drawing a person
It’s easier than you think to sketch a person. With these simple steps, you’ll be well on your way to drawing lifelike humans you didn’t know you could. So grab your pencil and get ready to create!
The first step for drawing a person is to draw a stick figure. The stick figure will be the foundation for your person. Start by making a circle for the head and then draw a line for the body. Sketch two lines for the arms and two for the legs. Feel free to add another circle for the hands and feet as well. If you want to get even more detailed, you can give your person some clothing by drawing a few lines to represent a jacket or shirt and pants.
Once you have your basic stick figure, it’s time to give it some shape and form. When sketching a person, start by adding basic shapes like ovals and rectangles. Place the ovals and rectangles over your stick figure, paying attention to the anatomy of the human body. The ovals will represent the shoulders, head, and hips, while the rectangles will be used for the arms and legs. When you have properly fit the shapes over your stick figure, you can draw the details of the person, such as facial features and clothing.
When drawing facial features, start with the eyes. Make sure the eyes are placed in the center of the face and a good distance apart. After you’ve done that, draw in the nose and the mouth! Use curved lines to form the nose and overlapping inverted V’s to form the lips. Finally, add the eyebrows and some curvature to the face to create more of a three-dimensional effect.
No person is complete without some clothing, so the last step is to draw in details like clothing wrinkles, belts, and accessories. To draw wrinkles, use short curved lines that overlap each other. To draw a belt, draw a straight horizontal line with an oval buckle in the middle. For accessories, draw lines that represent jewelry and other pieces. Have fun and get creative!
The next part of drawing a person is shading and texturing. To create the illusion of three-dimensionality, you’ll want to add shading and highlights to your figure. Using a pencil, start by shading the darker parts of the person, like their hair and clothing. For highlights, go for the light areas, such as the forehead, nose, and cheeks.
Now that you have the basics of sketching a person down, there’s a whole array of poses you can craft your figure in. To draw a person standing, all you have to do is adjust the shapes and proportions of the original stick figure you drew. Keep adjusting the lines of the arms and legs until you find a pose that looks good. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, try out some action poses.
Where sketching a person standing is relatively straightforward, sketching one sitting can be a bit tricky. When starting out drawing a person sitting, draw the original stick figure you would use for standing but leave out the legs. From there, draw a semicircle for the back of the figure and two curved lines for their arms and hands.
To make your figure look more realistic, draw in the details. This can include clothing wrinkles, accessories, and hands. Start with the clothing wrinkles and draw in a few curved lines to indicate folds in their clothing. To make your character stand out, draw a few accessories such as sunglasses or a necklace. Then draw two circles for their hands and add a few lines for the fingers.
We’ve gone over drawing people in both a standing and sitting pose, but we can’t forget about laying down. When starting out drawing someone in a laying down position, first draw the stick figure like normal but with curved lines for the arms and feet. After that, add shapes like rectangles and ovals over the figure.
Drawing in the details is especially important with a laying down position. Start by adding the clothing wrinkles and then draw the hands and feet. To make your figure look even more realistic, draw in accessories or other improvised details.
Overall, drawing a person can seem intimidating at first, but once you know the basics, it gets much easier. Start by sketching a stick figure and then fit the shapes and proportions of a human body around it. Next, draw in the details of the face, clothing and accessories. And remember to shade and highlight your figure for a more lifelike appearance. Now try out your newly learned skills and start sketching away!
