Plenty of tall men (very tall men in particular) are thin-built and have long arms and legs with narrow shoulders i.e. a classical ectomorphic build.
Many of these men, anecdotally, seem to be more likely than others to have a short arm span in comparison to their height, mostly because they have proportionally narrow shoulders. Even so, their arms still look long, or at least proportionally long.
Taken from the old forum:
http://www. /index.php?topic=1990.0
"So I've been doing a lot of measuring and alterations of photos of celebrities, ordinary people (like myself) and someone who's done LL. From MY measurements and observations, most normally proportioned people (and those that have aesthetically pleasing proportions - such as models, celebrities) have a height to arm length (this is NOT armspan - this is measured from top of shoulder to tip of the middle finger) ratio of about 2.3. And this ratio, incidentally, was reported by Benjamin Gould in "Investigations in the Military and Anthropological Statistics of American Soldiers" Cambridge: Riverside Press, reprinted Arno Press, NY 1979 after measuring 4,855 soldiers.
When altering photos w/ photoshop, I've noticed that disporportions start to become noticeable and displeasing as one surpasses a height to arm length ratio of 2.5.
This is one parameter I'll be using to determine the maximum LL my proportions will support. So if you have a program like photoshop, try it for yourselves and let me know if you agree with these ratios...I'd be interested."
On looking around on google for an example of 2.5 arm length to height ratio, I found that the terracotta warriors in China were modelled on that exact ratio. https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=terracotta+warriors&rlz=1C1EJFA_enGB729GB729&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjvx_LZyvjUAhUrIMAKHVeHAxMQ_AUICigB&biw=1707&bih=789&dpr=1.13#imgrc=CGLIAY3MK8FnbM:
Their arms do look a bit too short to be aesthetically pleasing to me.
I'd be interested if there were any studies done into ideal proportions re arm length vs. height. I found all of this interesting but science > one guy with photoshop...
Is arm length to height ratio better than wingspan for working out proportions?
I don't see the humour in it. Maybe I'm too far gone :/
That they have a 2.5 ratio was in some other research but I can't be bothered finding it now. You can find it on google pretty easily.
I suppose what looks proportional depends on a whole range of factors, anyway, and it's about finding the amount of lengthening which gives the best compromise. But I think things like arm length are probably a lot more important than hand size for example.
I heard elsewhere on the old forum that so long as arms are half of femoral length (not actual femoral length, but femoral length measured from the inguinal curve/end of your leg to the place where you can feel the bone end) it will always look proportionate, provided your legs aren't freakishly long and your torso freakishly short or whatever.
Start measuring at the point your shoulder ends and arm begins. Right at the top of the arm, at the point where it curves into your shoulder.
I guess how easy it is depends on how much your shoulders slope. About here (the bit I circled in red):
http://i.imgur.com/2rEDFkZ.jpg
Mine is 76 cm, so only a little longer than yours. We are almost the same size haha. What is your overall arm span? Mine is about 178 cm
They probably wanted them to look aesthetic, though. Maybe short arms are traditionally considered aesthetic in Chinese culture.
A large part of the terracotta army is about 5'9" btw which they think might have been around average Chinese height back then. Reason being people became shorter during the period of industrial development all around the world, due to the extreme deprivation experienced by urban working class.
I think intermembral index might be a good way of trying to figure out what proportions would look good:
http://efossils.org/book/limb-proportions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermembral_index
You must be logged in to post a reply.