How to make: A figure of yourself

Introduction

In this exercise you are going to build scale figures of yourself in different sizes and in different situations and work with the body's size relationships in the same way as Jørn
Utzon did. You can use either a photo or a drawing of yourself. A scale figure is a big help when you are establishing the correct proportions in architecture and in maintaining them - both when drawing and when model making. 

Materials:
Stiff card
Drawing paper

Tools:
Pencil or black fine-line felt-tip pen
Scissors
Straight edge or scale ruler
Measuring stick or measuring tape
Glue stick
Camera
Access to printer/photocopier

What to do

Take a photo of yourself

1. Take a photo. You may stand, sit, or lie down.

2. Measure your height using either a measuring stick or tape measure and convert it to 1:20. 1:50, and 1:100 scale.

3. Scale your photo so your height corresponds to 1:20. 1:50, and 1:100 scale. The easiest way to do this is to print out your photo and then use a photocopier to scale and print at the three different scales. For example, if you are 160 cm tall, your figure, standing will measure 8cm at 1:20.

4. Roughly cut out the three scale figures and stick them onto some stiff card using a glue stick.

5. Recut the scale figures following correct outlines but leaving an extra bit of card at the bottom, which can be used as a stand when folded over. The figure should be able to stand or sit by itself. 

Draw yourself

1. Measure your height using a measuring stick or tape and convert it to 1:20, 1:50, and 1:100 scale.

2. Convert your height to scale 1:20, 1:50, and 1:100. You can use a measuring stick to find the correct height. For example, if you are 160 cm tall, you should measure 8 cm at 1:20 when you stand up.

3. Draw yourself at 1:20, 1:50 and 1:100 scale. You may stand, sit, or lie down. If the figure becomes too small to work with at 1:50 and 1:100, you can draw at any scale and afterwards reduce the drawing using the photocopier (see point 3 above).

4. Roughly cut out the three scale figures and stick them onto some stiff card using a glue stick.

5. Recut the scale figures following correct outlines but leaving an extra bit of card at the bottom, which can be used as a stand when folded over. The figure should be able to stand or sit by itself.

Based on Strandberg Publishing's 'Utzon's Universe' by Malene Abildgaard and Julie Dufour.