Do not trust your eye
I have the benefit of hindsight with Photoshop. I can see exactly how "off" my drawing is from my model.
I just finished a study of another ballet dancer, and she just didn't feel right! I couldn't put my finger on it until I analyzed the drawing the following morning. Although the drawing is an accurate representation of the beautiful ballet dancer, it is not an exact representation of the beautiful ballet dancer. As can be seen in the image within the blog, here is the laundry list of inconsistencies:
The left arm is not high enough and just slightly off kilter
The right arm is not long enough and just slightly off kilter
The head is not tilted back enough
The chin is too rounded
The torso is too wide
The skirt starts too low on her waist
The skirt is not wide enough
The feet are not spaced wide enough
And this is with an average overlay of the image, if I shift the image such that the skirt is more aligned, it becomes obvious that the head is too large and off, the right arm is completely too high, and the legs are also slightly short.
As my former art teacher would quote his former art teacher (tongue-in-cheek), "this looks like shit." Then he would have corrected my ugliness. But alas that was over 20 years ago.
Today, I have decided to use my blog as a mirror and do an honest self-assessment. This "ugly" picture has created a moment of vulnerability and doubt in my own abilities. But in this moment of vulnerability, I will accept it and begin to understand where to improve. If one is not striving to find places for improvement and only finds validation in others, then stagnation will be achieved.
I have been consistently drawing and painting for a month and getting validation from random people that I am drawing something they like. The question has always been is what they like, high enough quality that they would buy it? The difference between professional art and amateur art is that threshold. That a random individual walking buy sees your art and goes, I must have that, instead of, oh that looks like something I could do or a kid drew. The difference in that threshold is ... "millimeters" ... dare I say ... "micrometers"
We are aware of the golden ratio as it concerns "beauty." If facial features are off by millimeters from the ideal ratios, then they are not considered as beautiful. The exact same ratio applies in art not only from a beauty perspective but also a feeling of correct rendering perspective. If the ratio is not exact then not just is the beauty seeming off, but so is the level of drawing. In other words, the correct proportions and ratios not only makes your subject beautiful to the untrained eye but also gives it a feeling of looking "right."
Golden Ratio
"That means a woman with a face 5 ½ inches wide from ear to ear and 7 inches long from hairline to chin ideally would boast about 2 ½ inches of distance between her eyes and another 2 ½ inches between her pupils and mouth. Women whose measurements varied from those markers were ranked less attractive." - Accessed Feb. 5 2019
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/34482178/ns/health-skin_and_beauty/t/ideal-beauty-matter-millimeters-study-says/#.XFmMU1xKhPY
Today's lesson learned is that proportions and ratios need to be even more adhered to and practiced when attempting to reproduce accurately the human figure.
post-script
Although, we are discussing the golden ratio and the accurate reproduction of figures as it relates to beauty, abstract figures purposely mess with these ratios and proportions to distort and yet still maintain a sense of beauty. A case-in-point would be Picasso's "The Women of Avignon."