OK, before we get started. I want to apologize for my abysmal handwriting... Today's Art lesson covers two subjects; proportions, and male, and female body shape. Notably, these are rough rules that will differ by body type, which I intend to cover later. All you need to know right now, in that regard, is: A.) all of these figures have a neutral "Mesomorph" body type. B.) Everyone's body is different. This is a helpful starting point for learning anatomy. If you really want to get it right you need to use real reference.
Now let's get started...
As you can see, I have listed height's not based on feet, but heads. This is a common technique that you're going to learn from any two-bit "How to Draw" book or Youtube video. But, it's true that regardless of height most adult's heads are "roughly" the same size and you can easily convey an individuals height, even without another person next to them using simple proportions. A shorter persons body will be more squat compared to his head, while a taller persons body will be less so. Furthermore, you can break the body into two overlapping segments. The first being from crown to the bottom of the pelvis. The other being from the heel to the top of the thigh. The two segments overlap at the pelvis. Now realistically, this pelvic area tends to vary a bit more in size, but I pretty much always draw it at about half a head tall.
While this is really not entirely accurate, Exceptions not withstanding, it's a pretty safe and reliable standard. Now most of the time both of these segments are going to be the same height, for a 7.5 head figure, both segments will be about 4-ish heads tall. For every half a head you remove, you will shave about half as much height from the two segments. So the two segments will be 3.75 heads for a 7 head tall figure, and 3.5 heads for a 6.5 head figure. This rule holds for both men and woman.
Now for male and female body shape. As a rule, you can draw the human torso with two triangles, one facing up, and the other down. However, unlike proportions by height, which tend to only skew in children, or those with Dwarfism/Gigantism. This will very a bit more from body type to body type, so it's best to practice with varied referances.
The top of the downward triangle represents the shoulders, and the bottom should go just a bit past the bottom of the pelvis, where you will cut it off. For a male figure this traingle should be a bit wider at the top, while for a female figure it should be more narrow.
The bottom of the upward facing triangle should end at the top of the thighs, though you can take it down to the pelvis to help track the curvature of the thigh's on a female figure. On a male figure this triangle should be narrower and it's tip should hit the chin. while on a female figure this should be wider than, or of the same width as the upwards facing triangle, and it's tip should meet the bottom of the chest. The reason you are placing the tips differently is to manipulate the curve of the body, though this curve can very a bit. So feel free to move the tips around, and be sure to look at real human bodies for reference. I really wanted to do this little tutorial for a while now, so here ya go.
