Figure drawing is the art of capturing the human body in its many complex shapes and forms. The degree of representation can vary from precise, anatomically correct drawings to rough and expressive sketches. Figure drawing is about understanding shape, movement, and contours, and being able to depict life as it is – or as you see it.
Figure drawing is considered to be one of the most challenging subjects an artist can encounter – but mastering it has many benefits. Being able to accurately sketch the body helps you learn about the role of fundamental forms like lines, ovals, and squares, and increases your knowledge of anatomy. It also teaches you how to capture movement and use proportions.
Once you’ve mastered the art of figure drawing, a whole world of creativity will open up to you. The human figure is used in portraits, illustrations, sculptures, and medical illustrations, so if you’re serious about developing your art skills – and perhaps even pursuing it professionally – you’ll have many different avenues to consider.
However, if you’re new to figure drawing, it can be difficult to know where to begin! While it’s normal to feel a bit daunted if you’re just starting, there are many tips and tricks that can quickly help you gain skills and confidence.
With this in mind, here are eight figure-drawing tips for beginners.
1. Begin with armatures
The human form is complex and variable, so if you’re a beginner, it’s best to start simple. Before you move on to drawing more detailed figures, you might want to begin by drawing armatures. Armatures are rather like glorified stick figures, and because they don’t contain any details, drawing them helps you understand how to capture the basic forms of the body.
While normal stick figures don’t provide an actual base for a drawing, armatures do. In sculpting, an armature is the framework that a sculpture is built around, and it’s the same in drawing. By adding a few additions to your stick figure (like shoulders, feet, and bends in the limbs), you don’t just end up with something instantly recognisable as a human, but you also create a foundation for a drawing.
Learning to draw armatures is probably the best way to begin your figure-drawing journey. You don’t need to worry about details or making the figure look like the character you’re drawing. Instead, you’re focusing on improving your sense of proportion and the different ways you can build a pose. Once you’ve mastered this, you can move on to the more detailed elements of figure drawing.
To learn how to draw armatures, check out this guide by Artists Network – and to see how drawing armatures can improve your skills, have a watch of the video below.
2. Create a comfortable setup
With figure drawing, you’ll typically get your best results when you’re fully immersed in what you’re doing. This means eliminating as many distractions as possible, and feeling relaxed and comfortable. Whether you’re attending a figure drawing class or sketching from home, it’s important to get your setup right.
If you’re using an easel, make sure you adjust it to a comfortable height and position – and if you’re sitting at a desk or table, try not to hunch over, as this can cause back and neck strain. You want to feel loose and relaxed when figure drawing, so take time to make sure you’re comfortable.
Some artists suggest holding your pencil or pen at the opposite end of the tip, as this helps to loosen your grip, and prevents arm and shoulder tension. You may want to play around with drawing tools and see which ones you’re most confident using. Graphite and charcoal pencils and sticks are most commonly used, but you can work with whatever materials you like.
Check out the video below to find out more about the best figure-drawing tools.
3. Visualise the figure
When you’re ready to start drawing, take some time to look at your subject before putting pencil to paper. It might sound obvious, but forgetting to properly examine your figure before you get going is more common than you think. Studying your subject allows you to understand the pose you’re drawing before you start sketching.
Take some time to analyse the position and pose of the body. Is your subject sitting or standing? Is the body stretched, twisted, or bent in any way? Is the weight of the body placed on one foot or both? Being aware of these variables will affect the way you draw the body; after all, a torso looks very different when it’s reclining compared to stretching.
Getting proportions right is a crucial part of figure drawing, and if you struggle with this, you can use your pencil to measure different parts of the body and make sure they’re accurate. To do this, you need to hold your arm out straight, keep one eye closed, and move your thumb up and down the pencil to measure different body parts.
Remember that capturing what you see is tricky, particularly if you’re a beginner, but you’ll improve over time as you keep practising. All the classes and tutorials in the world can’t teach you to draw a certain pose. It takes studying the figure and understanding what you’re seeing to do that.
Have a watch of the video below to find out more about drawing accurate proportions and using your pencil to measure.
4. Warm-up
We all know how important it is to warm up before exercising – and the same applies to drawing! Beginning a figure drawing can be daunting, and you may feel unsure where to start or concerned about a certain section.
A great way to alleviate your worries and feel more confident is to do 20-second warm-up drawings. While the idea of knowing you have such a limited time to capture a body may itself sound daunting and seem counterproductive, the rush of trying to fill your page can quickly quiet worrying thoughts and questions.
Try setting your phone’s timer to 20 seconds and, each time the alarm goes off, move on to a new sketch. If you’re struggling to draw the whole body in this short amount of time, try using a sketching utensil that glides smoothly across the page, like soft charcoal or pastels. Forget about capturing any details and just focus on capturing the shape of your figure.
Once you’re feeling more comfortable, try resetting your timer to 60 seconds. After learning how to capture a figure in just 20 seconds, having a full minute to draw your figure and capture a pose will feel like bags of time, and you’ll hopefully feel more confident.
To see how you can capture a body and a pose in one minute, have a watch of the video below.
5. Try to resist the urge to fixate on certain areas
Once you’re warmed up, you can move on to longer sessions, and spend more time capturing your model (whether that’s a real person, an image, or a photo). You may find yourself spending a long time trying to capture the details of a specific part of the body – often the face – while the rest of the figure isn’t fully sketched in.
While it’s normal to want to spend a long time perfecting specific details, try to resist the urge to fixate on certain areas. You’ll get much better results when you try to treat each part of your drawing equally. A good way to do this is to position yourself far enough away from your model so that the entire body is visible in a single glance. This allows you to focus on composition, proportion, and gesture rather than individual parts.
Another effective way to avoid fixating on certain areas is to try to draw from your shoulder rather than your wrist. Drawing with longer, fluid lines helps you capture your model more holistically, achieving a balanced composition. To draw from your shoulder, it helps to stand further back from your easel.
To learn more about the differences between drawing from your shoulder versus drawing from your wrist, you might want to check out the video below.
6. Focus on gesture and flow
While armature drawing is about capturing the human body’s skeletal structure or contours, gesture drawing is about capturing the totality of a pose in one fluid sketch. It’s a quick way to convey the movement and flow of a pose while also showing how the body is positioned – the latter of which is a technique you’ll learn from mastering armature drawing.
When you first begin figure drawing, it’s normal to try to draw the pose as accurately as you can – but if you’re too focused on accuracy, your drawings will look stiff. Instead of trying to perfect the actual pose, focus more on the action of it – the gesture and flow.
Once you’ve captured the gesture, you can start building your drawing on top of it, focusing on details and proportions. Even if your drawing is a bit inaccurate, focusing on the gesture and flow of a pose will make it look more interesting and alive.
To find out more about gesture drawing, have a watch of the video below.
7. Draw everything
While you shouldn’t fixate on certain body parts, it’s equally important not to skip any! We all have certain areas we’ll struggle with, and things like hands and feet are common problem areas. You might feel the desire to skip over your trouble area, but it’s really important to draw the whole figure.
By practising drawing the whole body, you’re learning how to simplify shapes and create forms in your own way. If you skip the areas you struggle with, you’ll eventually end up being able to draw realistic, highly detailed figures…but with squares or rectangles for hands and feet!
If you struggle with certain body parts or facial features, you could try watching some tutorials on how to draw that object and experiment with different ways to draw it. That way, you’ll find what works best for you.
8. Avoid erasing
If you’re a perfectionist, it can be tricky to move past mistakes you’re making when you’re drawing…but try to avoid the urge to erase. When you keep erasing your mistakes, you’re becoming focused on those and distracted from the creation process.
Remember that when you’re practising figure drawing, you’re trying to improve your ability to capture life on paper – and focusing on your mistakes will take away the life from your drawings.
You don’t have to show your drawings to anyone at these early stages – they’re just for you, and you have nothing to prove to yourself. Try not to worry about mistakes, as the more time you spend focusing on the drawing itself, the fewer mistakes you’ll make. So try to be confident in your abilities, put the eraser away, and draw to your heart’s content!
Final thoughts…
Mastering the art of figure drawing isn’t something you’ll learn in a day – but, as with anything else, practice makes a huge difference!
Whether you’re hoping to attend a live figure drawing class, want to find a friend or family member to draw in real life, or are just planning on drawing people from reference images, regularly practising your skills is essential.
The more you practise, the more you’ll be able to draw difficult features, distinguish the most important parts of a pose, and capture the details – and the sooner you’ll master the overall art of figure drawing!
For further guidance, why not check out our article; 10 easy things to draw for beginners?
If you’re interested in developing your artistic skills more generally, you may enjoy attending an arts and crafts event over on Rest Less Events. You can also see the artwork some of our members have produced in past drawing events, here.
Are you learning to draw? Do you have any additional tips you’d like to share? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.