Even the most complex figure drawings often begin as wire mannequins.
Artists are surrounded by people every day of their lives. However, artists have been struggling to depict the human figure since Cro-Magnon man first scratched primitive stick figures on cave walls. According to illustrator John Buscema, artists never begin their drawings of the human figure with exterior details. Instead they build their figures step-by-step from the inside out. Many artists begin their figure drawings by first creating stick figures and simplified skeletons sometimes called wire mannequins.
Instructions
Basic Structure
1. Lightly sketch a roughly 1-inch-long oval resembling an upside down egg about a third of the way down the paper. This is your mannequin's head. Sketch a column of seven more oval "heads" directly beneath the first.
2. Lightly sketch a vertical line through the center of the column of ovals. Sketch a horizontal line about an 1 1/2 inches long through the second oval forming a "T" shape about one-fourth inch from the bottom of the mannequin's head.
3. Sketch a second horizontal line about 2 inches from the first. Four of the ovals should be above this line and four should be below it.
4. Sketch a vertical line about 2 inches long from each end of the first horizontal line. Draw a 1 1/2-inch-long diagonal line angled away the column of ovals from the bottom end of each these vertical lines.
Adding Details
5. Draw a 2-inch diagonal line angled towards the column of ovals from each end of the second horizontal line. Draw a slightly curved line from the end of each of these lines to the bottom of the column of ovals.
6. Draw a small rhombus about 1/4 inch long at the end of each of the upper diagonal lines. Draw a right triangle at the end of each of the curved lines so that the hypotenuse of each triangle faces away from the column of ovals.
7. Connect the first horizontal line to the top of the fourth oval with a large U-shape. This is the mannequin's torso.
Finishing
8. Connect the sides of the mannequin's torso with an upside down U-shape that passes through the third oval.
9. Draw a diagonal line from the left end of the second horizontal line to the inner vertical line. Draw a second diagonal line from the right end of the of the second horizontal line to the inner vertical line. The second horizontal line is now the base of an upside down triangle.
10. Erase the entire column of ovals except the oval representing the mannequin's head. Erase the bottom of the large U-shape. Erase the vertical line below the apex of the upside down triangle. Darken the figure's remaining lines.
