Why?

Why make a site offering models to draw created from real human bodies?

Why not just use the many models for fashion design that already exist on the Internet?

More and more people, women and men, are uncomfortable with their bodies and feel bad about the way they look. Their bodies never seem to live up to their expectations. Many people are critical of certain parts of their body; they would like to change these parts.

Daily in our society, we are exposed to images of bodies that are at best unrealistic. Teenagers interested in drawing fashions use models of idealized bodies. These bodies are unrealistic and could not exist in real life. It seems harmless, but we are affected by the abundance of these body images presented to us in movies, photos magazines etc. These collective ideals of beauty, create unrealistic expectations and develop an ideal that creates a false perception of our own bodies.

I did a little exercise to better understand how this collective false vision of the body developed.

I found on the internet a photo of a mannequin with a body considered "ideal" by the standards of the fashion industry and I have drawn it as is.

Proportions of a fashion model
(Using the proportions of the human head to measure body height)

A "normal" human body is proportionally equal to about seven and a half to eight human heads in its full height.

I searched for a typical fashion design model on the web.

The typical proportions of a fashion design model

I easily count a dozen heads to equal the height of this idealized model.

I changed the proportions of the mannequin to look like the typical model used for drawing fashion design, this model is much thinner and elongated, with very long legs and a small head. These "Barbie’s proportions" are considered more elegant by the fashion designers.

Adaptation of the model’s proportions to the the ideal fashion design

To help illustrate my point, I drew a normal sized person using the inverse of the proportions used to create the idealized models of fashion design. How does a normal person feel when compared to the ideal body of fashion designers?

False self-perception of the body

(compared to the ideal body of fashion designers)

If the ideal standard of beauty follows the model of fashion design, we will inevitably feel small in comparison, crushed, large and thick with a large head, no neck an oversized abdomen and stumpy legs!

It looks like a stupid game, but that is exactly how some of my friends see themselves and not just those with anorexic tendencies!

This site, "Models to trace," simply proposes some tools to maintain a more realistic and harmonious relation with the reality of our bodies, as they were created in their infinite variety, not like the model bodies that have been distorted by unattainable ideals!

To do this, I need your help!