Skeletons will save you if you draw them right.
Part 5 of 9
Remember from my last post where I basically said “don’t do that slow-shaky-unsteady-trying-to-be-precise-but-never-working outline drawing?” How about you just draw stick figures instead?
No, really. That’s actually an efficient way to start your art. Grab a bar napkin if necessary, preferably unused.
But these stick figures need to be much better than the ones your parents couldn’t get off the fridge fast enough when the tooth fairy just had to visit for the 11th time in your life despite their clear objections and then breaking the news about Santa purely out of spite since you complained about the ONE time they accidentally forgot to buy C batteries for your gift. No, your sketches need actual human proportions and things like knees and elbows.
Try drawing this kid like this kid.
Draw out the “skeleton” of your subjects. You can use whichever shapes you want to fill out the head, rib cage, and pelvis, but I recommend the circle, triangle, and pentagon respectively. Use dots or circles for the pivots in the limbs, rounded triangles for the hands and feet, and angled lines for fingers and toes. You have to build the foundations before making the finished product, so spend some time at this step.
And unless you’re solely practicing and these rough drafts will never see the light of day, don’t trace anything either. It’s not even needed since we’re drawing real-life objects by actually looking and learning about them–THIS is how artists get better at their craft. (Unless you’re a filthy A.I. that looks at artists to get better at its craft; if so, back off our human-drawn pixels or it’s on sight.)
If you’re drawing a real person, have a photo of them. Drawing a landscape but you can’t be there? Use a picture for reference. If you’re drawing some weird mutant, use pics of disgusting real-life things and mix it up.
You don’t know how to draw everything, and neither do I. Get some accuracy in your artwork with realistic sources, especially with various angles, points-of-view, shapes, etc. Just please keep your voyeurism tasteful clean… well, legal.
Adapted from DeForrest: Volume One, 2015