The Seated Model and the Foreshortened Arm
A candidate with spasticity affecting the right hand draws with the left on A2 paper instead of A3, with 30 minutes extra time, in charcoal. The model is a boy seated on a low stool, leaning forward, his left forearm resting on his knee and pointing towards the viewer, head turned to his right. The candidate first marks eight head-lengths down the sheet, then draws. The finished study shows the seated figure measuring 5.5 heads from crown to heel; the foreshortened left forearm the same length as the right; the left hand as five equal straight sticks; both feet flat and parallel with the hips level, though the model's weight is on his left hip; a long neck; and heavy charcoal outlines along the light side of the back and arm. Time remaining: 25 minutes.
1. Explain why the eight-head method produced a wrong figure here, and give a measuring method that suits a seated, foreshortened pose.
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The eight-head canon is a standing proportion: it says a standing adult's crown-to-heel height is about eight head-lengths. The candidate used it as a vertical ruler, but on a seated figure the crown-to-heel height is not the figure's axis - the torso leans, the thighs go forward, and the vertical distance collapses. The head unit itself has not changed, so the mistake is in the assumption, not in the pencil marks.
Correct method.
- Keep the head as the unit, but measure along the figure's own axes, not down the page. Measure the head's height with a pencil at arm's length, then step that unit along the curve of the spine and along the thigh.
- Anchor with landmarks that survive a change of pose: crown to chin (1 unit), chin to the pit of the neck, pit of the neck to the seat (about 2.5 units), seat to knee along the thigh, seat to floor at the knee, shoulder width about two head-widths.
- Drop plumb lines. From the pit of the neck, the ear and the supporting knee, drop verticals and see where each lands: in this pose the ear should fall in front of the supporting knee.
- Compare, don't calculate: the foreshortened forearm is judged against the hand in front of it, not against the other forearm.
In practice: erase the eight marks, re-measure the head, then build the figure from the pit of the neck and the seat - the two landmarks that do not lie.
2. The weight is on the left hip and the arm is foreshortened. Explain how the body must be re-drawn to show weight, and how the forearm and hand should be constructed.
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Weight. When weight settles on one hip, the pelvis tilts and the spine compensates. On the weight-bearing side the hip rises and pushes up through the rib cage, so that shoulder lifts; the other side drops and the ribs compress. Because this model props his left forearm on his left knee, the left shoulder is also pushed up and forward, and the spine curves to bring the head back over the supporting knee. Practical construction:
- Mark the two seat-bone contact points on the stool, then a line through the hip joints tilted up on the left.
- Draw a line from the pit of the neck to the supporting knee; the torso leans along it.
- Let the neck leave the pit of the neck angled towards the lifted shoulder, and shorten it - a long neck is what makes a figure look suspended rather than seated.
- Feet should not be flat and parallel: the unweighted foot usually slides forward or turns out.
Foreshortened forearm. It recedes, so it appears shorter, never equal to the other. Measure it on the picture plane from elbow to wrist and compare it with the hand: when the forearm points at the viewer it is roughly one to one and a half hand-lengths. Overlap tells the rest - the hand is nearest and largest, the wrist hides part of the knee, the elbow sits behind.
Hand. Not five equal sticks. Draw a blocky mitten mass for the palm, a wedge for the thumb set at an angle from the wrist, and group the fingers: middle longest, index and ring nearly equal, little finger shortest, knuckles along a curve. Foreshortened fingers overlap each other.
3. Give the corrections you would make in the last 25 minutes, and explain how the charcoal handling should change given the candidate's motor control.
Read the worked answer
Last 25 minutes, in this order.
- Neck and head (5 min). Shorten the neck, tilt the head, and check that the ear sits above the supporting knee.
- Hand (7 min). Replace the sticks with a palm block and a grouped finger mass; the hand is the nearest thing in the drawing and errors there are read instantly.
- Weight (5 min). Tilt the hip line, lift the left shoulder, drop the right, slide one foot forward.
- Ground the figure (5 min). A cast shadow under the stool and a dark contact at the seat and the propping elbow.
- Edges (3 min). Knock back the outline on the light side with a kneaded eraser and let the tone carry the form.
Charcoal handling and motor control. The outline is happening because the candidate is drawing edges with a sharp point. Change three things: use the flat side of the stick for tonal masses and keep the point only for contact shadows; draw from the shoulder with short repeated strokes rather than long continuous ones, rotating the board to keep the stroke direction comfortable; brace the drawing hand against the other wrist or a maul stick so the line is steadied by the arm rather than the fingers. Limit the study to three values - light, middle, dark - which suits both charcoal and a hand that cannot afford fine modelling. Lift lights with the eraser instead of adding white, so the sheet keeps its freshness.