Step by Step Drawing | How to Draw People | Figure Drawing

As another entry into my ongoing figure drawing sessions at Weber State University. I like these simple art poses since you don’t have to worry too much about extreme foreshortening and when you are working on anatomy drawing, sometimes it’s best to keep it simple. This model was enjoyable to draw, I’ve always enjoyed drawing models that have some weight to them. Partly, just rendering the form is very pleasing with the broad, sweeping rhythmic strokes of the charcoal down to the soft gradations that travel across the form. Another reason is just to break the standards of beauty setup by the media that brainwashes everyone to see only one form of beauty.

When it comes to art, you see beauty in so many shapes, sizes, colors, etc., it’s a great feeling to let go of the ridiculous standards set by the media and you are free to enjoy the human form on so many more levels and figure drawing let’s you appreciate that. Thick, thin, tall, short, everything in between, you can’t help but appreciate it.

Step By Step Drawing

When it comes to a nude figure drawing session, for technical understanding, you are essentially doing an anatomy drawing so you can understand how clothing wraps around the form and how the anatomy of the figure can dictate the movement of cloth. I’m often told that people like my step by step drawing shots since it helps them understand the breakdown of the form. Since I too enjoy when people post a step by step drawing, I figured I might as well continue…when I remember to take the shots.

This is important when you are learning how to draw people. Often times new artist jump right to the value stage while skipping the important steps in the beginning. If you want to learn how to draw people, it’s important to first learn how to break the form down into simple understandable shapes, by doing this, you can then start to understand the complexities of the form as you render it out later.

I’ve been posting a lot of these on my instagram account which will give you immediate updates but without the explanations I add here. Feel free to follow me on instagram to see the latest and follow my blog (top right of this post) if you would like to see the step by step breakdowns, tutorials, and other drawing information.

You can also see my portfolio here.