I was reading my book, and it made a reference to a math rule called the "golden ratio". The author made it seem glorious stating, "Our mathematics is the symbolic counterpart of the universe we perceive, and its power has been continuously enhanced by human exploration." (Bello 8.9). I had no idea why Bello made it seem so mysterious, so i did research on it.
The golden ratio is a math rule, or more like shape. it is directly correlated to the Fibonacci series. The Fibonacci series, like i talked about in my last post, is a series of numbers where the next number is equal to the sum of the two previous numbers. the order is 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34.... the fascinating thing is if you take a number in the series, and divide it by the previous number, you get a decimal surprisingly close to a term called "phi".the official ratio is 1:1.61803398875 (meaning for every one unit, the next unit is exactly 1.6180339887 (aka phi) times that number
this shows up EVERYWHERE. after staying up all night wondering how i had not been taught this already i found that it is possible to be mathematically beautiful. Dr. Stephen Marquardt used the golden ratio shapes and made a mask. the mask is named the Beauty mask. if you take a model, someone who is widely seen as attractive, and you put the beauty mask on top of it, the facial features will match almost exactly. the more your face matches the map, the more people tend to find you attractive (statistically). Ever wonder how Snapchat is able to make you look "beautiful" in filters? or how it (usually) knows where all of your facial features are? well that white grid that covers your face is a version of the facial map.
A little information on how the facial map works on your face:
Your mouth is exactly phi times the width of the base of your nose. if you measure the width of your mouth and multiply it by phi that is equal to the distance between the corner of your mouth and your jaw line. your two front teeth are phi times wider than the two next to them. There's much more but includes a lot of variables and can get hard to understand, so here's a photo
The golden ratio also correlated to Plants, the way leaves grow and how pine cones are formed follow a perfect spiral. Advertisers use this equation to make billboards seem more visually pleasing or adjust the way people hold things. if you look at a dragon fly under a microscope you will notice that the wings AND eyes have the same similar pattern. make a fist right now. now look at it with the knuckle of your thumb facing you. see that little spiral your hand makes? you guessed it, that is exactly what the Fibonacci spiral looks like.
Now to tie this incredible knowledge back to my topic, Drawing. I have a theory: anybody can improve their drawings if they first take the time to understand the mathematics of how it works. Knowing how something works is what really makes it beautiful. To test my theory i decided to draw the golden ratio facial map. I drew one face completely free hand and the other using most of the mathematics.
Before you look at the photos i would like to put an emphasis on the fact that i am by no means an artist. The closest thing i have to drawing knowledge is the shading post that Josie wrote.
Before you look at the photos i would like to put an emphasis on the fact that i am by no means an artist. The closest thing i have to drawing knowledge is the shading post that Josie wrote.
I think it is safe to say that if i ever am tasked with drawing a face, i will have a calculator and a ruler handy.
Have you ever heard of the golden ratio? if not why don't you think our math classes have not taught us this yet?
materials used
- pencil
- ruler
- protractor
- compass
- paper
Bello, Engr R. Technical Drawing: Presentation & Practice. 1st ed. N.p.: CreateSpace, 2012. Web.
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