How to Draw Figures

Hello I’m Kyla and I wanted to teach you how to draw a basic female figure in two different ways. The materials that I used were a standard sketchbook (or any paper) and a pencil. I just wanted to help you remember that this is the way I find drawing figures easiest and the best way to get the proportions right. Everyone is different so you will eventually come up with your own way to draw the best figures.

First I’m going to show you the steps for drawing a figure the way that I first learned, I call it Basic shapes. First you are going to need to set up a good work area. I personally like nicely lit areas or even outside. You will also want your pencil and paper.

Step #1: Head

I like to start with an oval for the head and two lines for the neck.

Step #2: Torso

Now that you have your head and neck you will need to add the torso. Draw a skinny upside down triangle and then draw a circle on the point of the triangle with slight overlap. The triangle will act as the torso and the circle is the butt.

Step #3: Legs

Now draw two more skinny triangles on the bottom of the circle these will be the legs.
The legs should be about the length of from the top of the head to the bottom of that circle.

Step #4: Place marks

Once you have a good length for the legs make a halfway mark on the legs that will be temporary so you know where the legs are. Then make another halfway mark on the legs but this time it will be from the bottom of the circle to the knees that is where the hands will fall.

Step #5: Arms, hands, and feet

For the arms our last step will be draw two skinny triangles from the top of the first torso triangle down to the middle of the thighs. Add two circles for the hands and two triangles for the feet.

Step #6: Final touches (Image)

Now add the meat to the figure round it out make it less shapey and more human. Round out the shoulders and make the jaw to a point to give it more of a feminine look. Add hair and clothes once you feel comfortable with drawing these characters.

The basic shapes figure can be a bit confusing at first but if you practice that figure multiple times in only that pose it will make you better at drawing figures. From personal experience when my art teacher first taught me this technique I was a bit confused but I just kept practicing it and then drawing figures became much easier. Once you have that technique down you might want some more movement and variation in your characters.

This type of way to draw a figure I call the Connect the Dots technique. In this technique I will show you how to draw a person with more ability to move. I sort of made this way to draw a figure up but it works. For this figure you will need to grab your pencil and paper.

Step #1: Head and neck

Just like the first figure draw an oval for the head and two lines for the neck.

Step #2: Shoulders, butt, and spine

Now right underneath the neck draw a sideways thin oval and this will be a part of your shoulders. Then draw a line for the spine connecting to the top of the shoulder oval. (In different circumstances you will want to curve the spine differently but for now keep it straight.) Now add another skinny oval connecting to the spine. You will want this to be about two heads tall from the shoulder oval to the butt oval.

Step #3: Dots for limbs

For making the legs you will want it to be the length of from the top of the shoulder oval to the bottom of the butt oval but instead of making a triangle make dots to mark the knees and bottom of the legs. For the arms make dots for the elbows. At the end of the arms put circles or squares for the hands also remember that the elbows and the knees are halfway on the arms of legs.

Step #4: Flesh out

Once you finished your figure then you are going to want to flesh out your characters keep in mind that not everyone has the same body type so play around with the body types and poses by changing where the dots are.

Although this technique can be hard to get the proportions right if you practice everyday it will be automatic for getting the right proportions.

In the post I taught you how to draw a person in basic shapes and lines and dots. Thank you guys for sticking to the end of this long post hopefully the next ones won’t be as long. I challenge y'all to draw at least five figures a day for one full week and practice different poses and clothing. What will you guys use this information for?