Pencil sketch of a male with facial hair
Many beginning artists find that drawing people is the most challenging of artistic tasks. Typical complaints revolve around not being able to draw the nose proportioned, the hands looking to big or small or the eyes being set too close together. The truth is, drawing people is no more or less difficult than drawing anything else. The techniques are the same. Some strategies will show you how you can draw people in your artwork easily and accurately.
Getting Prepared
All you need is a good set of drawing pencils, an eraser and a sketch pad. If you're a beginner, try doing this before you attempt any drawing. More seasoned artists can skip this process.
Practice getting your lines and shade right. Light, dark, thick and thin pencil strokes are what you will be working on. Darker shades are best made with softer lead, such as an 8B. For light shades, use 5H or higher. Use a sharp-tipped pencil lead for thin lines and a blunt tip for thicker lines. The combination of these pencils will give depth and definition to your people.
Drawing the Head and Facial Features
The human head can be divided into thirds vertically. Both sides of the head should be symmetrical. The eyes of a person are not as large as you might think. The forehead takes up about a third of the entire head, so focus on getting the forehead proportional.
Sketching from a side view, keep the side of the face farthest from you thinner to keep everything in proper perspective. Remember, too, that the top of the ear should be aligned just below the eyebrow.
When you begin drawing the head and facial features, start with basic shapes. Draw a circle and then overlap the circle with a triangle, starting at the lower portion of the circle. You can erase and round this out later. For now, use these two shapes as a guide and place your mouth and eyes.
Use shading to bring out the details in your person. Shading around the nose and mouth and at the corners of the eyes will create depth and personality. Sketch lightly and erase until you find the lines that give your drawing the personality you're after. Use your finger to smudge the lead and create depth shading.
Use a variety of light and dark strokes to create hair. Switch between soft- and hard-leaded pencils to add shading and a textured look. You can use straighter lines or lines that end in a slight curve to define whether your person has straight or wavy hair. Relax your hand and do the hair strokes that will define the characteristics of your figure's hair, then go back and add shading to thicken it.
Drawing Torso and Limbs
Sketch the torso first, starting wider at the top, where you will draw the shoulders. The beginning of the sketch should look roughly like an upside-down triangle. After you've worked in the details of the ribcage and chest, you can begin shading light and dark to bring out the muscles. Gradually erase and redraw the triangle to bring out the more realistic shape of the torso.
There are many ways to draw limbs on your figure. How you position them will depend upon whether your person is sitting, standing, running or walking. Start with a simple standing figure, just to get a feel for making the limbs proportional to the body. Bring the arms down until the tips of the fingers of your figure reach about mid-thigh. Use yourself as a guide. Stand in front of the mirror and study yourself. This will help you see where your body parts begin and end, where to put curved lines and where to put straight lines. It takes practice, but you'll be amazed how quickly breaking out the sections of a person before you begin drawing will help you sketch realistically.
