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7 PAGES - 12 ILLUSTRATIONS
This project is recommended for artists, from age 12 to adult, with advanced drawing skills, as well as home schooling, academic and recreational fine art educators. Published by Hoddinott Fine Art Publishers, Halifax, NS, Canada, Revised 2006
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OUTLINING SHAPES
You need to be able to visually identify the exterior shapes and forms of legs and feet, as defined by bones, fat, and muscles before you can draw them realistically. Legs come in many shapes and sizes, from the short chubby legs of a tiny infant to the long, well-defined, muscular legs of an athletic adult.
Grab your drawing materials and follow along with me to draw a leg and foot. Thank you to my son, Ben, for allowing me to borrow one of his legs. 1) Lightly sketch the outline of the individual shapes of the leg and foot. Observe the basic shape of the entire subject and look for the shapes of its various parts. Visually measure proportions, how large or small some parts are as compared to others. The various parts of the leg include: The upper leg is a large elongated oval-shape. A circle encloses the shape of the knee. A smaller long oval defines the shape of the lower leg. The ankle is a very small oval shape. A triangle marks the shape of the foot. Note that this triangle is lower on the right. 2) Lighten your sketch lines with your kneaded eraser, until they are very faint.
Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web site http://www.finearteducation.com or http://www.drawspace.com
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3)
Lightly sketch the outline of the shape of the leg. Use the rough sketch as a guideline. Take note of the: lengths of the lines directions in which the various lines curve relationships between the lines proportions of the various parts to one another At this point you can either leave the rough sketch lines visible, or you can carefully erase them.
When you draw a flower or a tree, if the proportions are off, it really doesnt matter. Not so with a drawing of a leg and foot. If your proportions are wrong, your drawing just wont look right no matter how wonderful your shading is. Drawing from life is the best possible way to develop an understanding of anatomy. Its important to become familiar with how individual parts of bodies connect to one another. Once you know how to draw the basic shapes and proportions, you can easily transfer this information into drawing from photos or instructional drawings.
Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web site http://www.finearteducation.com or http://www.drawspace.com
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Practice drawing legs and feet from real life every chance you can. If your friends and family begin running away when you approach them with your drawing supplies, you can always draw your own legs and feet. Take off your shoes and you find two wonderful foot models. You can even set up your drawing materials in front of a large mirror, and draw your legs from various angles. 4) 5) 6) Lighten your lines again with your kneaded eraser and redraw your outline adding more detailed information. Very lightly sketch the shapes inside the outline that identify some of the forms to be defined with shading. Take your time and draw the details of the foot and ankle. Logic dictates that a human foot is actually longer than it appears in this drawing. However, keep in mind that this foot is being viewed from an extreme frontal perspective. You use a rule of perspective, called foreshortening to indicate the shape of a foot realistically when viewed from this angle. Foreshortening is the process in which perspective creates the illusion that a figure is shorter when viewed from an extreme angle. The foreshortened qualities of parts of bodies, such as legs and arms, become more noticeable when viewed from an end.
Dont worry if your drawings of hands and feet look all wrong at first. Just do your best and in time, you will get better! Feet (and hands) are the most difficult parts of the human body to draw. Yes, even harder than a face!
Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web site http://www.finearteducation.com or http://www.drawspace.com
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Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web site http://www.finearteducation.com or http://www.drawspace.com
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8)
Use crosshatching and 2B and 4B pencils to build up the values to further accentuate the forms of the foot. 9) Use 2B and 4B pencils to build up the crosshatching values to emphasize the forms of the various sections of the leg. Crosshatching lines beautifully illustrate anatomical forms. By emphasizing the more complicated components, which characterize movement, such as his knee, ankle and foot, they become important points of interest in this drawing. I use a lot of contrast between light and dark values to help make the forms of the leg and foot stand out. 10) Use parallel horizontal hatching lines to indicate the cast shadow.
Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web site http://www.finearteducation.com or http://www.drawspace.com
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Sign your name, put todays date on the back, put a smile on your face, and go find another exciting drawing project!
Born in St. Johns, Newfoundland, Brenda grew up in the small town of Corner Brook. She developed strong technical competencies with a personal commitment to self directed learning, and the aid of assorted Learn to Draw books. During Brendas twenty-five year career as a self-educated civilian forensic artist, numerous criminal investigation departments have employed Brendas skills, including Royal Canadian Mounted Police and municipal police departments. In 1992, Brenda was honored with a commendation from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and in 1994, she was awarded a Certificate of Membership from Forensic Artists International. Her home-based art career included graphic design, and teaching recreational drawing and painting classes. As supervisor of her communitys recreational art department, Brenda hired and trained teachers, and designed curriculum for several childrens art programs. In 1998, Brenda chose to end her eighteen-year career as an art educator in order to devote more time to writing, drawing, painting, and developing her websites. Drawspace http://www.drawspace.com incorporates her unique style and innovative approach to curriculum development. This site offers downloadable and printable drawing classes for students of all abilities from the age of eight through adult. Students of all ages, levels and abilities have praised the simple step-by-step instructional approach. This site is respected as a resource for fine art educators, home schooling programs, and educational facilities throughout the world.
Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web site http://www.finearteducation.com or http://www.drawspace.com