So i'm trying to draw specific heights...

...and through the standards of artistic eyes, it looks way too tall.

Drawing someone who is anything above like 130 centimeters requires two pieces of paper. One head is 20.5 centimeters.

130 centimeters is already like 6 heads.

There's got to be a better measuring method, here...

Let's see a drawing. Without seeing one, I'm just making guesses.

Get bigger paper, or draw smaller.

I really don't think that's necessary, but sure, whatever.

See this?◊

The part with all the details and stuff? That's 123 centimeters. 6 heads is 123 centimeters.

And I really do not care about what kind of paper, how much paper, and all that kind of shit there is when the point is that the character appears too tall. It's not a space problem or anything.

Now, I have to add 3 heads in order to get like, 184 centimeters.

See how awkwardly tall it is? It shouldn't look like that.

I need a better measuring method. There shouldn't be a reason for 6 heads to be 123 centimeters when it's considered some sort of "default adult size"

Breast should be lower. Neck should be longer. Heads should not be that wide. Dead center should be at about the hips. Don't obscure the characters legs with robes when your first drawing them.

There are lots of different systems◊ for drawing humans using the head method.

For women, page 26 of Figure drawing For All It's Worth.

edited 21st Dec '10 8:01:55 AM by Roman

I'm not sure if this will help or not..◊

Wait, are you complaining that it looks too tall or that it's over 130 centimeters? Because if it's the latter...draw smaller?

If the former, I would just do what Roman says and always start by drawing the bare body without any clothes on it, and then only adding on the clothes after you're sure the proportions are correct.

You also don't count the height of headwear in the "head". That drawing is less than 6 heads because you're including the hat in the "head" — that shouldn't be included.

edited 21st Dec '10 12:23:19 PM by Madrugada

Oh. You mean proportions?

The average human is six and a half heads (before you draw the hair) tall. Your drawing is more like seven and a half, or eight, since I can't see where it ends on the legs. To add or subtract height, you don't add or subtract heads, you make the head larger or smaller.

edited 21st Dec '10 12:05:04 PM by Leradny

The reason she's unrealistically tall if you finished her out to the height you intended is that she'd be 10 and a half heads tall that way. She's already 7 heads tall — look — I've diagrammed it out for you.◊

Her proportions are about right for the height she is now — her waist is at about 3.25, her hips are at just above 4.

edited 21st Dec '10 12:25:36 PM by Madrugada

I actually didn't include the headgear, the head's length is from the top of the skull to the bottom of the chin.

But anyway it seems that weird proportions are a big problem here. For some reason i've gotten a little too used to drawing something that fits onto one piece of paper, so further "stretched out" people like that tend to appear strange. Do they to you?

edited 21st Dec '10 5:11:54 PM by Edmania

They do. But uh, height shouldn't factor into proportions or how much paper you use, unless you're actually drawing people of different heights in the same piece of art. I really don't know what your problem is.

Observe◊: Uma Thurman to the left is 6 feet (or 183cm tall), while Ellen Page is 5 feet (or 152.5cm). Yet if pictures are resized with them in roughly the same angle, their proportions match up and they take up exactly the same space.

edited 21st Dec '10 6:42:38 PM by Leradny

I don't really care about how much space I take, this is for the sake of accuracy.

And yes, those are resized, and i'm fairly sure that the head on the left is smaller than the one on the right because of that. I don't want that, and I don't need that.

accuracy

Accuracy in what area? Are you drawing two people in the same scene, or a height chart, or a scale reference, or what?

OK, sure, just assume i'm drawing two people in the same scene.

I don't want them to look awkwardly tall.

So, draw them according to the real-life average of 6.5 heads tall from hairline to soles of their bare feet, adjust for their shoes and hairstyles, and sketch a thumbnail of the piece—making sure you plan out the taller one first.

Your question has already been answered plenty satisfactorily. From how you worded your needs previously, adding this 'assumption' that two people are in the same scene does nothing to change your original needs, and just obscures the point. You seem all over the place.

Proportions are pretty simple, and I'm not seeing what's so hard to grasp here. 6-8 heads tall for adults, legs take up about half the body, and the shape of the head can change the perceived age/build/etc.. What else?

<3 ali

I usually don't change the shape of the head and while the other answers were quite helpful, I don't have a use for the questions Leradny asked.

Ok, here◊ are two women who are very different heights, standing side by side and they haven't been resized — and they are still both approximately 6 heads tall. They have different sized heads!

edited 21st Dec '10 8:59:30 PM by Madrugada

gargh, you guys are overcomplicating things and oversimplifying them. The size of a persons head, in real life, is independant from their height. Ellen Paige's head clearly looks larger because she's got a smaller body. The other two people standing next to each other aren't going to be any sort of accurate because they're both wearing heels and the camera angle isn't dead on. Let's just leave real life out of this.

@OP— I would reccomend learning to draw people with realistic, non-anime proportions, but that's just a general artistic thing and mostly unrelated. You're characters will look less wonky though. Moving on, here is how I practiced drawing relative heights. It is not proffessional, or official, or scientific.

Draw a character you feel comfortable drawing, a small sketch with plenty of room left on the paper.

Measure the drawing. You will get, for example, three inches.

This example character is five-two (sixty-two inches. Convert your heights into inches or centimeters if you do this, it'll be easier) and the drawing is three inches, so...

Divide 62 (character) by 3 (drawing).

You'll have a number (in this case, 20.6). Divide the height of the next character you want to draw (example, six feet, or 72 inches) by 20.6. You'll get about 3.5.

Carefully measure out 3.5 inches on the paper next to the character you already drew, and mark a space for the taller character as if the two were standing next to each other.

You have the space marked out. Draw your taller character. Be sure to fill the space.

Anyway, you measured your heads wrong, and you really can't use a proportion system like that on anime charcters. Anime characters don't have realistic proportions. That's not the point of them. If you're drawing characters alone stop worrying about height. No-one can tell the difference without a reference point.

I'm fairly sure that it would appear really weird when someone that's supposed to be 196 centimeters would look the same height as someone who is 140cm or so, even without a reference point. (But then in that case I could always just draw the person with their feet not visible...)

And yeah, I noticed the wrong measurement after someone pointed it out for me.

Thanks for that method on making more specific heights. I'll try it out.

edited 22nd Dec '10 4:50:37 AM by Edmania