drawing head to body ratio

How many heads do we need for drawing a correct human figure ?

Forget Geometry, Art has the upper hand.

Drawings are most meaningful when they disagree with theory.

mom and son, proportions of head and body

Head/body ratio is larger in children,

Mother and son have had their head drawn at approx. same size.

[source: 19th century cartoon, "image d'Epinal"]

Head to body proportions

Human proportions

Beware of the dangerous facial proportions rules ("drawing exactitude is never truth") because size of ear, nose and mouth are more dependent on head orientation, than on human anatomy.

Artistic anatomy

On the Fabric of Human Body (Andreas Vesalius makes no bones about osteology).

The average human has about one testicle and one breast.

Artistic anatomy

A fugitive from the law of averages. Forget science : Art has the upper hand.