Drawing Feet

We're not quite done talking about drawing hands, but let's take a break and look at how to draw feet. In my opinion, feet aren't as challenging as drawing hands. This is because most of the time, the foot isn't naked, it's usually covered. This means that you won't have to draw the toes, and I suppose that's what many people find difficult. As with hands, all feet are different sizes, so there aren't any universal rules as far as proportion. But of course most feet look similar in that they have five toes and an ankle bone that pokes out above the foot.

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

If you simplify the foot in your mind as we did with the hand, you'll see that the foot is basically a wedge-shaped object. If you look at it from the side, and ignore the arch on the sole of the foot, but imagine the sole is a straight line, you can really see the wedge shape that makes up the foot.

Looking at the foot from the front makes the foot look a little bit more complex. It's still a wedge shape, and the toes are the narrowest part of the wedge. But from the front you'll also see that the wedge shape is tapered and that the outside edge of the foot is the narrowest edge of that side of the wedge.

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The ankle bone is where the foot pivots up and down. So, in a side view drawing of a foot,  if you place the ankle bone at the top of your wedge shape and a little to the right, you should get the ankle placed correctly in your foot drawing. Click the image to see where to place the ankle if you're drawing a side view of a foot.

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Let's look at a more common angle that you'd draw a foot. That angle is called a three-quarter angle because the foot isn't straight at you and it's not 90� to your eyes where you're looking at the side of the foot like the examples above. The toes of the foot are angled slightly away from you. This is a very common way for you to see feet because most people stand with their feet angling out away from their body, their feet aren't usually pointing straight ahead of them. Of course you can stand with your toes pointing straight ahead, but it's probably not a natural stance for you. Go ahead and click on the image to the left and we'll talk about drawing a foot that is a three-quarter foot.

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

I said that feet are oftentimes covered, and that usually means they're easier to draw that way because you don't have to draw the toes. What you're really doing is drawing the footwear, not the foot inside. Basically what you'd have to do is draw the wedge shapes of the covered foot, then tighten up the drawing by drawing the contours of the footwear, not the foot itself. Here are two common ways you might see feet, in a shoe or a high heeled shoe. Click the pictures to see how to draw a foot inside a shoe.

So you don't have to be afraid of drawing feet. If you simplify the foot into it's basic wedge shapes, then tighten up the wedge shapes by drawing the contours of the foot (or footwear), you'll do fine.