Anyone Can Make Art - Lesson 3

Today I thought I'd show you another painting of mine. I work in series and often
put figures in my work. My work is mostly abstract landscape but I always start with a
structure. It's very important whether you want to do representational art or abstract art
to understand form, composition and structure. I love to teach everyone, from children to seniors
and from beginning artists to established artists. I often do the exercises I teach to help my
techniques. Its like an experienced pianist doing scales. Practice helps

This is my third post on how to begin making art.
If you tried my first two exercises I hope you had fun making the shapes
with triangles, circles and squares.

Exercise 3 Learning how to draw a figure.

You will need a piece of computer paper, a pencil and a 12 inch ruler.

This lesson will teach you how to start to draw a figure and get the correct proportions.

1. Make a one inch circle towards the top of your paper.

2. Draw a line from the bottom of the circle 1/2 inch down. This will be the neck.

3. At the bottom of the 1/2 inch line draw a line 3 and 1/2 inches on each side, at right angles to the line.
   This will be your stick figure's shoulders and arms stretching straight out.

4. Then draw a line 2 and 1/2 inches straight down from under the 1/2 inch line. This will be where the
   legs start.

5. Take your ruler and draw two lines 3" long slanted slightly our from the bottom of the line you just drew.
   These are the legs of your stick figure.

6. Do a 1 inch line facing out at the bottom of each leg line you just drew.

This is the drawing of a stick figure with the approximate measurements of a real person.

Did you know that if you spread your arms out side to side that the measurement will equal your height?

And did you know that the measurement of your head from top to bottom times seven is your approx. height?

All measurements of a human being are based on formulas and if you learn the formulas you can learn to draw.

Tomorrow I'll teach you how to fill in your stick figure and make it look more like a person.

Have fun and Enjoy Drawing.