Resources for Drawing Different Ages

One thing I always find tricky is drawing people at different ages. So I've collected a few resources here - selected pages from books about the subject - and let me know if you are aware of any other good ones I've missed.


Also in a future post I will jot down a few I have observed myself over the years and that I find helpful.

WARNING - there are drawings of naked people (at different ages) below! If you are offended by such things, you've been warned...

This one is from The Famous Artists Course and it's a good breakdown of how the head changes at different ages.

This page is from Andrew Loomis's "Figure Drawing For All It's Worth".

And here's another page from Loomis's book where he talks specifically about baby heads.

These are from "Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist" by Stephen Rogers Peck.

Both Loomis and Peck make the point that the "center line" (where the midpoint of our bodies lies) changes as we grow older. Loomis represents it in his drawing with a cross at the midpoint; in Peck's drawings it is represented by a dotted line.

Here's one by Peck that's a map to where wrinkles form.

"Composing Pictures" by Don Graham, and a Request for Information

I wasn't really going to write about this, because everybody else already has, but Don Graham's seminal book about design, "Composing Pictures" was recently reprinted. This is a big deal because it's been long out of print and the only way to get a copy was to pay a lot of money.

The reason I post about it now is that the price and availability of it keep fluctuating on amazon.com. Last week it was priced around $75 and only available from resellers. I'm sure it will be available steadily from now on, but just in case it's not, right now it's selling for a totally-worth-it $26.37 on amazon. Here's the link.

Who was Donald Graham? Here's what I think I know (and someone correct me if I'm wrong): he was an instructor at the Chouinard Art Institute who was selected by Walt Disney in the 1930s to teach art instruction at the Disney Studios in preparation for making "Snow White". As I understand it, he was instrumental in teaching the animators how to move away from the cartoon conventions that had been the basis of the shorts and start studying and understanding how real humans and animals are constructed in order to handle the complexities of the characters in films like "Snow White" and "Bambi". In the studio documentary, there's scenes of an art teacher instructing the animators, and I'm not sure but it might be Don himself teaching the class.

At donaldwgraham.com there's more information about him.

Quick question for anyone out there that might know: apparently at some point, all the teachers of the Famous Artists Course wrote each wrote books called "How I Make a Picture", describing their process and talking through their philosophies. Norman Rockwell's is the most well-known and available, but it's near impossible to find any information about the other editions. If anyone has any information about any of those other versions (particularly Robert Fawcett and Al Parker) let me know. And if you know someone at the Famous Artists Course, ask them why they won't republish these great books!!!

The Famous Artist Course

I have been contacted by the current owners of the "Famous Artist Course" and they have asked me to remove my link to Dan Caylor's blog because they own the copyright to the material, and they are planning on launching a new program soon that they say will incorporate some of the older material. Their website can be found here.

Haunting a House

So it's a Halloween tradition: posting this page from the Famous Artists Course by illustrator Stevan Donahos, where he talks through his process on how he draws a house to make it looks like it's haunted.

I like this page because its a good example of an artist talking through his process and explaining how he thinks and works.