How to Draw Figures
Drawing figures is one of those things that few people really master conclusively, and unfortunate fact that causes many amateur artists to go to great lengths to create scenes without any people in them. Many professional artists continue practicing figure drawing to improve their rendering skills. Still, the basic process is quite simple, and it's never too early to start. If you like to draw at all, drawing figures is a great exercise that can be fun. It can also help you learn fundamental skills that you can apply to any drawing project.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
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1
Think about the figure as though it were made from a collection of ovals and circles. The head is a circle, and the upper and lower arms and legs are each ovals. The hands are circles. Thinking this way helps with the common beginners' mistake of using a simple outline to represent a body. Practice seeing people in this way during your normal activities.
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2
Find models to practice on. Figure drawing classes are great because they often have professional models who can hold a variety of poses for a long time. See if you can get some friends to hold different poses for you for a few minutes at a time. Live models are definitely best, but there are a few other possibilities. Simplified wooden figure models that are made out of oval shapes and can be manipulated into a variety of positions are available at many art stores, and these can be handy for visualizing how the body works.
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3
Concentrate on getting the main shapes of the body down by starting your drawing with the lines of the spine, arms and legs, and also the shapes of the major muscle groups (the oval shapes from step one). Draw people in a lot of different positions to get an idea of how the body moves: try standing, sitting, and lying down poses, plus balancing poses and people frozen in the middle of an action.
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4
Learn a little about anatomy and check the proportions of your drawings. Another common guideline is that legs make up half a person's total height, from the ground to the groin (and half of this distance is the point just below the kneecap). There are a lot of basic rules like these, including some complex ones for positioning facial features. Drawing from life is usually better than designing your figures on graph paper using these rules, but it's good to check in occasionally and make sure you're not too far off.
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5
Build up a drawing that is as detailed as you like on top of your basic sketch. If you drew in pencil you can work your figure drawings up by adding more detailed outlines, features like faces and fingers, and clothes.
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6
Ink any lines that you want in your final piece, then wait for the ink to dry and erase any unwanted pencil marks.
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1
Tips & Warnings
The better you are able to see a model's anatomy, the better you will be able to learn to draw it. This is why many figure drawing classes use nude models. If you don't have access to nude models, try to choose subjects whose clothing is relatively simple and form-fitting.
