The assignment:

How can you interpret a complex form like the human body, in a proportionally correct way? First we look at the skeleton: where can it move, how can it bend, how can for example your back move in all these different ways? After that we will cut and paste a simple “skeleton” of an athlete, based on a photograph, using strips of colored paper. If this skeleton is anatomically right, we add details like faces, clothes and fingers with a pen.

The kids in action:

Result:

This collage of judokas has captured the postures perfectly, there’s real movement in it. Moreover, it’s a powerful, confident drawing. No help from the teacher required. With a few other children I saw that foreshortening (when an arm points towards you it will seem shorter on paper) was still a strange concept. We will work on that another time.

I saw the effect of practicing with bigger shapes, proportions and construction immediately; they did not complain about the difficulty and instead started “building” a human right away. In their next drawings they needed less help, and looked at shapes better.

All in all it is a useful skill to practice, and the results were pretty good too. I am very proud of them.