Human Body Drawing: Lesson 8: Posing the Mannequin & Foreshortening
EXERCISES WITH THE PAPER MANNEQUIN
You now possess all the necessary knowledge to practice successfully, using the paper mannequin as a model. You know how to frame — you must know how to do it, at the point where you are! On this subject, remember that you must look for reference points at the top, at the bottom, and on the sides, by drawing imaginary lines: it is the best way to frame a character. It is now possible for you to take advantage of what the model "says" and what you have learned by practicing the study of ideal proportions. You know the perspective applied to the human body; you know that it is necessary to imagine a horizon and to see the convergence of forms and limbs towards their respective vanishing points.
Handle the paper mannequin yourself, make it take different positions. Get to work!
DRAW POSES THAT ARE POSSIBLE IN REALITY
When you imagine these poses and these attitudes with your mannequin, make sure that they are logical, natural, possible. I know very well that you are not going to bend its arm backwards, for example, as if the elbow were in front. That would be inconceivable.
However, study to what extent the arm can be extended or the leg raised, etc. And keep in mind the movements of the body as they occur in reality. For example, remember that:
It remains for us to see now the human body drawn from memory, in its reality and its volume, with its corresponding muscular anatomy. But first allow me to speak to you about the last problem that will present itself to you when you try to practice foreshortening for a character drawn on a linear plane.
THE FORMULA OF "RE-ENTRANT LINES" TO HELP IN THE INTERPRETATION OF FORESHORTENING
Compare the following figures (55 A and B). Both present a foreshortened arm, drawn on a linear plane, without lights or shadows. On the left drawing, the draftsman had no other concern than to draw the exact outline; which makes the representation of the foreshortened form difficult to understand.
On the following drawing, the understanding of the foreshortening is facilitated by "re-entrant lines", that is to say the brief extension of the contour of one area over the one that is close to it, so that this short superimposition of lines makes it understood that there is a slight depression in volume, a small "hollow" on which the line of the preceding contour "slides and re-enters".
