2007-05-06
05:26
How to Draw People
Latest Update: Just removing a broken link.
Even people who can draw other things fine often think they can’t draw people, for a number for reasons…
- We draw in symbols – we think we know what an eye and a nose look like, so we tend to draw what we know rather than what we see – the person who you’re drawing probably doesn’t have a nose that looks like the nose you draw.
- We’re often more worried about getting it wrong – if you’re drawing a tree, you don’t have to worry about the tree being offended at your drawing.
- People are curved and folded – and these things actually are quite tricky to draw.
Books
In Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, Betty Edwards uses a self portrait before and after teaching to show people how much they’ve improved, but she insists that most of the secret is just teaching people to see and draw what they see.
- Get Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain through Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk
Tips
Drawing Eyes
Many thanks to Buns-N-Moses from the creativity thread at the All Things Considered Slash! forum for these great tips. Visit the forum to see his portraits of Slash, Matt Sorum, Axl Rose and Scott Weiland.
- The lower edge of the eye always begins before the point where the upper edge ends. The edges never meet at a single point; instead the upper edge protrudes further than the lower one.
- There are always definite lines above and below the eye (observe).
- The inner-most part of the eye, the pupil, is the almost infinitely dark, and is surrounded by the less dark iris.
- There is always a little bright point in any eye, unless the person is dead. This gives life to the persons face.
- The edge closer to the nose is slightly rounded, as the tear ducts are there, and is always to be shaded slightly dark to give the eye its complete shape.
- Try observing your own eye and you’ll automatically find out for yourself – it’s the smallest things that matter.
Tutorials
- The Animation Learner’s Site – general tutorials, but some good specific coverage of the human figure. Doesn’t cover faces, but for that you can look to Learn to Draw…
- Learn to Draw has an excellent tutorial on drawing faces. Only part of it is free, but the free part contains plenty of really good information, and guides you through the basics step-by-step.
- Polykarbon offers tutorials in Manga/Comic Art style drawing, but has a good page of basic instruction for drawing people.
wow..i need help…I cant seem to draw eyes or hands right..mouthes either…when i draw eyes its always ones right and i cant draw the 2nd the same…with the hands its just always been a problem…mouthes its just that..they just dont look right.
Drawing hands, eyes and mouths can be difficult. But check out the tutorials in the main article – there are some good tricks to pick up there.
[image:2458 size=small]
Sam Randall
Ain’t Life Grand?
I started painting a couple of weeks ago, though I have had ideas about what I would like to ( be able to ) paint for years. I finaly decided to throw something on a sheet of canvas and see how it turned out. I was much encouraged my my first effort.
I am looking at/for resources to help me learn to paint the things I immagine. For example: I can look at a picture from the hubble telescope and see immages in the clouds of stellar dust… but what techniques can I use to convey the immagined immage, while not overly disrupting the actual immage–so both remain recognisable?
I am also having trouble with a forrest scene. I want to convey the sense of deep stillness/spirituality… It is not working yet at all. I have a LOT to learn. Even the basics of the forrest scene itself are pretty lame.
The 3rd piece is a beach scene. I have already been given a few tips on how to improve it. It is the first one I did, actually, though it is one of the more recent ideas.
There are so many books and things out there, I hardly know where to start… and I don’t want to spend a lot either. I already have plenty sunk into art supplies. I know I need lessons, but I am unsure of what I should look for in a class.
Any advice?
this did not help at all it was just a waste of time. i was hoping for diograms because i have an art project and need help. im only 12 but i swear this was the worst site ive ever been to.
I can’t draw AT ALL!!! Please help. I have a thing coming up and I want my people to be good. Honestly, my drawing of people look like mutated parrots!
hey im melissa n im 12 too but gosh y u gotta b so harsh dis site helped me u dont got 2 hate lol
Good points. It’s also very useful to know that people (as anu animal) are not that much curved, but they are bent. Twisted if you want. If you look at the muscle studies of any animal you will see that the shapes fold and bend into each other – a dynamic system is always tending to a spiral, not to a cylinder or a ball. Any standing person would form a spiral (with the axis of the imaginary spiral beginning at the leg which supports the body) and so forth – if you start with the “bent” thought the “folded” and “curved” parts will come by itself.
I have no idea how 2 draw hands!I can draw the rest of the body, okay but the hands look like bowling balls!
Okay i can get the likeness of the person down but i like to draw cartoons and when i try to make my drawings of people “lifelike” they always tend to look like caricatures. Any tips on how to stop making it look so cartoony
none
i cant draw feet or shoes rite or hands or ears mouths or noses lol… rest is usually fine… ermmm bobbyjack jr… the mutated parot thing sounds kinda funny i mite just draw that lol
i dont know how to draw the eyes and noes in infront size and also the shoes how to draw it without to look like a triangle shape and i also would like to know how to draw a woman without to make her face not the same in your mind i also would like you to teach me how to paint with oil paint thank u soo much
hi this is me againe i started drawing a couple of days but trying to make the woman in my mind look the same but i think its soo hard can u help me doing this thx …
I would really like some help drawing shoes on my people. I can draw the people just not the shoes. THANKS
Hi, I would really like how to draw the lips on people, I just cant seem to get those right!, also I want to know how big to draw the head! thanks!
Hiya, I would like to know how to draw hair, It cant draw the correctly!
Thankyou
I love to draw but i cant get the body size right what i want. my friend from school is really good at drawing this stuff
I LOVE DRAWING!!
Well, I wish I could draw people good. I can draw everything else just fine, but I can’t seem to get the faces right…
Hi, its very easy to draw people for me, i just focus at all their details such as how is their nose shaped or their eyes, or even their heads.For this you need to concentrate, do you know how to draw landscapes, i dont, please if you could write me back, and by the way… do you know Axl Rose?, im trying to send him a letter, but i cant because the address i wrote was wrong and so they send me back the letter and couldnt be sended to him, i wanted to tell him how much i admire him. If you know his new brand address please write me back so that i can know and get to send him my letter.
Thank you. Margarita.
Thanks for your comment. You’re right that once you concentrate on the individual features, drawing people is a lot easier. It’s far easier too if you stop thinking of the nose as a nose, more a series of lines. The same goes for landscapes – here’s a fun little trick on how to do a landscape picture, you might want to try it…
As for Axl… I must admit I’m more of aSlash fan myself, however, I can point you in the direction of a site that will most likely have a contact address for him… Here Today Gone To Hell is the best place to find out more about Axl and Guns N’ Roses.
Hope this helps!
Best wishes,
Sam
Sam Randall
Ain’t life grand?
first to draw faces start by drawing hair then make a half circle.after all that shade the whole face,like he is mad!(love this trick)
woow great trick I never used to draw and now I won a award at a spacial art studieo for best drawer! So thanks alot!
How do you draw shoes on people? Like when you draw a person front wise, how do you make it look like they have shoes on without making them go to the side, looking like clown shoes?
When you draw shoes from the frontal angle you must draw a half circle. That will give you the start out of the top of the shoe. Then you draw a rectangle across the bottom of the half circle. That will give the startingpoint. Then make two lines coming from the top of the shoe, but not from the center or the sides, make it come form theArches of the circle.( for boots make the lines taller ). Make the lines short though we are not trying to make boots. Then connect them with a small arch. then make shoe laces and bumbs for the laces entrance, but not to big. Easy stuff practice a while if you want. Good luck!
i dont know how to draw a shoe but i want the basics steps one time one.
Hey whats up i need some help with som drawing i am not to good at doing noses and also with ears i need some help so please if anyone knows how to do these please email me at babygrl091405 and that is aol thanks a lot.
the nose comes down connected from the eye brow but before you try that you should practice drawing from the side but dont make it pointy make it curvy and whats your problem with the ears ill help you if you tell me
from your anonymous tutor
I though that this much save peaple searching the forums once I had done: direct link ;-p
Thanks, Natalie. I should have done that ages ago, sorry!
Sam Randall
Ain’t Life Grand?
I don’t really think my people drwings are good. I don’t really know how to draw. My parents think my drawing are good but not me.I feel like I want to learn how to draw.
How do you draw someone laying down on their stomach?
I can draw people but they are usually cartoony and weird can you help me?
when your drawing the main thing is that the head must be in the shape of an upside down egg i know it sounds weird but thats the human head and the top of the nose is connected to the eyebrow from your Anonymous xxxx