How to Draw a Person Standing

You can learn to draw a person standing.

You come across many basic poses when you're learning to draw the human form, including the standing pose. Mastering this basic technique will be key if you want to learn figure drawing. You can follow a step-by-step method of drawing a basic skeletal frame of a person standing.

Things You'll Need

• Pencil
• Black ink pen
• Kneaded eraser

Instructions

1. Draw the basic skeletal frame--an oval for the head, a rectangular shape for the chest and a triangular shape for the pelvis.

2. Add arms and legs with simple lines, and add elbows and knees with circles. Draw larger circles for the hands and triangular shapes for the feet.

3. Draw a cross or "T" shape to the face to help you mark out facial details later.

4. Flesh out the frame by adding cylinders on top of the guidelines. Draw cylinders on the upper arms and forearms, and add a cylinder for the neck and make it overlap into the chest area. Add a cylinder connecting the chest and pelvis. Create cylinders that are wider at the top than the bottom. Add cylinders to the calves that are also wider at the top.

5. Connect all the joints with lines.

6. Add the detail guidelines to the face. Add ovals for eyes, circles on the side of the head for ears and two small lines for the nose and mouth.

7. Add a rectangular shape on each hand coming out of the hand circle. These will be later split into fingers. Add a small rectangular shape on each hand for thumbs.

8. Add jagged lines around the head and across the forehead for the figure's hair.

9. Add a ring shape around the neck, waist and upper arms to create the T-shirt. Draw a watch on the right arm with a small band on the wrist and a circle inside it.

10. Add pants by drawing parallel lines that flare slightly at the bottom.

11. Split the hand guideline into fingers by drawing four lines up the rectangular shape attached to the hand circle.

12. Erase all the guidelines.

13. Add a button with a small circle at the top of the pants. Add pockets with small curved lines near the top of the pants. Create a zipper with a small line coming down from the button.

14. Add lines to the front and heel of the shoes. Add laces on top of the shoes with small rectangular shapes.

15. Add eyes by drawing small circles attached to the bottom of a curved line, and add eyebrows with curved lines above the eyes. Add the nose by drawing an upward curved line on the nose. Draw a small line under the mouth to add the lower lip.

16. Ink the entire drawing, let the ink dry, then erase all the pencil.

17. Darken the rings around the neck, arms and waist on the T-shirt.

18. Add shadows under the chin and below the pant legs.

Tips & Warnings

• Using a skeletal frame can make poses more realistic and dynamic.

• Your drawing can be used as a template to create original drawings and characters.

• Let the ink dry before you erase the pencil lines to avoid smudging the drawing.