Andy Mokler wrote: I think I know where you're coming from though.  For me, I've always tried to find out what "it" is.  What's the secret formula or process that artists like JB use to make those wonderful pictures.  There's got to be some equation or secret to what these guys do, right?  I don't think so.  You can know all the rules and still not be able to come up with what these guys come up with.

Bzzzzzzzzzzttttttt!!!  Wrong answer!  Sorry, try again.  ;)

Thanks anyway Andy, but since we're fortunate to have access to the guy who created the characters, I figured I'd just ask him instead of pulling out old comics or doing a Google/wiki run.

I could have just as easily used six feet as a measuring stick for Guardian (and probably should have), but since heads are commonly used as units of relative measure, that's where my head was at.  Ba dump bump.  Nothing hard and fast or rigid about it.  That's where the word "relative" comes into play.

So, if Guardian is a smidge over six feet tall, and Sasquatch is nine feet tall, and you use a head to equal each foot, Sasquatch should stand three heads taller than Mac if they're standing next to each other on the same ground plane.  Box gets around two more than Mac. 

In Loomis' teaching, the heads are used more to demonstrate the arrangement of the body, including landmarks and lengths of forms, at different ages for each gender and for different purposes; hence the "traditional," "fashion," "heroic," etc.  They're just a guage so you don't have the wonky kinds of anatomical distortions prevalent in many popular comics (no names, please; we all know the guys who draw the teesy waists with the small heads and impossibly long legs, etc...or the heroes who appear to be nine feet tall while normal people next to them appear unnaturally stunted).  That occurs because they lack an understanding of proportion.

The error in your example for Sasquatch is that you have him standing alone without any other person or object next to him.  I'm not concerned with how tall he stands in comicbook space; I needed to know how high would the other characters be in relation to him if they were all in the same space next to one another.  I think John understood the gist of my question.  I could have left out any units of measure, but again we're talking about relative proportion drawn in a two-dimensional space, not actual feet and inches.

That's all I was going for.  Funny how these discussions can spin out of some of the most inoccuous questions...

You're right that I misinterpreted you original question.  You just want to know how tall Sasquatch and Box are, right?

So, if Guardian is a smidge over six feet tall, and Sasquatch is nine feet tall, and you use a head to equal each foot, Sasquatch should stand three heads taller than Mac if they're standing next to each other on the same ground plane.  Box gets around two more than Mac.

You and I are definitely on different wavelengths.  I don't know how you're coming up with 1 head = 1 foot(12 inches).  If Guardian is 74 inches tall, and his height is divided by 7 heads, 1 head would be 10 1/4 inches (or less if you want to go 7 1/2+).  If you multiply that by 3 to get your difference in their respective heights, 6 inches off doesn't sound like much but I assume accuracy was your goal, so...

If you just want to simplify it, why not just make Sasquatch half a Mac taller?

Oh well, as long as you got what you're looking for.  I was thinking proportions and you were talking height.

It doesn't matter if you're talking twelve inches, twelve feet, using metric units, whatever...the issue is relative proportion.  The distance between two or more characters standing on equal footing on the same plane using a consistent unit of measurement as your standard.  That's all.  I'm drawing them, not making them suits. 

I wrote: I'm not concerned with how tall he stands in comicbook space; I needed to know how high would the other characters be in relation to him if they were all in the same space next to one another.  I think John understood the gist of my question.  I could have left out any units of measure, but again we're talking about relative proportion drawn in a two-dimensional space, not actual feet and inches.

the issue is relative proportion.

I understand that, I just don't know why you'd choose Guardian's head as the starting point.  Usually, at least in conversations I've been in, referencing how many heads relates to the proportions of that particular character in relation to their own head, not all the other characters that may be in the same picture.  The wording of your question just confused me.  I didn't know you were just looking for the characters height, I thought you wanted their proportions.  Using Guardian's head as a unit of measurement just seems arbitrary to me.

Apparently you're not looking for precise measurements so, Guardian at 6' and Sasquatch at 9' means Sasquatch is 50% of Guardian taller than Guardian.  Box would be a little less.  Rocket science, here I come!

QUOTE: Sasquatch just doesn't conform to many of the rules

His head is hunched forward, unless I'm remembering wrong. So he fits the 3 heads from chin to crotch rule. He looks hunched forward anyway. And since this thread's still open, I think you should never break 3 heads upper body rule and just elongate the legs and arms, unless you're Micheal Turner.