How do I get the proportions of a figure right?

Measuring the whole figure in head-heights gives you a scaffold that catches every gross error, and knowing where the halfway point actually falls fixes the commonest one.

Difficulty: intermediate
Time: 35 min
Read: 4 min

Short answer

An adult figure is roughly seven and a half heads tall. The halfway point of the whole body is not the waist — it is the crotch. The elbow sits at the bottom of the ribcage, the wrist at the level of the crotch, and the fingertips reach about mid-thigh. Check those four landmarks and most proportion errors disappear.

The head is used as the unit because it varies less between people than any other part, and because it is always visible. Seven and a half heads is the realistic average; classical drawing often uses eight for an idealised figure and fashion illustration uses nine or more deliberately. What matters is not which number you pick but that you check your figure against it.

Step by step

Draw the head first and use it to mark the full height.Draw the head at the size you want, then step that measurement down the page seven and a half times. Now you have the total height and a set of horizontal guides before any body exists.
Put the crotch at the halfway point.This is the correction most figures need. The instinct is to place the halfway point at the waist, which produces a figure with a long torso and short legs — the single most common error in figure drawing.
Place the nipple line at about two heads down and the navel at about three.The bottom of the ribcage sits a little above the navel. These two markers set the length of the torso and stop it stretching.
Set the shoulders at about two head-widths across for a male figure, a little less for a female one.Width is measured in head-widths rather than head-heights. Getting the shoulder width wrong is what makes a figure read as the wrong build rather than the wrong height.
Put the elbow at the bottom of the ribcage and the wrist at the crotch.Arms hanging relaxed. These two are extremely reliable and they are far easier to check than measuring the arm itself. Fingertips then reach roughly to mid-thigh.
Split the leg at the knee, halfway between crotch and floor.The knee joint is the midpoint of the leg. Beginners consistently draw the thigh too short and the shin too long, which reads as awkward without an obvious cause.
Check the hand and foot against the head.The hand is roughly the length of the face from chin to hairline, which is much larger than most people draw it. The foot is about one head long. Small hands and feet are a persistent beginner signature.
Adjust for the actual person in front of you.The canon is a checking tool, not a template. Real people vary by a full head in proportion, and children vary enormously — a toddler is about four heads tall with the halfway point near the navel.

Tips

Measure the model with a held-up pencil to find how many heads tall they actually are before you commit. It takes twenty seconds and it is frequently not seven and a half.
The halfway-at-the-crotch rule works for checking a finished drawing too. Rule a line across the middle of any figure you have drawn and see where it lands.
Foreshortening breaks all of this, and that is fine — the canon applies to a figure standing square to you. In a foreshortened pose, measure directly instead.
Seated figures are commonly drawn too tall. Seated height is roughly four heads, and the change is almost entirely in the legs.

Common mistakes

Halving the figure at the waist — It shortens the legs by half a head or more, and it is visible instantly even to someone with no drawing knowledge.
Drawing the head too large — Because the head gets the most attention it gets the most space. Every subsequent proportion then has to be squeezed, and the figure reads as childlike.
Drawing the hands and feet small — They are difficult, so they get minimised. A hand is nearly as long as the face and a foot is a head long — measure rather than guess.

If it doesn't work

The figure looks squat

Cause: Legs too short — the halfway point is above the crotch — Fix: Rule the midline. If the crotch is above it, lengthen the legs rather than shortening the torso, which will otherwise ruin the ribcage.

The figure looks like a child in adult clothes

Cause: Head too large relative to body — Fix: Re-measure in head-heights. If it comes to six or less, either enlarge the body or reduce the head.

The arms look stubby

Cause: Wrist drawn too high — Fix: Check the wrist against the crotch level and the elbow against the base of the ribcage, and move the whole forearm rather than lengthening the hand.

Questions people ask

Seven and a half heads or eight?

Seven and a half is the realistic average. Eight is the classical heroic canon and looks slightly idealised. Fashion illustration uses nine or more for deliberate elegance. Pick one and stay consistent within a drawing.

Do these proportions differ between men and women?

The head-height count is very similar. What differs is width and placement — shoulder-to-hip ratio, the position of the waist and the angle of the thighs. Measure the individual rather than applying a formula.

How do children's proportions work?

The head is proportionally much larger and the count much lower — around four heads for a toddler, five or six through childhood, reaching adult proportions in the teens. The midpoint also sits much higher, near the navel in a small child.