It took a while to figure this out, but it works! That's the main thing.

http://www.realcolorwheel.com/FAA.htg/2afiguredrawgiftoOverlay517x720.jpg

Accurate 8-head-high 7 year old female human figure, adjusted for artists.

This 7 year olds head is 1/4 of one head larger than the 7 heads used to make the rest of her body.

The rest of the body has the same divisions as an adult body.

A 17 year old would have 8 full sized heads making up the divisions their body.

It's an age to head size ratio.

http://www.realcolorwheel.com/humanproportions.htg/7yrold8headFullFeetWhiteBlocks276x648.png

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Q. How good of an artist could you become if you had all the time you needed, practiced everyday because you wanted to and had all your supplies handed to you on a silver platter?
She's in Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet class. He was a French painter who led the Realist movement in 1800 French painting. The Realist movement bridged the Romantic movement with the Barbizon School and the Impressionists. (Wikipedia)

1804, Colodion, 1738-1814, French Rococo, high art sculpture at it's finest.

I conceder Elizabeth Vigee-LeBrun, (1755-1842), one of, if not the greatest portrait painter ever. She was a realist in the Romantic Movement painting portraids while Courbet was a kid just starting to paint. The High Art period was continuing.

Elizabeth's Advice On The Painting Of Portraits
Excerpted from the memoirs of portrait painter Elizabeth Vigee-LeBrun
"I have decided to add here at the end of my memoirs the advice that I wrote my niece,
Mme J. Tripier Le Franc, thinking that it might also be of interest to others."

Go to my webpage about human proportions. If you're a portrait painter you have to read Elizabeth's advice.
This linked page explains human proportion in detail.
http://www.realcolorwheel.com/human.htm

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I'm doing life drawing now, 8-22-9.
Use this link to visit my page
http://www.realcolorwheel.com/lifedrawingDon.htm
http://www.realcolorwheel.com/lifedrawingDonOil.htm
http://www.realcolorwheel.com/end.htm
(the "end.htm" page is links to my latest painting or update)

http://www.realcolorwheel.com/lifedrawing.htg/5lifedrawing.png
http://www.realcolorwheel.com/lifedrawing.htg/6lifedrawing.png
http://www.realcolorwheel.com/lifedrawing.htg/13don2_8-12-9.png