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Measuring
I tried this little idea today while drawing a picture of my wife:
Take a ruler and hold it up to the reference photo. Keep it at arm's length. Move closer or farther from the photo until the top of the figure is lined up with the top of the ruler, and the bottom of the figure is lined up with the bottom of the ruler. I used a 6" ruler. In other words, you're standing in a position that makes it appear that the figure is six inches tall (of course, the figure has to be at least that large. If it isn't, try four or five inches.) Looking at your six inch tall figure, take note of what features fall on the 2" mark, the 3" mark, etc.
We're assuming that your drawing is a different size than the reference (otherwise you could just take direct measurements). Hold up the ruler in front of your drawing until it too appears to be six inches tall. Do I need to belabor the point? You get the idea. Now you can compare landmarks on the drawing to see if you have them placed correctly.
Next, holding your ruler so that the reference is once again a half foot tall, carefully rotate the ruler to check widths. If your reference is 3" wide when it's 6" tall, your drawing should be the same.
Warning: DON'T use this as a means to draw the figure. What a disaster that would be! Train your eye by drawing accurately first, then use the ruler to check yourself. When I used this method today, I was delighted to see that I had done pretty well, but had to adjust the position of the arm a little.
Also, use this method only in the block-in stage. Once your drawing has advanced, your proportions should already be set. That's why you block in to begin with.
I know this isn't a new idea. In fact, I thought of it myself a long time ago, and I should have tried it before today, but it might be a new idea to someone out there. Basically, I'm taking the sight-size concept, and applying it to non-sight-size drawing.
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