TutorialJuly 15, 2024
How to draw a woman
Hello! My name is Anton Korostov, I am a curator of drawing courses at Skills Up School. In this tutorial, I will tell you how to draw a female figure with a pencil.
If you are more comfortable drawing digitally, you can use a graphics tablet — there is no fundamental difference. The main thing is to understand the principle and follow the steps, then the result will be great!
Also in this article we will talk about poses and angles that are best to choose when drawing a person. We will draw a girl in a frontal angle, from the back and in profile, thus we will get three expressive anatomical drawings of a female figure in different positions.
Before you start drawing, let's talk a little about human anatomy.
Before us is a drawing of the skeleton in front — we will determine the main proportions and the location of the joints by it.
We divide the height of the skeleton into eight parts — this will make it easier to find the rest of the body parts. In the middle of the entire height we will find a point where the pubic fusion of the pelvis and the greater trochanter are located. The pelvis itself is about 1/8 of the height.
Now let's mark the height of the head from the top — it is also equal to 1/8 of the length of the skeleton. Between the head and the pelvis at a short distance from them will be located the chest, the size of which should be narrower than the pelvis, since we are drawing the skeleton of a female person. In the lower half of the skeleton height in its middle we will find the level of the height of the knee joint.
Let's determine one more proportion by dividing the height of the head (1/8) into three parts, — this height can be used to measure the height of the feet, the size of the knee and shoulder joints, as well as the distance between the pelvis and the chest.
Let's start drawing a girl in a frontal angle. We will mark the height of the figure in the sheet, leaving a small distance from the edges of the sheet at the top and bottom. Also, you can immediately mark the middle of our segment. Try not to press hard on the pencil or stylus while drawing, so as not to darken the drawing — this is very important.
We begin to place the main volumes of the figure — pelvis, chest and head. If it is difficult for you, then you can mark the height of the figure into eight parts. The volumes should be very условными, so we will draw simple geometric silhouettes and already now we will take care of the fact that the figure stands in an expressive pose — for this we tilt the pelvis trapezoid in one direction, and the chest — in the opposite direction.
So, we have laid the rhythm of our figure in the pose of contrapposto — this is a very expressive pose that is great for drawing the plasticity of the female body.
We will complete the upper and lower limbs, marking them very sketchy with simple lines. You can also mark the knee and shoulder joints.
If you have coped with the general layout of the figure proportions, then you can lightly draw a light line the silhouette of the girl's figure. Try to emphasize the character of the pelvis and chest in the silhouette, which we have outlined earlier.
Draw the outlines of the hips, arms, feet and breast volume. Draw simply: you do not need to copy from the reference, but you need to schematically depict the volume of the figure and not go into details yet.
Stop and well analyze all the proportions of the figure on your sketch. If something is wrong, then correct it now, because then we will proceed to clarifying the silhouette, manifesting the structure of the volumes and drawing details.
If everything is in order, then before the next stage I recommend lightly lighten the drawing, so that the construction lines do not interfere with us in the future, but help to make an anatomically convincing drawing.
Now you can draw the silhouette more precisely of the girl's figure, mark the supraventricular angles and iliac crests. In this example, the girl's torso is slightly twisted — this can be shown by a middle line that clarifies the shape of the figure inside the silhouette.
You can mark the outlines of the face and hair. The kneecaps also need to be correctly positioned now, because the viewer will understand where the legs are pointing by them, and this will give credibility to the pose and anatomy of the legs. Feet and hands do not need to be drawn in detail yet, it is enough to leave them conditional, defining only the outlines in the silhouette.
The final stage of drawing a woman's figure remains, in which we will add tone, to enhance the volume and emphasize the anatomy. When you apply штрихи, remember that they should lie according to the shape. Also do not forget that the shape needs to be more целостной, so do not darken the shadows and individual sections too much, even if some parts of the body seem very voluminous and strongly darkened in the reference.
The female figure in contrapposto is ready! If you have completed all the stages in order, then the result should probably please you 🙂
Do not be upset if you still make mistakes in the figure construction or silhouette proportions. Remember that success can be achieved only if you constantly practice in this direction!
Shall we continue? Let's draw another figure of a girl, only now in profile.
Also in this article we will talk about poses and angles that are best to choose when drawing a person. We will draw a girl in a frontal angle, from the back and in profile, thus we will get three expressive anatomical drawings of a female figure in different positions.
Before you start drawing, let's talk a little about human anatomy.
Before us is a drawing of the skeleton in front — we will determine the main proportions and the location of the joints by it.
We divide the height of the skeleton into eight parts — this will make it easier to find the rest of the body parts. In the middle of the entire height we will find a point where the pubic fusion of the pelvis and the greater trochanter are located. The pelvis itself is about 1/8 of the height.
Now let's mark the height of the head from the top — it is also equal to 1/8 of the length of the skeleton. Between the head and the pelvis at a short distance from them will be located the chest, the size of which should be narrower than the pelvis, since we are drawing the skeleton of a female person. In the lower half of the skeleton height in its middle we will find the level of the height of the knee joint.
Let's determine one more proportion by dividing the height of the head (1/8) into three parts, — this height can be used to measure the height of the feet, the size of the knee and shoulder joints, as well as the distance between the pelvis and the chest.
Frontal angle
Let's start drawing a girl in a frontal angle. We will mark the height of the figure in the sheet, leaving a small distance from the edges of the sheet at the top and bottom. Also, you can immediately mark the middle of our segment. Try not to press hard on the pencil or stylus while drawing, so as not to darken the drawing — this is very important.
We begin to place the main volumes of the figure — pelvis, chest and head. If it is difficult for you, then you can mark the height of the figure into eight parts. The volumes should be very условными, so we will draw simple geometric silhouettes and already now we will take care of the fact that the figure stands in an expressive pose — for this we tilt the pelvis trapezoid in one direction, and the chest — in the opposite direction.
So, we have laid the rhythm of our figure in the pose of contrapposto — this is a very expressive pose that is great for drawing the plasticity of the female body.
We will complete the upper and lower limbs, marking them very sketchy with simple lines. You can also mark the knee and shoulder joints.
If you have coped with the general layout of the figure proportions, then you can lightly draw a light line the silhouette of the girl's figure. Try to emphasize the character of the pelvis and chest in the silhouette, which we have outlined earlier.
Draw the outlines of the hips, arms, feet and breast volume. Draw simply: you do not need to copy from the reference, but you need to schematically depict the volume of the figure and not go into details yet.
Stop and well analyze all the proportions of the figure on your sketch. If something is wrong, then correct it now, because then we will proceed to clarifying the silhouette, manifesting the structure of the volumes and drawing details.
If everything is in order, then before the next stage I recommend lightly lighten the drawing, so that the construction lines do not interfere with us in the future, but help to make an anatomically convincing drawing.
Now you can draw the silhouette more precisely of the girl's figure, mark the supraventricular angles and iliac crests. In this example, the girl's torso is slightly twisted — this can be shown by a middle line that clarifies the shape of the figure inside the silhouette.
You can mark the outlines of the face and hair. The kneecaps also need to be correctly positioned now, because the viewer will understand where the legs are pointing by them, and this will give credibility to the pose and anatomy of the legs. Feet and hands do not need to be drawn in detail yet, it is enough to leave them conditional, defining only the outlines in the silhouette.
The final stage of drawing a woman's figure remains, in which we will add tone, to enhance the volume and emphasize the anatomy. When you apply штрихи, remember that they should lie according to the shape. Also do not forget that the shape needs to be more целостной, so do not darken the shadows and individual sections too much, even if some parts of the body seem very voluminous and strongly darkened in the reference.
The female figure in contrapposto is ready! If you have completed all the stages in order, then the result should probably please you 🙂
Do not be upset if you still make mistakes in the figure construction or silhouette proportions. Remember that success can be achieved only if you constantly practice in this direction!
Shall we continue? Let's draw another figure of a girl, only now in profile.
Profile angle
Free courses
All free courses
FREE
Бесплатный курс «Погружение в магию 2D-художников»
Start: July 3
Enroll
FREE
Бесплатный курс «Основы портрета»
Enroll
FREE
Бесплатный курс «3D-персонаж в Blender - Мышонок»
Enroll
To begin with, let's clarify one more thing: it doesn't matter if you are drawing from a photograph or from nature, allow changes in the arrangement of the angle of the figure and other parts of it so that it is more profitable from an artistic point of view. This approach can be considered fundamental when you use a reference, so do not be afraid to change what you consider necessary on your drawing.
Now let's get started!
We will mark the height of the figure, leaving a small distance on the edges of the sheet at the top and bottom, and find the middle of the segment. We will draw the figure in profile, but in order for the drawing to turn out to be more convincing and voluminous, you need to make a very small turn of the figure in our direction. The pelvis will tilt forward and to the side, because we are drawing a pose with support on one leg again. The chest, on the contrary, will отклоняться back.
Do not forget to draw very schematically and without strong pressure. Mark the joints and directions of the lower and upper limbs. Also do not forget to mark the middle line of the torso and, the further we clarify the drawing, we will also clarify it, the middle line.
Now, similarly to the previous version, lighten the tone of the lines with an eraser or reduce the intensity of the layer so that the preliminary sketch does not interfere with further work with our drawing.
Clarify the silhouette, but do not go into strong detailing and rounding of the silhouette: do not forget that in the end we should get a slightly more accurate sketch of the figure, and not a traced outline of the nature from the reference. I advise you to use the "set" line and not to make a too ideal contour.
Mark inside the silhouette the supraventricular angles of the chest and iliac crests of the pelvis, clarify the girl's face, showing the eyes, nose, lips and eyebrows. A little more precisely, manifest the joints and divide the chest into two parts.
At the end of the drawing, you can use hatching according to the shape to дополнительно emphasize the structure and volumes. Place accents on some parts of the drawing, for example, on the contour of the front leg and hairstyle.
Now let's draw a female figure from the back. The stages will be the same, so you should not have any problems with this angle.
Start with the layout of the figure, throwing large basic body masses and joints. Gradually clarify the silhouette and do not forget to control the pressure so that the lines in your drawing are not too dark. If you overdarkened, lighten the sketch and draw new lines more precisely and confidently.
At the last stage add a stroke. Remember that you should not go into details, so give the shadows information about the shape of the parts of the figure to emphasize the design.
Pay attention to the chest, the volume of the pelvis and the gluteal muscles. You can lightly mark the volumes of the shoulder blades and joints, and the other details, for example, the folds do not need to be drawn in detail, otherwise the drawing may become fragmented and flat.
If you want to master the drawing of the female body perfectly, then practice sketching as often as possible! Sketches are a way to express the character and plasticity of a figure in a short period of time, using a small number of lines or spots in the drawing.
At the beginning, I recommend doing linear sketches, not getting too involved with the spot and shadows, and later, when you become more confident in drawing, you can add tone. Look at examples of sketches by different authors and try to do something similar.
To draw a convincing portrait of a girl, you need to study the basic proportions of the face and understand the construction of the volume of the head. To study this topic, I advise you to look at the article about the female portrait (link to the article) and the article about how to draw human eyes (link to the article).
When you draw a female figure, think about the position of the head and the direction of the face. Often the plasticity of the body's pose suggests which way to turn the head to compositional connect the rhythm of the figure and the position of the head. We can significantly change the position of the head for greater artistic expressiveness and to emphasize the plasticity of the figure.
If you are drawing a quick sketch, it is enough to outline the general silhouette of the head and lightly indicate the facial module, and with the middle line — the direction and position of the face. If you are doing an extended drawing, then, in addition to a simple marking of the head and its position, you need to draw the individual parts of the face and work out their volume.
An important component of the portrait — hairstyle. First, you need to decide on the type of hairstyle that will look good in your drawing — it can be short hair, long loose hair, hair gathered in a bun. The hairstyle can be made the main accent and create an interesting rhythmic composition based on the developing strands.
Be sure to remember that hair — this is the volume that needs to be convincingly conveyed in the drawing. Therefore, first of all, show how the hair lies along the shape of the cranium of the head, and then create a composition based on freely hanging hair.
Look at examples of how different authors draw hairstyles, and then try to draw yourself and experiment with drawing hairstyles.
To draw a sporty girl, it is important to show developed muscles. Use references, but do not copy them exactly, but pay attention to the features of the body and sports figure.
It is important to consider what kind of sport the person is involved in, as this can affect the degree of development of certain muscles and be reflected in the appearance. You can look for references of people in motion, engaged in active sports: dancing, running, jumping, figure skating, rock climbing, etc.
Try to draw a female figure in motion and complex dynamic poses, using the approach we used when drawing a female figure in a static position. The priority task in such drawings is to convey the swiftness of the pose and the dynamics of the body, so do not get hung up on drawing details and draw less.
Practice more, and you will start to get expressive convincing drawings of the female figure in different poses. And if you want a systematic study of the human figure, come to the courses at Skills Up.
On the course The human figure you will go through the main constructive and anatomical features of the figure, learn to work with plastic and identify characteristic shapes, see movement and rhythm in the figure, the relationship of muscle masses and skeleton. And, of course, you will draw a lot of expressive sketches of the figure in imagination and from nature!
On the course Figure in dynamics you will learn to draw effective figure sketches, apply them in illustrations, concept art, comics or creative projects.
On the course Sketches you will learn how to quickly convey the dynamics of a figure in a sketch when you only have 10-15 minutes, and learn to draw from a spot, work with silhouette, shape, plastic, basic volume and proportions.
Also in Skills Up School there is a set of courses dedicated to drawing the human figure, — From scratch to figure. Choosing it, you will go through the path from drawing simple objects to drawing a figure in dynamics from the very beginning. If your dream is to draw people, but you have recently picked up a pencil or stylus, the courses of the set From scratch to figure will become a powerful base for further achievements!
We will mark the height of the figure, leaving a small distance on the edges of the sheet at the top and bottom, and find the middle of the segment. We will draw the figure in profile, but in order for the drawing to turn out to be more convincing and voluminous, you need to make a very small turn of the figure in our direction. The pelvis will tilt forward and to the side, because we are drawing a pose with support on one leg again. The chest, on the contrary, will отклоняться back.
Do not forget to draw very schematically and without strong pressure. Mark the joints and directions of the lower and upper limbs. Also do not forget to mark the middle line of the torso and, the further we clarify the drawing, we will also clarify it, the middle line.
Now, similarly to the previous version, lighten the tone of the lines with an eraser or reduce the intensity of the layer so that the preliminary sketch does not interfere with further work with our drawing.
Clarify the silhouette, but do not go into strong detailing and rounding of the silhouette: do not forget that in the end we should get a slightly more accurate sketch of the figure, and not a traced outline of the nature from the reference. I advise you to use the "set" line and not to make a too ideal contour.
Mark inside the silhouette the supraventricular angles of the chest and iliac crests of the pelvis, clarify the girl's face, showing the eyes, nose, lips and eyebrows. A little more precisely, manifest the joints and divide the chest into two parts.
At the end of the drawing, you can use hatching according to the shape to дополнительно emphasize the structure and volumes. Place accents on some parts of the drawing, for example, on the contour of the front leg and hairstyle.
View from the back
Now let's draw a female figure from the back. The stages will be the same, so you should not have any problems with this angle.
Start with the layout of the figure, throwing large basic body masses and joints. Gradually clarify the silhouette and do not forget to control the pressure so that the lines in your drawing are not too dark. If you overdarkened, lighten the sketch and draw new lines more precisely and confidently.
At the last stage add a stroke. Remember that you should not go into details, so give the shadows information about the shape of the parts of the figure to emphasize the design.
Pay attention to the chest, the volume of the pelvis and the gluteal muscles. You can lightly mark the volumes of the shoulder blades and joints, and the other details, for example, the folds do not need to be drawn in detail, otherwise the drawing may become fragmented and flat.
Tonal drawing
To draw a more detailed and realistic figure, you need to use the technique of tonal drawing. In tonal drawing there is practically no line, and the volume is transmitted due to the light and shade relations of the spots, which need to be correctly located on certain участках силуэта фигуры, so that the volume turns out to be convincing. Such a drawing is much denser in tone, longer and more difficult, but it is based on the basic principles of constructive drawing, examples of which we have done above. Consider in more detail the techniques and styles of drawing a female figure. It is very useful to study not only nature, but also the artistic approach of different artists — so you will quickly master the methods and better understand what is required of you for a confident expressive drawing.
Female portrait and drawing of hairstyle
To draw a convincing portrait of a girl, you need to study the basic proportions of the face and understand the construction of the volume of the head. To study this topic, I advise you to look at the article about the female portrait (link to the article) and the article about how to draw human eyes (link to the article).
When you draw a female figure, think about the position of the head and the direction of the face. Often the plasticity of the body's pose suggests which way to turn the head to compositional connect the rhythm of the figure and the position of the head. We can significantly change the position of the head for greater artistic expressiveness and to emphasize the plasticity of the figure.
If you are drawing a quick sketch, it is enough to outline the general silhouette of the head and lightly indicate the facial module, and with the middle line — the direction and position of the face. If you are doing an extended drawing, then, in addition to a simple marking of the head and its position, you need to draw the individual parts of the face and work out their volume.
An important component of the portrait — hairstyle. First, you need to decide on the type of hairstyle that will look good in your drawing — it can be short hair, long loose hair, hair gathered in a bun. The hairstyle can be made the main accent and create an interesting rhythmic composition based on the developing strands.
Be sure to remember that hair — this is the volume that needs to be convincingly conveyed in the drawing. Therefore, first of all, show how the hair lies along the shape of the cranium of the head, and then create a composition based on freely hanging hair.
Look at examples of how different authors draw hairstyles, and then try to draw yourself and experiment with drawing hairstyles.
Sporty female figure
To draw a sporty girl, it is important to show developed muscles. Use references, but do not copy them exactly, but pay attention to the features of the body and sports figure.
It is important to consider what kind of sport the person is involved in, as this can affect the degree of development of certain muscles and be reflected in the appearance. You can look for references of people in motion, engaged in active sports: dancing, running, jumping, figure skating, rock climbing, etc.
Try to draw a female figure in motion and complex dynamic poses, using the approach we used when drawing a female figure in a static position. The priority task in such drawings is to convey the swiftness of the pose and the dynamics of the body, so do not get hung up on drawing details and draw less.
Practice more, and you will start to get expressive convincing drawings of the female figure in different poses. And if you want a systematic study of the human figure, come to the courses at Skills Up.
On the course The human figure you will go through the main constructive and anatomical features of the figure, learn to work with plastic and identify characteristic shapes, see movement and rhythm in the figure, the relationship of muscle masses and skeleton. And, of course, you will draw a lot of expressive sketches of the figure in imagination and from nature!
On the course Figure in dynamics you will learn to draw effective figure sketches, apply them in illustrations, concept art, comics or creative projects.
On the course Sketches you will learn how to quickly convey the dynamics of a figure in a sketch when you only have 10-15 minutes, and learn to draw from a spot, work with silhouette, shape, plastic, basic volume and proportions.
Also in Skills Up School there is a set of courses dedicated to drawing the human figure, — From scratch to figure. Choosing it, you will go through the path from drawing simple objects to drawing a figure in dynamics from the very beginning. If your dream is to draw people, but you have recently picked up a pencil or stylus, the courses of the set From scratch to figure will become a powerful base for further achievements!
