Use Proportion in Artwork
Referencing the principles of proportion in artwork can mean one of two things: reproducing images of objects in accurate proportion to one another, or how you set up the layout of a drawing to emphasize the objects differently. Mastering the first set of skills will help you learn to create a realistic-looking drawing of an object, while mastering the principles of layout will help you start to place those objects in a meaningful way. Here are some things to think about and techniques that will help you improve your sense of proportion.
Instructions
Proportions of Objects
1. Start studying objects in terms of their proportional size relationships to one another. This is good to do both when you're in the process of drawing and during day-to-day life. How many times taller is that book than the cell phone sitting next to it? How many times would that pair of dice fit into that glass? Questions like these will help you develop a better conscious understanding of how items compare to each other.
2. Learn the basic proportional rules of figure drawing. While not all human figures are precisely alike in this way, certain proportional rules in the human body can be used as rules of thumb for drawing, such as arm span equaling height, or the ribcage being about the size of four heads. (See link below for a related tutorial.)
3. Use a bamboo skewer for measurements while drawing still life. This simple and inexpensive tool can be used to measure the heights and widths of the objects in your still life setup from your vantage point. Hold the skewer out at arm's length (lock your elbow to keep this distance steady and consistent) and close one eye. Mark the measurements of objects with your thumb on the skewer and use this to compare distances in your drawing.
4. Get your basic proportions right before you add details to your drawing. Like angles of objects, the proportional sizes need to be accurate or the drawing won't look right. If you start to add details too soon, you'll have to erase this hard work later when the drawing turns out looking wrong.
Proportion in Layout
5. Learn the "two-thirds" rule of proportion. This is the idea that the most interesting and aesthetically pleasing layout of an image is built on the idea of filling two-thirds of the space with one kind of visual stimulus and filling the other third with another kind. (See link below for a related tutorial.)
6. Study proportion in great drawings, paintings and photography. Look at the works of the masters and analyze them in terms of the choices the artist made about fill the composition. What effect do these choices have visually? Emotionally?
7. Consider the effect of the view you choose. Above all, bear in mind that placing visual emphasis on a particular object, either through its size in the composition or its position, gives a cue to the reader that this object is important. For example, in a still life drawing of a woman sitting next to a table with a wine bottle on it, centering the composition around the wine bottle may create an impression that this woman has issues with drinking, or that this is meant to be a drawing of a wine bottle with the woman as incidental background.
8. Test frame still-life images before drawing. Build a rectangular frame similar in size and shape to the paper you'll be drawing on (it can be made of cardboard) and use it to view potential framings of your still-life image. Alternately, use the preview function of a digital camera.
