How to Draw Body Motion

Drawing bodies in motion is incredibly important for mastering figure drawing. This can seem like a difficult area of illustration to cover, however, the same rules apply to drawing a body in motion as a body standing still. The main difference is the placement of the limbs and the position of the torso. For the example in this article you will be drawing a person running. This illustration will cover a range of placements for the arms and legs and really help you practice posing the human figure.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Paper
• Pencil
• Black Ink Pen
• Eraser

1. 

   Create the body of the character with a rectangle in the center of the page. Add an oval for the head directly above the chest. Add the pelvis with an upside down triangle below the torso. Connect the head to the torso with a small line. Connect the torso and pelvis with a small line. Add a circle on the upper right and left corner of the torso rectangle. Add a diagonal line off of each shoulder for the upper arms. Connect a perpendicular line to the upper arms to create the forearms.

2. Draw the legs with two diagonal lines coming out of the bottom of the pelvis. Point the left leg towards the bottom left corner. Point the right leg towards the bottom right corner. Attach a perpendicular line to the end of the right leg. Attach a slightly diagonal line to the bottom of the left leg. Add the knee guidelines with small circles. Add the foot guidelines with long triangles at the bottom of each leg.

3. 

   Make the frame solid by drawing parallel lines around the arms, legs and neck and between the torso and pelvis. Add a horizontal line across the middle of the head. Add a small circle on the left side of the horizontal line for the eye. Add the ear with a larger circle near the right side of the line.

4. Add the thumb on the right hand with a small rectangle on the top of the hand circle. Add the fingers with 3 diagonal lines across the right hand circle. Add a thumb to the left hand with a small rectangle on the left side of the hand. Add the hair withe and upside down "L" shape running from the forehead to the back of the neck. Add the color with a "V" shape at the base of the neck. Add the bottom of the shirt with a diagonal line across the top of the pelvis.

5. 

   Erase all of the guidelines. Ink the entire drawing. Let the ink dry and carefully erase the pencil lines.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure to keep all the body parts in proportion to each other. Use a photograph for reference if necessary.
• Be sure to let the ink dry before you erase the pencil lines

Resources

• Drawing sports poses in a cartoon style.