How to Draw People

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Drawing a listener may seem difficult, but it is actually quite simple if you know how to draw systematically. The easiest way to draw people is to use the Ball-and-Socket technique. Using this technique, the artist sketches several interconnected ovals to depict human body parts and outline the figure. Although it seems very basic, this technique is used by many professional artists to create works of art. It is both flexible and at the same time quite easy to learn.

Table of Contents

Draw people in a scene

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Sketch the scene.

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Sketch out the stick figure composition and poses of the characters (or people appearing in the picture).

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Sketch the shape of the body and use it to draw the body.

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Sketch the details of the face, clothes, shoes, gestures, etc.

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Fine-tune your sketch with a smaller brush.

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Draw the main strokes based on the sketch.

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Erase sketches.

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Color the picture. You can sign below if you want.

Drawing people in action

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Sketch out a stick figure layout to pose for the character (you can sketch the characters in different colors to avoid confusion).

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Sketch the shape of the body to draw the body.

Draw a specific person (Men)

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Start drawing the upper body first. For the top, sketch a circle, then add a tapered curve at the bottom to create an upside-down egg shape.

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Next is to draw the neck. Usually you just need to draw two short lines, separated by a distance roughly equal to the distance between the ears.

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Draw a horizontal line perpendicular to the neck, note that it is only very light. This line is the outline for the collarbone and is usually two or three times the width of the head.

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Sketch two circles slightly smaller than the top at the ends of the collarbone line. These two circles are the shoulders.

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Draw two ovals slightly longer than head length that join below the shoulders to form the upper arms.

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Draw the upper body from the point where the arms meet the shoulders. You can draw an upside-down trapezoid to outline the chest, two vertical lines downward to form the abdomen. Below, you draw another upside-down triangle to outline the pelvis.

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Draw a very small circle at the top, about half the length of the upside-down triangle. That is the position of the navel. To make sure the character has a well-proportioned body, you can adjust the oval outline of the arms so that they extend to the correct position of the navel. You can draw a horizontal line to check if needed.

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Sketch two circles that are bigger than the shoulder circles. These two circles intersect the upside-down triangle to form a hip joint.

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Draw two long ovals (equivalent to the length of the upper body) below the hip joint to form the thighs.

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Draw two smaller ovals, intersecting the thighs to form the knees.

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Draw two more ovals below the knees for the shins.

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Sketch two triangles under the shin. Those are two feet.

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Return to the arms position and draw two more ovals below to form the forearms.

Advice

Don’t be in a hurry, practice drawing often instead. There will be iron grinding merit day to day!
Get in the habit of sketching with blurred lines. This makes it easy to erase the sketches, and your hands will be less tired when drawing. Once you’re satisfied with your sketch, you can go back and highlight your strokes at any time.
Don’t draw the body first. Instead, focus on the shape and size of the head. Based on the scale of the first part, you will draw the other parts better. On the contrary, if you draw the body first, it will be much more difficult to determine the size of the head.
Long and bold strokes are more difficult to control than short and light strokes. Therefore, use commas to gradually outline the line you want.
Draw with a pencil first. If you make a mistake, just erase and redraw.
Make sure you sit in a comfortable position and have enough light. If you feel uncomfortable, it will be difficult for you to concentrate and therefore will not get the results you want.
Go to the library or bookstore and check out some art books. The internet is also a great source for you to consult professional drawings by artists around the world.
Find inspiration from friends, family, or simply the internet. Try to find inspiration from everyone and everything around if you don’t know what you want to draw.
Don’t stop trying. It’s okay to erase a lot, you’re just correcting your wrong strokes and that’s completely justified.
Remember that no one can create a masterpiece or paint a perfect person in 5 seconds. You know how patient and persistent even a famous painter like Da Vinci must be!
You can ask someone else to draw a picture for you and then learn how to draw them.
Think about how you would draw the characters.
If you don’t know how to draw, use simple shapes like circles, ovals, etc., to make sketching easier.

Warning

Don’t be discouraged if your drawing is not good enough. Not everyone has a talent for painting, but with practice, you will definitely improve.
For some people, drawings of nude or revealing characters look quite offensive. However, as an artist you have the freedom to draw what you want, but be careful about who and where you draw.
Don’t force yourself to draw each line exactly. Just keep drawing and allow yourself to make mistakes, it’s one of the best self-study!
Sometimes you will be very frustrated, at such times, take a break and then come back to drawing again.

Things you need

Pencil or pens
Eraser
Drawing paper
Coloring tools such as crayons or colored pencils (optional)

Steps