Artists are often intimidated by sketching action poses, but this fascinating discovery I had may put your mind at ease. The more dynamic the pose, the easier it is to sketch. Ironically, this means sketching athletes in action is actually easier than sketching idle people. Let’s look at some basics of sketching dynamic figures and poses.
1 Proportions
First, let’s look at proportions. Figures can be easily divided into a lower and upper body, around where the pelvis and torso meet (, left). For practical purposes, these are nearly identical in length, with the head a part of the upper body, but this is only a generalisation. There’s a wide variety of body proportions out there. Some people have longer legs and thus a longer lower body, others may have a larger upper body. There’s also, above right).
