Human Sketches - The Secrets

[Nero D. Ace]

These may not be "secrets" at all and in fact rather common knowledge for most people, but before I knew about this, my best human sketches were the stickmen -

Okay, so let's get started with the body in general. First off, the height of a body is measured in "heads" viz. the vertical height of a person's head. Man or woman, the ideal height of a body would be around seven and a half heads. Any longer or shorter may result in the formation of a giant/midget.

I started off with the female body so I'll cover that one first. My main drawing book is with a friend so I just quickly threw this one together -

Yes, I know the head looks "alienish". We'll get to that after finishing the bodies.

1) Draw a vertical line down the middle of the paper. I recommend using a 2B pencil for the entire sketch. For shading, you could use 3B or 4B.

2) Make 8 equal marks on the vertical line and "half" a mark after that. The half mark will also be useful.

3) The first head will be filled by duh, a head. To make a head, heres what I'd suggest -

The eyes will be located at a half-head's distance from the top of the head. So make an "eye line" there so you can place eyes correctly. At this point, simple dots will do since I'll explain how to make accurate eyes later. The bottom of the nose is located at 3/4 head's distance from the top. The mouth can be placed anywhere. The head really isn't that important right now since it's details won't strike out that much when compared with the rest of the body.

4) Next, at one head's distance, make a horizontal line. It is on this line that the nipples will be located and hence, it is called the "Nipple line". The nipples will be located at a half head's distance to the left and right of the vertical line. Half a head's distance above it is the "Shoulder line". As you can see in the figure, you'll need to make 2 squares - each one head long in size on both sides of the vertical line.

5) We won't get started on the arms yet. First, we need to fully make the breasts and then the hips. I've left the horizontal lines which should help you figure out where to make which curve. One head down from the "Nipple line" is the "Navel line" and the Navel will be placed at the intersection of the horizontal and vertical line.

6) One head down from the "Navel line" is the "Crotch line". The hips will diverge slightly above the Navel line and then become "almost" vertical as they get to the "Crotch line". After this, cover up the ladie's private parts and keep the legs going until the "Knee line" which is 1 and a half head down from the "Crotch line".

7) Now, we will do the arms. Start directly from the shoulder and be sure to keep them close to the body. the two lines will be slightly more apart near the middle of joints like the shoulder, elbow and wrist. If the arms look slightly "off", the problem is that they're either too far from the body or the joints haven't been made properly.

8) Hands and feet are tricky. It usually takes me half an hour to get each hand and each foot ready since I'm new to them. Just draw what I've made for the time being and you can add detail to it if you want.

That's all there is to it. It may take some time to draw at first but keep drawing it again and again and pretty soon, you'll figure out which body part goes where.

For those interested, the same rules apply to the male body, slight differences being that the lines for the male body are more "straight" while those for females are more "curved" if you get what I mean. Also, males have a different natural arm pose than women. Here's a quick diagram I drew of it Unfortunately, I didn't leave a lot horizontal lines in it so you'll have to refer from the female diagram.

[Nero D. Ace]

For human faces, I'll start with the male version since in my opinion, it's easier to draw.

Now, to make the head, here's what you do -

1) Vertical line down the middle.

2) Make a circle on the page with the vertical line as one of the diameters. The top part will provide the top of the head while the bottom will be useful to illustrate cheekbones.

3) Draw the jaw. Now, this is the hard part. Most people end up making "girly jaws" for their first try. If the jaw doesn't look manly enough, you'll have to erase and draw again. It won't matter if everything else is perfect because the jaw is EVERYTHING. Trust me, I know from some failed attempts.

4) Now, for the total height of the head, make a horizontal line from the center. This is your "Eye line". On these lines, eyes will be drawn. From this point, measurements will be taken in "EYES" instead of "HEADS". The eyes have the same length and the distance BETWEEN eyes is equal to one eye.

5) Now for the bottom of the nose, the bottom of the nose will be located at half the distance between the eyes and the chin and it should be approximately equal to 2 eyes in length. For now, just try to get an idea of how it's drawn from what I made. If people ask, I can make tutorial for drawing face parts as well.

6) As I said before, lips can be placed anywhere but try and keep it consistent with the jaw.

7) Ears have a length of 2 eyes typically.

8) Add the neck lines, some light shade to the hair and you're done.

I didn't have enough time to finish it but here's what the women version looks like -

The nose only looks weird because it hasn't been shaded yet. Upon shading, the big sphere in the middle would be lighter while everywhere else would be darker, providing depth to the image.

Again, I can make tutorials for various face parts if people ask.

[† Shazi]

awesome work iki, keep it up. sorry for the short post, but i should get back to homework >.>