How to learn to draw a portrait:
Structure and shape

Table of contents

Structure and shape

Body parts interaction

It is not necessary to thoroughly know its anatomy to depict a human figure, but it’s still useful to imagine how the main parts of the body interact - the head and neck, the trunk and arms or legs,

The neck, for example, is not at all a vertical tube connecting the head and body - it is slightly inclined forward.

On these pages various ways of simplifying the human figure are shown, making it easier to study its structure and shape. It is more useful to see how the joints move relative to each other, than simply draw their contours. A figure made of matches shows the position of the joints in a particular position.

Even such a simple figure from matches will look “wrong” if you do not learn how to transfer the interaction between different parts of the skeleton.

Skeleton study

Knowing the basic parts of the skeleton will help you realistically portray movement. The axis of the human figure, the spine, limits the movement of the bones attached to it. It is especially useful to remember the bones that are visible under stretched skin. The elbow, wrist, knee and ankle are always in sight, as is the spine, which clearly protrudes above the shoulder blades and below, where it connects to the bones of the pelvis. The shoulder blades, collarbones and the upper edge of the pelvis are also clearly visible. Remember that some poses emphasize the structure of the skeleton - so, with arms raised, the chest cage is more pronounced.

Learning Tin Figures

A figure, as it were, composed of cans of a cylindrical shape, is a good way for a simplified image of the human body. Its great advantage is that cylinders are much easier to draw in perspective than more complex shapes, such as hips. You can turn these cylinders into truncated cones, making them more like real body parts.

The simplified tin figure is convincing enough to serve as the basis for vesting the figure in flesh and clothing. The anatomical drawing from the book will facilitate this task and help you distinguish between the shape of the muscles hidden under the skin and how they stretch and contract.

Learning silhouette

The whole shape of the silhouette is devoid of distracting details - clothing and surface texture, it conveys only the general proportions of the body. In addition to the general shape of the body, pay attention to the places where the joints are located, and then you will be able to correctly grasp the proportions of the human figure.

Phased image of figures

Typically, novice artists prefer to draw standing people and are afraid to portray them in other poses. In such cases, it is useful to look for simple forms. Triangles can be seen in the joints; patella and elbows can be represented as circles at the end of narrow and long cylinders. For example, you can see how the triangles served as the basis for drawing (right).

To get started, do tin shapes in various poses; do not go into details until you are satisfied with your result. If you are not confident in conveying the perspective of cylindrical shapes, train on tin shapes, drawing them in all sorts of perspectives, with particular attention to shortening. Measure angles and proportions with a pencil.

First of all, draw the main lines that define the outlines of your model; it will be a figure from matches, plus all the basic forms that you may notice. Closely monitor the relationship between the shapes and lines of the body of the model, not forgetting the proportions and perspective. Then proceed to cylindrical tin forms, which are a transition to a figure fully clothed in flesh.

Having outlined the main forms, proceed to refine the contours of the figure. Work on them until you see that they are correctly transmitting posture, correspond to a shortened perspective and accurately show how the arms and legs are bent. After that, you can add the most important details - the line of hairline, fingers and toes, and facial features.

Finally, move on to rounding the shapes of the tin shape, giving it more realism. Take a closer look and watch how the muscles contract or stretch, whether the skin is creasing. Remember that the shape of the soft tissues of the hand changes when it comes in contact with a hard surface. Then add a tone.

Small children

Gender, height, weight and age - in adults, these are variables that must be taken into account. But young children are very different in appearance from adults and older children.

Although the proportions of the body here are different, however, when drawing a small child, you go through basically the same stages as with adults. Most of the skeleton is hidden under the fat layer, but the arms and legs will look (wrong if you make a mistake in creating the basic structure. To transfer the shape of the arms and legs, gradually turn the tin forms into the shape of gun trunks. The legs and arms of a small child are quite large compared to The body of the skull is much larger than the face of an adult, but the features are smaller.

Young children will not pose for a long time, unless they are sleeping. When creating a group portrait, you need to draw them first of all, and very quickly, and only then go on to sketch the older children and adults.