at the recent SCBWI Illustration conference I attended we heard my friend Sherry talk about drawing children. Here is a couple of thoughts about her lecture from what I can remember and from my notes.
A Quick Overview On Drawing Children
Normally we say an adult is about eight heads tall.
A baby would be about four heads tall, and 12 year old about seven.
A four year old is about half the size of an adult and a 12 year old 3/4 the size.
of course these are all idealized proportions and they all depend on the person or character you are drawing.
Learning to Draw Children
The best way to to learn to draw children and teenagers is, of course, to look at real ones and draw them. When you do, look at what is different about each one not what is similar.
She mentioned that in her studies of different aged grade school kids the second graders were the most enthusiastic and excited about everything.
When you are drawing/designing a character or illustration ask yourself:
Have I left it alone and come back?
Have I lived with the character for a while?
Is this the best angle?
Is it a nice silhouette?
Is is well designed?
Do I like it?
Does my second grade self like it?
She also recommend James Gurney's blog. Which recommendation I second, having just now got sucked in reading this post.
It was fun to hear Sherry's talk and focus a little more on drawing children. We also had a chance to practice later on that day.
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| One kids sketch. See another here |
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I'm so glad you added the part about asking yourself those questions about your drawing. I had forgotten that part and had not even noted them.
ReplyDeleteoh yeah I had forgotten too until I saw it in my notes.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you added the part about asking yourself those questions about your drawing.
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