Industrial Design Method

The second method of drawing the figure is the industrial method. Its origins are age-old, but it was perfected at the Art Center of Pasadena in the 1950’s. This method has been known to be the far more practical method when creating a figure for any given purpose. As it makes it easy to control the pose and achieve convincing foreshortening painlessly.

First, you sort out the head, neck and the shoulders. These will provide a good starting point to build the figure gesture from. Viewed from the front the head is shaped like an oval, while in a side view it is a bloated triangular form. The corners of the triangle depict the tilt of the head.

Cylinder Figures

When using the cylinder figures you should begin with two curvy lines that show the grace and ideally established form. Add to your first line a second line that describes the width of the pose. This will help establish the overall volume of the figure. These two lines should mirror each other, moving in relationship to one another. Line three is the centre line of the pose, attached to the pit of the neck.

With a centre line drawn, you can now draw an ellipse or oval. This describes the depth of the form. The centre line gives you another point you can now convincingly attach the oval to, this turns your three lines into an active cylinder form.

Cylinders are easier to draw than for instance a cube form, as you need to know perspective to make the cubes look convincing. Cylinders can give the viewer a better understanding of the composition in space if drawn with correct perspective.

The shoulders are the top point of the cylinder, the pelvis is the bottom. The pelvis varies in shape depending on what character you are drawing. It can be drawn as a soft sphere like shape or can be more defined. The gender of the character also determines the pelvis shape. Female pelvises are more bell or skirt shaped as the males are box shaped. The front of the pelvis terminates in a bullet like shape. This is drawn inside the body cylinder shape, cutting in on either side to show the hip bones.

Afterwards an egg shape should be placed attaching it to the shoulder line to represent the ribcage, this should only be leaving the cylinder is the form is twisted or compressed. The rest of the torso

Drawing Anatomy; An artists guide to the human figure, Barrington Barber

Digital Sculpting; Human Anatomy, Scott Spencer

Drawing Workshops; Anatomy Essentials, Imagine FX