how do you draw people? planning to do that
Random tip from middle school art class, you wanna make your characters be seven times the height of their head tall (for realistic proportions)
yep, 7-8 heads tall
You can adjust it to be shorter for a more appealing aesthetic, and taller for eldritch horror
Break the parts down into basic shapes (super helpful for posing!!) and don’t forget how each part of the body pulls on the other.
Don’t be afraid to use references! Use yourself as a reference! Study how you move!
All the advice here is good, but USE REAL PEOPLE AS REFERANCES.
This was the single BIGGEST facet of my improvement. Most people think they know what the human body looks like, but won’t be able to replicate it on paper if they’re not actively looking at it.
Also, break down the body into simple forms. The order you want to go in is this:
- Outline lines showing the direction of limbs, the centerline of the chest and face, and the joints.
- On the same layer as the outlines, make simple shapes for the body parts. An “egg” for the ribcage, cylinders for the limbs, etc.
- Add the outlines for clothing and items, using a line to show direction for solid objects.
- New layer; start drawing the body and clothes in solid colors or lines.
- Polish, color, yadda yadda—I’m terrible at this part, someone else probably knows how to do it better than I do.
wow the artists here are so nice and helpful
I wonder why the rest of the forums aren’t lol
hours.
and hours.
and hours.
of practice.
and gesture drawing.
I assume you already know the basics (use references bla bla bla) so I’ll cut the crap and jump straight to some good advice
-learn the line of action, it somewhat works like the spine of your character and helps you build a pose you have in mind
-learn how to create bodies with unique proportions, fat, skinny, thicc af, slender and strange, macho beefcake, etc etc
-drawing a head first (no detail just like a ball or a box works) usually helps to give you a sense of size with the rest of your character’s form
-hands should ideally be worked on first when creating arm poses as they help give guidelines as to where to pose and angle your arms for your character.
3 Likes
it literally makes me too happy that I get good advice from you guys thanks a lot
It’s a more limited community with a direction and some things we automatically have in common.
Also, immature people don’t tend to be artists. It requires someone to realize they know nothing before they really start learning.
another tip: avoid same face syndrome
if you don’t know what that is: same face syndrome, as the name implies, is when you make characters with very similar/identical looking facial structures and expressions, which is obviously bad, so unless you’re intentionally making a clone army for whatever reason, I’d recommend brainstorming some cool faces first before giving them to a character, afterall, you want your viewer to gravitate towards the head of the character first
Others here already got good advice on proportions + some style so I’ll just add on,
Find styles that you like! It helps to watch how other people draw to learn their techniques for drawing stuff- Speedpaints are nice for breaking the whole drawing process down.
alright so I think I can remedy that since my main oc has a mask(totally can’t be hard right? jk it might be we’ll see)
but ngl for my metal mage oc it might be harder
should i take a picture of myself and draw over it on ibispaint
What I personally do is do such to see the position of the body parts. Don’t trace, as you don’t learn anything that way.
Also uh, if you plan to post it, it probably shouldn’t look too similar to you. As art posted on the forum does go into google image results.
kind of disturbing to realize that now I am the one who’s eligible enough to give others art advice when it only feels like yesterday when I was asking for help on how to design things like clothes and characters…
weird how time works like that.
1 Like
I know it sort of contradicts what some others have said, but you really just have to try stuff. Art is like 80% messing around in a sketchbook, figuring things out. You don’t really need to follow tutorials, and if you do, just use a couple. Draw what fits with whatever you’re trying to get across in the picture. Experiment for a while, and keep going with whatever works for you.
I’ve been drawing for 4 years or so, and I think I’ve looked at less than 10 shape, pose, or perspective references in that time. I draw from memory or mental visualization, and when that fails, I look at what’s around me. Need to draw a hand? Take a look at your own hand. Need to draw a person in a specific pose? Break that pose down into its parts and do them yourself, one by one. If you mess up? You have an eraser or a back button right there, so get rid of it and try again.
Not everything has to be perfectly proportional or realistic, depending on what you’re trying to draw. My main art style is based on fantasy and comics, and I generally draw arms, legs, hair, and eyes larger than they should be, because that’s what works for what I’m trying to do. I draw dragons based on poodles and hawks, not because I think they realistically should look similar to those animals, but because that’s how it feels most comfortable for me. Draw for a while, try out different styles, and keep going with whatever you like best. Art can just be art. It doesn’t have to be anatomy class.
Now for what works for me:
- I know some people think it’s cringe, but go on Picrew, and find one of the popular ones. You can really see how the features are different between options, right? Even though the style is consistent throughout the maker. Try that if you have trouble making people look different enough.
- This might be even more cringe than the last one, but furries are REALLY good at anatomy. If you’re struggling and my experiment method doesn’t help, ask a furry.
- If you don’t know where to start in the experimentation process: look through artists you admire and ask yourself what you like about their styles. The shapes? The colors? The lighting? The expressiveness? Try to make a new style for yourself using that central point.
- If you’re on digital, download as many free brushes as you can and try them out. That’s how I found most of my favorite brushes, as well as how I got the slightly paint-like look of my more polished artstyle.
1 Like
most… odd advice, to say the least.
Too bad I don’t have a furry nearby 
(actually that should sort of be a good thing…?)
