How to Draw People

Learn How to Draw People: 7 Tips from Professional Artists

By Cherie Haas, Online Editor ArtistsNetwork.com 

It’s no secret that learning how to draw people is an essential, timeless lesson in an artist’s development; figurative drawings continue to be among the most popular subjects in art schools and among professionals. But it takes more than just knowing how to create the contour lines that form a two-dimensional drawing of a person; one must have an understanding of anatomy, including muscle and bone structure, and of movement and balance to render the three-dimensional human body.

There are also the various body parts that have unique qualities to consider; the texture of the belly may be soft as a flower petal, while elbows and knees speak a different story. And the hands, poetically expressive and complex--they’re often thought of as the hardest part of the anatomy to depict accurately, and they can make or break a drawing.

In this exclusive collection of advice from top figurative artists, we share seven tips on how to draw realistic people.

Image courtesy of Walt Reed

7 Tips: How to Draw People

1. Drawing Hands

Keep in mind the bone and muscle structure beneath the surface. In some places the surface is influenced by the angular bones, in others by the soft muscles. Don’t round off all the forms or the subject will look rubbery.~from Walt Reed (author of The Figure)

Image courtesy of Robert Barrett

2. Drawing People and More

A classic way to draw something with correct proportion is to create a grid and place it over your reference photo, then draw a grid on your paper. Erasing these lines can be a pain, so a lightbox (or window on a sunny day) can be used instead. Place the grid on the lightbox, tape it down, then place your paper over the grid. You can see the grid through the paper and there’s no erasing later.~from Carrie Stuart Parks and Rick Parks (authors of The Big Book of Realistic Drawing Secrets)

3. Drawing People

A useful device is a shaft or midline, which is a line drawn through the middle of a human form to see how it is supported. A midline acts like the armature underneath movement and direction. It also simplifies the process of seeing and indicating the angles of specific forms.~from Robert Barrett (author of Life Drawing, now available as an ebook)

Image courtesy of Jeff Mellum

4. Opposites Attract

An essential principle of design that also relates to the human figure is the concept of opposites. The use of opposites, or contrast, exists in all the arts to create interest. In the human figure, a contrapposto position, where the weight is on one leg, is usually more interesting than one where the weight is equally balanced on both legs or throughout the figure. Each opposite helps strengthen and clarify the other.~from Robert Barrett (author of Life Drawing, now available as an ebook)

5. How to Draw a Person

The muscles are the body’s substructure. They are a big part of what gives the figure its shape and form. Understanding what goes on beneath the surface will help you see important details that might have gone otherwise unnoticed.~from Jeff Mellum (author of Sketching People)

Image courtesy of John Raynes

6. How to Draw Characters

For a visual artist, choosing how to depict an event--what parts are emphasized and what are downplayed--is done through staging. If there are enough clues through the interplay of body language, setting, costumes, props and even artistic style, the viewer will understand the story and the meaning behind it.~from Jeff Mellum (author of Sketching People)

7. Make the Most of Your Time

Don’t necessarily add more detail in a longer study--spend the extra time observing the overall pose more carefully. You may want to choose a less familiar viewpoint. This figure, for example, is foreshortened because it’s seen from a high eye level. There are some surprising correlations of different parts of the body. Note how the fingers of her right hand appear to reach her calf and are even in line with the toes of her left foot!~from John Raynes (featured in the video Drawing & Painting People: Anatomy of the Body)