Modelling from life: figure, head and portrait in the round
This domain tests whether you can build a convincing human form in the round from observation - not from a remembered formula - and whether you can hold a likeness in a head or portrait study while keeping the structure sound.
Proportion and landmarks
The standard adult figure is about seven and a half heads tall; the classical canon uses eight. For the head: the eye line sits at the midpoint of the head's height, the base of the nose halfway between eye line and chin, the ears run from brow to nose base, and the mouth sits about one third of the way from nose to chin. For the figure: nipples at about two head-lengths, navel near the third, crotch at the midpoint of the whole figure, elbows at the waist, wrists at the crotch, knees midway between hip and sole.
Working method
- Build a firm armature and block the big masses - cranium, rib cage, pelvis - before any feature.
- Measure with calipers and a plumb line; check front, profile and three-quarter views at eye level.
- Model planes first: the flat of the cheek, the box of the jaw, the wedge of the nose. Features are consequences of planes, not additions.
- Keep the back of the head and the ears alive; likeness lives as much in profile as in the face.
Worked example
A portrait bust looks 'wrong' though the eyes and mouth are copied carefully. Measuring shows the head is too wide at the temples and the ear is set too far back. Reduce the cranial width, move the ear forward to the brow-to-nose interval, and the features suddenly read correctly - proof that error usually lies in proportion, not detail.
Traps
Carving eyes and lips before the masses are right; working only the front; making both eyes identical in a three-quarter turn; hiding a weak armature with thick clay; forgetting the neck's forward tilt.