Sawse - Stir it Up!

Rendering the Female Form in Proportion: “Body proportion is something a beginner should be aware of very early in his or her training, but most, including me during my starting years, have neglected knowing this knowledge until later on. Now I find that as a major no-no. This tutorial simply aims the reader to be more aware of human body proportions (specifically the female form) when he or she draws. There are alot of books, and online sites about this particular subject, and what you’ll read here is nothing really new, but only the way I go about determining proportion for my own drawings.”

For the Cartoonist: “I know there are plenty of proportion charts on DA, but I didnt want to just point my mentees to tutorials, that would be cope out and not very mentory. So I threw in a few female anatomical notes as well. Perhaps this will be helpful for other people as well. She’s a goofy looking girl, but I think art needs to be a little fun sometimes. Relax, dont take everything so seriously!”

For the Manga Artist: “This is tutorial on how to draw the female body. Be warned that there is some nudity, though trust me, it is extremely mild. ^_^ If it bothers you that much, just pretend they are wearing skin tight body suits. Also be warned that I am no expert on figure drawing. This is a brief overview meant to familiarize beginning and amateur artists with basic anatomy. ”

For the Traditional Artist: There is probably no task or subject that appears more intimidating and complex than trying to draw the live human figure. As all artists young and old know, there is almost too much to consider. Where do you start your drawing of the human figure from life? With a jar, you can start with the midline and work the curves around it. You can start a landscape with the horizon line, but where do you put the first lines when drawing the human form? There are probably as many ways to begin a figure drawing as there are artists. The “artist in training” should try several different approaches before settling on any one system. I’ve been drawing for over thirty five years, but it’s rare that I start a new drawing the exact same way as my last drawing. Yet I do feel that it’s important to always stay flexible in the beginning, even if the ultimate intention is to do a highly polished rendering. As you can see in the accompanying demonstration, I often begin my own sketches from life in a very light and loose scribbling manner, trying to establish a foggy gestural imprint for the more finished drawing.

For the Idealistic Artist: Idealized proportions, and For the Art Historian: Historic proportions

Tags: arts, drawing, figure, tutorials