Seven Inch Figures

How big should you draw your figures?

When I was in art school they told us to buy 18 x 24 inch paper. When we drew a standing figure, they were supposed to be about 21 inches tall, enough to fill the vertical page.

British academic painter Frederic, Lord Leighton (1830-1896) made the case for drawing them about one third that size.

“In drawing a whole figure from nature we should be three ti…