toyosatomimi no miko is my wife

@futomiko, Merry Christmas! Wish all the best for you!

I’m very glad to be your secret Santa this year. 

The concept of “X Heads tall” is less an accurate height measurement like being 5′6″ tall and more meant to help act as landmarks that keep the body itself in anatomical proportion.

(Sarah. “Sailor Aquarius 1” SenshiStock, https://www.deviantart.com/senshistock/art/Sailor-Aquarius-1-161751602)

From my personal study, 7 heads is the solid, realistically anatomical proportions of a human. It seems to be mostly universal, but sometimes I’ve heard that it’s more 7 and ½ heads or 8 heads for male anatomy. Honestly, 7-8 is just a general good ballpark.

The proportions are also impressively helpful when drawing characters at different ages!

(source unknown)

Children and babies are growing, their heads tend to be pretty big in relation to their bodies so overtime their limbs grow out which make their heads look not so large.

By learning anatomical proportions, it will help your anatomy, there are so many different landmarks and shortcuts that you can use to help eyeball proportions without having to painstakingly pull out a ruler and do math (just look at one of Chekhov’s anatomy redlines). It can still feel tedious, but by practicing your hand and eye with seeing proportions correctly, you will pick up where maybe the chest looks too big and broad in relation to the head or figure out the proper length of the torso.