Painters Masters.

So.....

where are the Bad Boys?

About body language - this book says you have to set forth clues to character even in repose, and one of the clues to character is in level of tension in repose. You show level of tension by increasing the amount of arch, curve, twist or spiraling actions. The more tension, the more "unsettling", dangerous, etc.

I have always felt that one of the reasons Sargent got into trouble for his Madame X portrait is not just because of the slipped strap, it's that twisting arm on the table.

Anyway, I find this kind of thing very interesting, just thought I'd share this.

.

I don't know Allan, that Good Girl is pretty babe-a-licious... :thumbsup:

The twist
 

Hmmm. . .Linda, glad you brought up that thing about a twisting body posture connoting tension. I know lots of portraitists use this posture as a matter of course, to create interest. I've noticed also that many traditional portraits of women show them twisting. Is it sexier? More provocative? More "feminine?" Or simply more interesting?

Just to be perverse, I deliberately try not to use it in my portraits of women, except in cases where it connotes something specific (not necessarily negative) about the woman, and about the emotion or the whole concept of the painting.

Maybe we should start a new thread about this.