The answer to this eternal question hinges on a few main points. How old is your character? Are they heroic/tall/strapping or more ordinary looking? These measurements apply to a more realistically proportioned style. If you draw in a more stylised manner but are confidant your characters are in the proportions you want, I recommend drawing your characters against a background like the second image below, but using the head-lines only to scale final height (paying attention to how legs shorten in young children) in order to get a feel for different age proportions in your style. Have a look at this bunch in the sketch below before delving into the detail (yes you will have to read quite a bit, but your drawing will be much better for it).
From left to right we have two adults, a 15 year old, a 6-8 year old and a young baby. The image below shows where different parts of the body lie relative to the size of the head. Notice especially how the size of the head differs in the very young children. For the 6-8 year old, the circle drawn to construct the head is the same size as in the adult, however the jaw is almost continuous with the bottom of the circle rather than forming a significant extension to the bottom of the head (more detail in next week’s head tutorial). For the young baby the same principal applies but the circle is slightly smaller than in the adult, causing a further reduction in head size.
Let’s first assume you will be drawing an adult character. This is where the most debates happen. Timothy on the far left is a rather strapping chap at eight heads tall. This is considered the ‘ideal’ proportion for an adult male in classical art and it gives an imposing impression of height. Many heroic warriors in action stories or ‘tall dark and handsome’ love interests in romances will be of this body type. Of course the warrior can have much more muscle than shown here, with obvious pectoral muscles and bulging arms and legs.
Moving along we have our shorter/more average guy at 7.5 heads tall. This is closer to the population average and is thus more ‘correct’ and is perfect for general use, especially if your characters look too much like giraffes at 8 heads (happens to us all at first don’t worry)! Being more general it can be used for the more average guys in a slice of life story or perhaps the ordinary sidekick. Of course a character this high can still be a villain busting hero. One of the great joys of character development is that appearances aren’t everything!
The main fight between the accepted ‘adult’ heights of 8 and 7.5 is entirely based on character type/personality and personal artistic preference. Choose 8 for stereotypical heroes or very tall men and 7.5 for the more average (looking) guy. Some also use 7 for adults, and this is closer to the average for the Asian population. I find it looks too young and teen like in my more realistic style but if your work is more stylised then it might be worth drawing a 7 heads version of you adult character to see what it looks like, just remember to scale the younger ages appropriately if you choose 7 heads as your base.
Although this blog is more about men (trust me… I can barely draw men but I definitely can’t draw women XD) the shorter proportions (7.5 or 7 heads depending on the surrounding males) work well for female characters which are generally shorter.
Moving on to teens and children (where there is much less debate), the 15 year old male in the middle is 7 heads high. This is what many people use for the average teenage protagonist and notice how he still looks tall. Most of this is width being scaled to height. Pay attention to how the legs are still roughly half of the height (similar to 8 heads tall, more detail on construction in the full body tutorial).
For younger children, 6 heads is the proportion to use. If you are going for 10-12 years old, go for the full size head with a more developed jaw (not shown in the image). For the 6-8 year old shown here use exactly the same proportions at 6 heads but with the shorter, more childish head due to less jaw development. 5 heads can also be tried for the ultra-cute/young toddler look although detailed analysis will have to wait for a later tutorial when I have had the time to study toddlers.
Finally we have the tiny baby (the character is actually 19, but I have de-aged him for the purpose of the tutorial *cringes and apologises* don’t worry, I will make it up to him somehow). At 4 heads high, two thirds are head and body! As a result the limbs look tiny and are very chubby. This is as small as realistic humans go, although more stylised or chibi art can have characters as short as 2 heads!
If your character still has some growing left to do then pick the proportions most appropriate to age. For the adults in your story, 8, 7.5 or even 7 for the more stylised approach, are all just fine. Use the guidelines above to take your pick and remember to stick to it for each character. You can have guys at 8 heads happily co-existing in the same universe as 7.5 heads, the decision in height is not only personal to the artist but the character as well. Don’t be scared to draw your character at both heights to see which fits them best and enjoy!
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