How to Draw Feet with Structure – Foot Bone Anatomy

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How to Draw Feet with Structure – Foot Bone Anatomy

208K
Mark as Completed

Assignment

Your assignment is to simplify the foot bones into their basic forms. Draw from life using your own feet or draw from the 3D models I provide you. You'll find still images of foot bone poses in the download below.

Post your work and participate in the discussions tab.

Newest
Ezra
4mo
Had trouble capturing the gesture + proportions, especially the thinness of the heel bone. Had to use 100% of my brain to focus when doing the toes as well haha
Samuel Sanjaya
my attempt at feet bone. this is hard. harder than the hand
Kianna Peppers
Took a year-long break so a bit rusty, but finally finished the foot bones!! Can't wait to move onto the leg muscles! - - - All previous and current assignments are available on my FB page here. Critiques are always welcome, thank you! https://www.facebook.com/saved/?list_id=4730838993696368&referrer=SAVE_DASHBOARD_NAVIGATION_PANEL
Jesper Axelsson
Hi @Kianna Peppers, these look really cool! - The proportions of the overall foot and the pieces of the foot vary a bit from drawing to drawing, so that's something to pay extra close attention to in the simple lay-in. It could be valuable to study drawings of feet by animators, to see what simple forms they've used to draw the feet (Mowgli for example. Or Tarzan.) I mention animators, since one thing they have to be good at is keeping the pieces of the body consistent as they move the characters around. - It might also be valuable to practice drawing feet from imagination. - The angle of the ellipses on your cylinders tend to be slightly off. On a true cylinder, the minor axis of the ellipse alligns with the major axis of the cylinder. - In #2 the structure of the toes is a little unclear; they feel a little soft. The digits haven't been drawn as clear separate pieces, but rather merge together. - I'm not a 100% sure, but the crossections you've drawn for the metacarpals (2-5 (five being the pinky)) in image #3 might be incorrect. The crossections suggest that the thickness of the metacarpals is taller than it's wide, but I think it's the oppsite, like you've done it in the other drawing on the same page; drawing the metacarpals like bridges. I hope this helps :)
Vue Thao
1yr
Lenserd martell
It would have been difficult without Robobin. Training with the box seems to have made this possible.
Jesper Axelsson
These drawings look really nice! Great gesture and strong forms! - Try to use line variation to communicate more clearly. You could for example, make the outer contour thicker to give the foot a more cohesive look. You could also clarify overlaps with line weight. If one form is in front of another, give it a darker contour. Stan talks a lot about line in the Drawing Basics course. Ask yourself: What do I want to say with my lines? What's the story of the pose? Then try to communicate that as clearly as you can. Hope this helps :)
Phattara Groodpan
Samuel Parker
Foot bone exercises, trying to wrap my head around how the Tarsals interlock when Inverting and Everting.
Anubhav Saini
Jesper Axelsson
Nice studies! Good gesture and structure! - I would keep an extra eye on proportion. You tend to make the foot too wide, especially the talus (and the lower leg bones hooking on to it). - In image 3 I like how you captured the feeling of the foot being pushed against and dragged along the ground plane. In image 2 and 5, try to make it feel like the toes are being pushed against the ground more, in the drawing. - I would encourage you to practice drawing figures, and the anatomical area of focus, from imagination. It's a great way to test & deepen your knowledge. I like following this routine: 1. Draw from imagination 2. Check were I'm off, with reference. Studying the part I got wrong. 3. Draw again from imagination. Hope this helps :) Keep up the good work!
Tsotne Shonia
This was by far the toughest lesson I've done so far I couldn't even progress on it without watching Stan's demos and applying his solutions 😅
Jesper Axelsson
These look good! - Keep an extra eye on proportion. You tend to make the foot a bit narrow - In #4, try to show more of how the toes are being pushed against the ground. - In #2 the foot feels a bit flat. Try to capture the transverse arc more accurately; it's higher medially. - I would highly encourage you to practice drawing the foot bones from imagination. You might follow this routine: 1. Draw it from imagination 2. Check were you're off, with reference. Study the part you got wrong 3. Draw another one from imagination. When you have gotten to know the foot better, drawing from reference becomes easier. Hope this helps :)
CHARLES DEIGHAN
Here's my foot bone assignment, sorry for the faded quality. Critiques welcomed, thanks.
James Paris
Here is my assignment for this exercise ! I think this was the first time I was happy with my line quality !
Jesper Axelsson
Looks great! - I would keep an extra eye on proportion. Look back and forth between the drawings and the reference, and see if you can spot any differences. In #1 for example, the talus feels like it's too far down. - In #5, I don't think we should see as much of the bottom plane as you have shown. It starts below the tuberosity of the 5th metatarsal. Cheers!
@abrahan13
2yr
i tried thinking in 3d, any feedback is appreciated
Dylan Gabriel
These look really good. Maybe some cross contour lines would help keep the volumes consistent. Also a ground plane can help you see the depth of the shapes in space. Looks like you're on the right track.
Alexis Riviere
This is not really about the foot bone, but now that we went through the whole skeleton, I tried constructing it all. I first did one clean tracing over a photo reference, and then some sketches from imagination. But I'm unhappy with the one made over the model. I feel like I messed up the pelvis (too wide) and the lombar potion of the spine (too long compared to thoracic part). It's like I got distracted by some very bad readings of the boney landmarks, but I'm not sure where.
@viny
2yr
the gesture helps a lot in the construction
@viny
2yr
another study
Jesper Axelsson
Nice work! - You might be making the hinge joint a bit too wide. Keep it up 💪
Thieum
2yr
Hi everyone! My foot bones assignment.
Sadie Ward
2yr
Here is my attempt. I'm proud of my attempt at it given its difficulty, but would really love some critique so I can improve even further.
Anthony Leckie
Your sense of the fullness of form is very nice. I would recommend trying to see if you can retain the fluidity of the gesture while you're developing the forms.
🎀  𝒵𝓊𝓏𝓊  🎀
I think it looks great
james Illingworth-Kay
Would appreciate some feedback if anyone has the time! Have learnt so much from this course. Massively grateful!
@xander
2yr
Here's my attempt, any feedback is much appreciated.
Jesper Axelsson
Hi @xander, nice studies! Well simplified and nice flow! I'll do my best to help you further: -In #2 you have the foot going from wide at the heel and talus, to narrow in the front. Usually it's the opposite; the foot is narrower in the back and wider in the front. I'm a huge Tarzan fan 🤩🤪 and if you look at Tarzan's feet in the Disney movie, you can see this clearly exaggerated . -In #4 the foot is twisting; we see the outside of the heel, but the inside of the toes. You're showing the medial plane of the toes, but remember that when we do that we no longer see the lateral side. - Just a thought: I looked through your album to see if I could give some macro guidance rather than just some anatomy tips. I noticed that you haven't posted any of the assignments from the Figure Drawing Fundamentals course. Have you taken it? (or anything equivalent to it?) If not, I strongly recommend waiting with the anatomy course. The things taught in the figure drawing course, like gesture and 3D-forms, are crucial for being able to execute the exercises in the anatomy course well. You could think of it as the Anatomy 1 course. Here´s a little story from my life: A few years ago I dreamed of being able to draw Tarzan. The Disney movie had been my favorite since I was a baby. I really wanted to learn anatomy, I found proko´s course, and started taking it, but I soon felt that something was lacking: I didn't know the fundamentals well enough. It was difficult to realize that, because it felt like my goal of being able to draw Tarzan was miles away, but I decided to take the figure drawing course anyway. I´m so glad I did! It gave me exactly what I wanted!; being able to draw gestural 3-dimensional figures, from imagination. I learned the most important part of drawing Tarzan! And to my suprise my figures felt quite accurate eventhough I didn´t know anatomy. It was like I had learned the pattern of the human body. I realized that rather than thinking of the figure drawing course being a obstacle in front of the anatomy course, it is more like the Anatomy 1 course. Hope this helps :) Keep up the good work!
Richard Barkman
hey everyone, please let me know what you think of the foot bone assignment.
Jesper Axelsson
Hi @Richard Barkman, nice studies! The structure feels very solid, but you still managed to maintain the gesture. Overall really nice job! - The arch of the foot feels a bit too long. I think you should shrink the distance between the front of the talus (the cylinder the tibia hooks on to) and the end of the metatarsals a little. - In image 1 you're showing the back plane of the tibia, when I think we should see the front plane. This can be tricky to see, especially since the bones have organic forms. Something that helps me is to imagine touching the object I'm seeing; I imagine laying my palm against the front of the tibia for example. When I do so it feels like the back of my hand is facing me --> that plane is angled toward us. This is a first check I like to do. Then I look closer to see if my imagination is playing tricks on me or not: you can see a thin sliver of the front of the tibia and tarsals below it --> my imagination was right. - The contours feel a little stiff. They are all very uniform in thickness and it feels like you drew them very slowly, but in one go, judging from the subtle wobbles. I've looked through the drawings in your album on the profile page and I think you would benefit from revisiting the gesture quicksketch exercise (lesson 1) in the Figure Drawing Fundamentals course, maybe as a warm-up, while continuing with your anatomy studies. That exercise can help you become even more comfortable with your pencil as well as drawing from your shoulder (drawing from your shoulder is explained in this video How to Hold and Control Your Pencil) If you decide to try it out, feel free to tag me (@Jesper Axelsson) when you post some gesture quicksketches. Hope this helps :) Keep up the good work!
@hiflow
2yr
Feet
Jesper Axelsson
Really nice! - In the first one the talus looks a bit wide. - In the second one it would be nice if you angled the tibia and fibula more forward, as in the photo. I think that will help show the pressure on the foot more. Hope this helps :)
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Founder of Proko, artist and teacher of drawing, painting, and anatomy. I try to make my lessons fun and ultra packed with information.
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