Feet can easily become a problematic area when figure painting because we don't take the time to study and internalize the basic structure nor do we allocate ourselves sufficient time to paint them. Instead it's all too easy to tell yourself you can't do feet and simply avoid them. Painting realistic feet does take time and patience; it's a complex bit of the body with many parts.
Don't expect it to be done in an instant, but equally don't neglect what can be very beautiful and as distinctive as an individual's facial features because you feel it takes too long. As with so many things, the more you practice, the less time it'll take. This is a list of common errors beginners (and not-such-beginners) make with feet and toes.
Don't expect it to be done in an instant, but equally don't neglect what can be very beautiful and as distinctive as an individual's facial features because you feel it takes too long. As with so many things, the more you practice, the less time it'll take. This is a list of common errors beginners (and not-such-beginners) make with feet and toes.
No Flat Feet
Images ©2011 Marion Boddy-Evans. Licensed to About.com, Inc.
Feet are not flat slabs like slices of bread, nor are they simple rectangles like bricks attached to the bottom of our legs sticking out to the front. They are a three-dimensional element, both in their overall shape ("the foot") and each toe. There are almost-straight lines, gentle and strong, bumps and gaps.
Each foot has six sides, each distinctive and mirrored on the other foot: left and right; front and back; top and bottom. If the feet on a figure look odd, go back to the absolute basics and check you've got the fundamental 3D structure.
Each foot has six sides, each distinctive and mirrored on the other foot: left and right; front and back; top and bottom. If the feet on a figure look odd, go back to the absolute basics and check you've got the fundamental 3D structure.
Toes Touch
Toes do not sit side-by-side barely touching one another, like a row of sausages. They butt up to one another, touching and squashing. The shape of toes changes when you put your feet up; they're not as squashed and flattened when you take your weight off them.
Toes naturally sit together, the big one bending slightly inward and the other four leaning towards the big one. You do not see all sides of all your toes unless you spread them out. The biggest gap is between the second and big toes.
Toes are not all the same length or width, but get shorter from big toe to little. However, some people have a second toe that is longer than their big toe, so if you're painting their specific feet rather than idealized feet, be sure to take note of this.
Toes have joints in them that bend, but not as much as fingers. Toes bend in the ball of your foot, not in front of it. Pay attention also to how curling up your toes changes the shape of the ball of your foot.
Toes naturally sit together, the big one bending slightly inward and the other four leaning towards the big one. You do not see all sides of all your toes unless you spread them out. The biggest gap is between the second and big toes.
Toes are not all the same length or width, but get shorter from big toe to little. However, some people have a second toe that is longer than their big toe, so if you're painting their specific feet rather than idealized feet, be sure to take note of this.
Toes have joints in them that bend, but not as much as fingers. Toes bend in the ball of your foot, not in front of it. Pay attention also to how curling up your toes changes the shape of the ball of your foot.
Ankles are at an Angle
The knobbly bits at your ankle are at a different height, not directly opposite one another. The inside anklebone (medial malleolus) is higher than the outer anklebone (lateral malleolus). If you get these the wrong way around, your feet will look like they are on the wrong leg. It does not change even if the foot is flexed.
Big Foot
As a general rule, the length of a foot (from heel to tip of the big toe) is the same length as the skull (from chin to the top) and as long as the forearm (from elbow to wrist). It may seem implausibly big, but feet and hands tend to be longer than we think. Remember too that the proportions of the face are such that a hand (from base of palm to fingertips) is the length of the facial features (from chin to hairline or mid-forehead).The width of a foot is about half the width of the skull or about the width of four fingers (exclude the thumb). If something seems wrong with the feet on a figure, check they're not too small, both length and width.
