Basically… I’ve wasted few weeks practicing and looking for a good way for making characters (good meaning the one that works for me), and at the moment I think the best idea for me would be to block out the mesh and then build actual polygons on top of it.
That’s what the dummy is for. I wanted to indicate key areas that would affect shape of a female model, then build polygons to match the shape. Mostly because when I start with polygons straight away, I get bogged in topology-related decisions and eventually end up producing something I don’t really like.
So, I’d like to know if there are significant errors in proportions or if I missed key areas.
If you are trying for naturalistic proportions (not overly exaggerated, and falling well within all human norms) then:
Your figure is 8-1/2 heads high. That is tall even for a male. Typically, the female norm is considered 7-1/2 heads height (male is 8).
Crotch to heel distance is generally 1/2 the height of the figure – yours measures about 1/2 head more than that, making the legs seem much too long.
Calves are too long in proportion to thighs – calves + foot = thighs is a common rule of thumb. The knee is generally the halfway length between crotch and heel. Also, in profile, the upper calves are too thick, as thick as the upper thighs, it seems. Thighs look too thin at the top – they are general thicker and taper more toward the knee.
Pelvic form needs more volume, especially back to front. Even in slim women this is thicker than you show, mainly because the female pelvis is built for child-bearing, and encompasses more volume than the male’s.
Looking at the 3/4 view, it seems the shoulders can be placed farther out along the X axis – modern “average” females have substantially broader shoulders than even a couple generations ago, and comparatively narrower hips in many cases.
The hips look barely broad enough laterally (X axis), and the waistline (where the hips start to flare out) rides a little lower than average.
Arms look ok (like everything else a little thin) but the deltoid (shoulder) muscles that form the upper end of the upper arm extend farther down the arm.
Overall this figure looks very thin for an “average” woman. After fixing the above, adding a little more bulk to all the parts would not be out of line.
I’m aiming at something like “mostly realistic, slightly stylized” figure, probably 7 1/2 heads tall. Probably in “semi-realistic anime style” (knights of sidonia, ghost in the shell, etc). That’s for body proportions.
Didn’t realize it exceeded target height. Thanks for pointing it out.
Got it.
This is the first time I hear of this particular rule of the thumb. Is there a some sort of place with all of those rules listed? I remember things like “hand can cover face” and the like, but I don’t remember ever reading anything about leg proportions.
Is there a standard proportion for this? It looks like I have plenty of issues in side view, all of them thickness-related.
I think if you search for “human proportions,” “human anatomy,” “artist’s anatomy” and the like you’ll find plenty of resources on the web. Usually there is shown a chart with the height & width of male & female forms divided into sections based on proportional relationships, and/or sizes in “head units.” And be sure to start a folder of references of all different body types – the averages are useful and necessary to learn, but almost no one fits them exactly.
That’s possible. HOnestly, I’m familiar with those, just didn’t think about verifying my model against them for some reason.
Someone I talked with suggested that I should put proportions chat into blender as background (or as empty image plane). Somehow I didn’t think about anything like that.
I did just that for my low-poly as you can see here I work with a background in blender, and that draw of Loomis is easy to follow because it is very well done. (Mine is still male, but I will make the female and child’s from that mesh.
I think if you are going to do something to be a base for other characters or to sculpt you should use all the help you can get from images as background or anything else.
The best way to decide this would just be to FK parent and pivot all the parts and try out some different poses. I’ve done this for years with character work. It’s the only sure way to know the proportions will be right for what the character needs to do.
