In the Beginning..."He had good understanding!"

The king of swords begins.

When I was young there was a joke, actually a pun, having to do with, let's say someones huge feet. The standard comment was, "He sure has good understanding!" Followed by groans and much rolling of the eyes. 

It is very important when beginning a human figure, that the basic proportions be correct. Unless this basic aspect is correct one will run into problems later. It is very disheartening to have to make adjustments or even abandon the work and start over because the proportions where off. Often, artists will just carry on and try to hide the fault in some way. If your lucky, it can also be a good surprise as you find it's actually fitting for what you are trying to say with the piece. It certainly is true we do pass on messages with our art that we are not always aware of, and something being unconsciously disproportionate can be just such an experience. 

Sometimes it's actually a reasonable and required part of the piece, especially if, for example, your working in a cartoon, or science fiction style then you can more easily get away with your proportions being off. 

Talking about proportions being off, lets consider Barbie as an example. What would it look like for a human to have Barbie's proportions? Have a look at the graphic below. I'm not sure, but I wonder how this affects some young girls who want to be like Barbie in a physical sense. Quite impossible and very disappointing for the youngster I'm sure. 

Yet, the creators of Barbie have gotten away with it. That also includes many hero type cartoon figures such as superman for example, who's proportions are completely distorted to create the illusion of being a super-human human.

This illustration demonstrates a system I like to use for working with human figures.  

Right now, I just have to make sure the king of swords will have "good understanding" right from the beginning, so he won't look out of proportion.

"And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason stop being part of the body."                1 Corinthians 12:16