Page:Drawing for Beginners.djvu/107

 CHAPTER VII

Drawing People in Right Proportions

HEN first we draw human beings we are very much inclined to draw the child and the man in the same proportions. Indeed, it is a mistake we invariably commit.

We draw a tall man with long legs and swinging arms, and we draw at his side a little man with short striding legs and swinging arms. We label the tall man 'father,' and the little man 'son.'

But they are not a man and a child, they are merely a man and a smaller man. Sometimes we have an uncomfortable feeling that our children do not look very childish, and we complain in discouragement: "I can't make my little boy look like a boy!"

It would seem perfectly logical to draw children as little people, and yet, if we pause to reflect, is it really so?

As a kitten is different from a cat, a chick from a hen, so must a child be different from a man.

Have you ever remarked to yourself the huge size of Baby's head in comparison with his body?

Though the head is large, the features are almost negligible, the tiny neck is a mere roll of fat. Baby has a larger round eye, a flat wide nostril, a button of a nose, and a half-open, flower-like mouth. (See Fig. 32.)

The months and the years slowly pass, Baby's features form, his head develops, his body grows, his limbs extend.

Compare the photographs of Pamela at one year and Pamela at twelve years; and look well at Pamela when she trips beside her aunt.

If we draw Martin and his father sitting side by side on a