Constructive drawing of a skull of a human head:
Constructive construction of a human skull Automatic translate

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Constructive construction of a human skull

Look at this complex plastic knot (skull). “Complex” - because you perceive it that way. Remember your drawings of still lifes from geometric bodies. You learned to draw the primitives that make up everything that surrounds you. Drawing still lifes from household items, you stacked jugs, draperies, fruits from primitives. Discard for a while all that is “superfluous” and look at what geometric bodies the parts of the skull look like. You see, it’s as if you lost your way in the grass of three pines, which are really three.

Considering briefly the anatomical structure of the human skull, we said that the human skull consists of two parts, brain and facial. But this is from the point of view of anatomy, and from the point of view of plastic anatomy, it is better for artists to consider the human skull as a form consisting of three parts: cerebral, facial (which includes the facial, nasal, jaw bones) and zygomatic.

We will analyze this into three components of a single whole and see how they are interconnected. The brain is a three-dimensional box. The front part is a truncated pyramid. Cheekbones (paired) are arcs connecting the first two volumes to each other.

Perform a preliminary (before the start of the main drawing) several constructive sketches (analyzes) of the skull in different rotations. This will help you determine the purpose and objectives of the drawing.

The brain is a three-dimensional shape, which is one of the three main elements of the skull of a human head. The three-dimensional form of the cerebral part of the skull of a human head has surfaces (such as the front, two lateral, posterior, upper and lower) that are located in space and obey it.

Let us compare the simplest understanding of the volume of the brain part of the skull with the volume of a cube: they are similar and equally subordinate to space. Based on this understanding, we will perform a constructive drawing and get a clear plastic structure. Any face of the plastic structure corresponds to the boundary at which the shape changes its position in space and, of course, with respect to the light source. Understanding the design, you can easily draw this part of the skull in any rotation and angle using lighting, which will more effectively convey the volume of the form.

The front part is also a three-dimensional volume in space. We carry out a constructive drawing of this part and make sure of a similar statement.

Next, we substitute the front part under the lower part of the cranium - we get an almost complete skull shape, however, without two essential parts. They are two cheekbones.

The zygomatic parts are paired parts of the skull of a person’s head. They are located symmetrically, on both sides of the median axial line of the skull, and are, figuratively speaking, staples fastening the two structural parts of the skull. Staples are attached to the cranium at the frontal and temporal bones, and the third surface is the lateral surfaces of the front of the skull.

Back to the main drawing: the composition is defined. Find the proportional relationship between the height and width of the entire mass of the skull. Draw a vertical centerline indicating the middle of the form and its symmetry. On the vertical center line, find the proportional line corresponding to the lower part of the frontal bone, and draw a horizontal center line.

Pay attention to the position of the latter in space: it goes along the front surface of the frontal bone and when you turn the skull towards us in three quarters (and at any turn) it is directed to the horizon. On the horizon line, it forms a vanishing point for all horizontal lines running parallel to it and located on the front surfaces of the skull shape. Thus, we applied the linear perspective method in drawing the skull of a human head.

Next, find the height of the frontal frontal surface, draw a line directed to the vanishing point on the horizon, and determine the width of the forehead by drawing two lines parallel to the median center line. You have drawn a pad that is in space and corresponds to the anterior cerebral surface of the skull.

Now, using the method of constructive construction, transparently and linearly, applying the linear and aerial perspective methods, observing the proportions and, of course, peeping at the sketches, finish the upper, lower and side platforms to the front surface. Thus, you will bring the shape of the part of the skull to the finished three-dimensional volume.

The most difficult thing is to find the boundaries of the surfaces of the skull, since they do not coincide with the seams of the bones and the temporal line. A border is a transition of a surface of a form from one position in space to another position. As a rule, the boundaries of the surfaces of the shapes coincide with the boundaries of light and shadow. Look at the shape of the skull using different light sources and you will see these borders.

A constructive drawing is a creative drawing, the result of which is the comprehension and conquest of three-dimensional space primarily in oneself, and not just the accumulation of constructive schemes. There are, of course, schemes; they carry in themselves the function of an impetus for understanding complex morphogenesis through simple forms, but your own will be the best “scheme”.

The next step is drawing the front of the skull. Find the proportional line on the vertical centerline equal to the height of the front of the skull, and build the front surface of the front of the skull. It has a width at the top equal to the width of the bridge of the nose. And expanding to the bottom, it reaches a value equal to the width of the surface of the mandibular bone.

Draw the lower surface of the mandibular bone. Then draw the posterior surface of the mandibular bone, rising to the base of the brain of the skull. Create an upper surface connecting the front and back surfaces of the front of the skull - and the two side surfaces of the front of the skull formed by themselves.

We got a form in space, somewhat reminiscent of an iron; from the top of the front surface of the front part, the area of ​​the nasal spine was advanced forward; painted a nasal opening, the lower part of which rests on the front surface of the front part and is equal to its width.

Next, we proceed to the constructive drawing of the zygomatic parts of the skull. As described above, the cheekbones are a kind of staples holding together two parts of the shape of the skull, brain and facial. Moving in space from the lower corner of the frontal bone to the lateral surface of the facial part of the skull, the zygomatic part forms the eye socket, the “eye container”; moving from the temporal bone to the front of the skull, forms a zygomatic arch.

The zygomatic arch plays a very important plastic role in the formation of the facial part of the human head, this is the widest part of the face. Draw a horizontal centerline corresponding to this part of the face in space. This center line is the second (of those that we put on the sheet at the beginning of the drawing of the head) after the vertical center line.

Build the front cheekbones, feel the boundary of the rotation of the forms. At the intersection of the horizontal center line with the boundaries of rotation of the forms are the reference points of the cheekbone. In space, drawing the human head, we will determine in the future the number of these points and - from them - the position of the front part. Of interest is also the course of the lateral area of ​​the zygomatic part to the frontal bone.

In no case do not draw the eye sockets of the skull! This is not a form, but a space organized by the three components of the volume of the skull. The upper part of the orbit space is formed by the cranial box and the zygomatic bone, the front part forms the front part, the zygomatic bone forms the outer and lower surfaces again.

You have completed the basic constructive construction of the shape of the skull in space, laid the plastic foundation. Then you can proceed to a more detailed study of the parts of the skull, but you must always remember that behind the part is, first of all, the volume. This volume is an integral part of a large volume. Thus, we draw from the general to the particular.

It is impossible to describe the whole process of constructive drawing of the skull of a human head, because it will result in methodological recommendations in methodological instructions. It is also impossible to remember in the skull everything to the smallest detail, and this is not necessary. Any form has its own individual characteristics; the skull is the hidden bone base of the human head. The most important thing to remember and imagine: in your understanding, there should be such an image of the shape of the skull of a person’s head that you would easily embrace with consciousness.

After a little detailed study, you put this image on a sheet. It is not necessary to count all the teeth in the skull, this will not affect the plastic decision of the volume of the front part as a whole. It is enough to draw a border separating the maxillary bones from the mandibular.