Page:Drawing for Beginners.djvu/59

 very upright position. (If you stand in this position you can feel the strain of the sinews at the back of the knee and the ankle.) The ankle tapers and the toe of the foot is turned outward, and thus we see both the back of the heel and the broad toe turned away in shape something like the bow of a boat.

Having noted the main forms and their relation to each other, we can next devote ourselves to detail. The line of the hair follows the upper part of the round bullet-shaped head. The ear is valuable, coming as it does at the meeting of the jaw and skull, and we note the tiny niche where the neck rises above the collar.

Now we can mark down the big shadows&mdash;under the loose sleeve of the shirt, at the waistbelt, between the legs and the folds at the back of the knickerbockers, at the knee, and beneath the heels. We follow the grip of the hand on the chair, remembering that something solid and big flattens and pushes out the palm. The uplifted right arm is turned from us. We can see&mdash;and it is all that we can see&mdash;the small apex of the bending arm, the round edge of the elbow as it bends upward and outward, the folds on the inner part of the sleeve, and the tips of the fingers resting on the brow. After which you can carry on with anything that holds your interest. But keep your sketch a sketch. Do not worry about details. You will learn more at this stage from making sketches of quick poses and getting a knowledge of general proportions than by delving after detail.

Also you could reverse the positions of Kathleen and Jack. Kathleen might stand in the same pose as Jack, and Jack might sit on the stool.

And it is very amusing to dress brother and sister in their elders' clothes.

Give Kathleen a shawl and a handkerchief folded three-corner-wise and tied under her chin, put a basket at her feet, a closed umbrella in her hands, and we have an old market woman. Only remember that we bend with age, our head droops, our arms sag forward, and our toes very