How to Draw Strong People

From Michelangelo's "David" to nearly every iconic tight-wearing superhero, strong, well-muscled people have their place in the world of both classic and pop artwork. Drawing your own strong people means paying attention to basic human anatomy; your drawing can reflect this anatomy either as a realistic interpretation or as an exaggerated superhuman presentation. Regardless of whichever you choose, drawing strong people is about using basic geometric shapes to create the body and musculature.

Things You'll Need

• Paper
• Pencil
• Eraser
• Black ink

Instructions

1. Draw a circle in the top center of your paper. Since this basic shape serves as the head of your muscular character, size the circle according to how small or large you want your final art to be. Draw a vertical line underneath the head to serve as the “skeleton,” a starting point to begin drawing the muscles later. You can draw this line curved in any manner of poses to show in action in your character is you wish.

2. Draw an inverted trapezoidal shape (the torso) beneath the head circle, leaving a little room between the two shapes to account for the neck. Add lines jutting out from the torso to represent stick figure arms and legs. Flesh out the limbs by adding similar lines next to the existing lines.

3. Erase the skeleton line that runs through the torso; erase the dividing lines between the torso and limbs to make your character appear more as one solid shape. Draw two side-by-side ovals in the top portion of the torso to make the pecs, the prominent chest muscles on most male characters. Draw the ovals slightly smaller and leave room for drawing the breasts, if creating a female character.

4. Add two vertical side-by-side rows of smallish ovals beneath the pecs to create the abdominals for the six-pack look. Erase a few random lines around the abdominal circles to make the muscles appear more lifelike and less circular.

5. Draw elongated ovals that surround the arms to create the shoulders, biceps and forearm muscles. Erase any overlapping lines. Draw similar ovals on the legs to represent the quads and calves of the leg, then erase the overlapping lines. Add in details, such as facial features and any clothing options, to finish drawing your strong person.

Tips & Warnings

• Trace your drawing in black ink to make your art stand out on the page.

References

• "Simplified Anatomy for the Comic Book Artist;" Christopher Hart; 2007
• Elfwood: Tutorial on drawing basic musculature