Drawing People From a Distance: A Look at Proportions and Movement
Post 4
09/30/2025
People are much more intimidating than buildings. People move, are dynamic, and have no straight lines or unified look to them. Yikes. This is going to be hard.
Back to the YouTube tutorials, I’m learning much more than I expected to about capturing people in pencil. I’m hoping that with practice, I will be able to move on from stick-figures and create an image resembling something like a living, breathing, moving person.
There are three different categories of people in sketching. Those who are close up, those who are at a distance, and those who are even farther away. Each of the three types of people follow two of the same general rules of proportions and movement:
- The 3/3 rule – the lower and upper part of a person’s body are equal in height, which are both equal to about three heads high
- The tapered body – unlike gingerbread men, people, as a general rule, don’t go around with their arms and legs sticking out. Instead, their limbs taper around their bodies and point in the direction of movement
As their relative size change, so does the amount of detail:
- Small people (furthest away) – no feet, hands, or faces. Their bodies and clothes are merely a shape. Their heads don’t even need to connect to their body. They are merely a hint of a person.
- Medium people (less distanced) – have a hint of hands, feet, and faces. Maybe they even have some definition in their clothes.
- Large people (close) – Have clear hands, feet, and faces. Their clothes are not only defined but detailed, like their face. If you were to draw someone you knew, you would want them to be recognizable. (I will tackle this one next week)
I went out and took pictures of all three, and because they are the most forgiving, I chose to start with those who were farthest from my camera. It was a little offputting to draw people without hands or faces, especially for the first few. Once I had myself a small crown on the page, it sort of began to come together. Because I was only drawing the people on the page, I decided they looked awkward floating in the middle of it, so I added a few dark lines as shadows for a more grounded look.
Moving on to my medium-sized people, I was a little more thoughtful about where to add detail. I tried to show with a few lines here and there that there were some differentiating factors between people, whether it be their height, clothes, or facial hair.
Because the big (close) people require so much more attention and time, I thought they deserved their own blog post. So, for next week, I am going to attempt to draw something relatively recognizable as a person. Face, feet, and all.
Videos I used: