At first look, the figures drawn by the Ancient Egyptians may seem wooden and flat, demonstrating a limited understanding of the human form.

However, you need only look at their sculptures to realise that this is not the case.

Their drawings are simplified and stylised images which represent the eternal spirit of the character that they depict, and as such, are quite sophisticated images.

A traditional Egyptian image shows the head and lower body viewed from the side, with the eye and upper body viewed from the front.

In our drawing above we have focused on the upper half of the body.

The image was drawn in line without any shading using a charcoal pencil on a heavy-grade white paper.