t is very simple to learn to proportion the objects in your drawing, if you use simple tools. A pencil makes an excellent proportioning tool because it is always handy when you are drawing. As the images indicate, the pencil is sighted with one eye (to avoid stereo distortion). As long as the distance from your eye to your pencil and from your pencil to your scene remains constant, you can be very accurate. Tilting the pencil as appropriate helps determine angles as well.

Start by blocking-in the main proportions of the form (after using the viewing frame described in the previous lesson for placement), and add more internal divisions as you progress. Finish up by using the blocked-in areas as reference for detailed line drawings.

You will be pleased with the results if you are careful and studious.

DEFINITION:

Proportion: 1) In any composition, the relationship between the parts to each other and to the whole; 2)harmonious arrangement or relation of parts or elements within a whole (as in a design); "in all perfectly beautiful objects there is found the opposition of one part to another and a reciprocal balance"- John Ruskin

Scale: the accurate translation of one size to another in all dimensions. Example: if a 24" object is scaled to 2", then a 12" object is scaled to 1". In this example, the object is scaled down to 1/12th it's original size. What would an object that was originally 18" become when scaled down at this rate?

Download this document without the images (Word Document) here: Measuring Proportion.doc

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