48
Every one will recognize it as a model drawing—such as is to be found upon walls, and occasionally upon the margins of school-books. This the artist (!) intends from a comic drawing. Of course it is no such thing.
We will new take up the grandest object of art the Human Figure. In designing the human figure, there are three principal rules to be observed:
First, the standard height of the human body may be reckoned as eight times the length of the face. Dividing the entire length by eight, as shown in the annexed diagram (Fig. 49), it will be perceived that the face comprises one of the spaces: the second reaching to the chest: the third, to above the hips; the fourth cuts the entire length into two equal parts; the fifth extends to the center of the thigh: the sixth, to the knee joint; the seventh to half way down the leg; and the eighth, to the sole of the foot.
The second rule is, that no part of the body, viewed laterally, is more than twice the thickness of the head. In very young children, however, the rule is, that where the head will go, any part of the body will follow, as the experience of most people has tested.
The third rule concerns the center of gravity. By reference to the fig. (49), a vertical line will be perceived, drawn through the center of the figure. Whenever the body is at rest upon its legs, standing at ease, as one may say, this imaginary line must always pass through its center.
We shall see more about this hereafter, at present confining ourselves to the consideration of the first two rules These must be considered as only generally true.
