Drawing outline of human body part 4: Adding muscles and flesh to stick figures

October 23, 2009 by r2moo2
Filed under: How to draw manga tutorials

bleach02

by tom tom – The gaze into the sun ( i love inu )

In this post we will be continuing about manga human anatomy, on drawing outline of human body part 4. This is a long series, because human anatomy for manga drawings is an art by itself, and it is really difficult.

I realised that I continued the series for awhile and then cut it short with topic liks “how to start a webcomic”. My apologies, because I didn’t want to sound draggy concerning this series.

Anyway, if any reader wishes to know what has been going on, these are the previous posts concerning drawing outline of human body, about manga human anatomy: Part 1, Part 2a, Part 2b, and Part 3. It is a sequence by itself.

Drawing outline of human body part 4: Adding muscles and flesh to stick figures

We will take the previous doodle art drawings from my previous posts as examples.

Click on the above images to enlarge the pictures.

From left to right, you will notice a transition between them.

First, I draw a stick figure as a guide for my character’s pose.
Then, after tracing the stick figure onto another piece of paper, I draw the muscles and flesh on the new piece of paper, which outlines the body of my character’s pose.
Lastly, by tracing the body outline onto another piece of paper again, I add details to the hair, face, and overall clothes on the new piece of paper. I will have 3 different drawings in total.

This is the drill I have been doing for awhile. It helps to build anatomy into your intuitive senses.

I will put up the females’ anatomy as well.

To reiterate, draw the pose of your character by using stick figures.

Trace your stick figures on to another piece of paper, and add flesh & muscles to your new piece of paper.

Again, trace the body outline of your character, and add the final details to your new piece of paper. You will have 3 pieces of artwork at the end.

What are the things to note?

Notice how I shape the limbs and the joints. The human body is shapely, full of curves and cannot be drawn by straight lines strictly.
Notice the collar bone, and the throat. Draw them out in your manga character.
Always note where your character is facing, because you will need to adjust the look of the whole body to the same direction. I have occasions where in the midst of my drawing, my top half of my character was not aligned with the bottom half.
For male anatomy, please add chest muscles and the rib cage for your male character. It helps to define the body, making the art look more realistic.
For female anatomy, it is their breasts instead of chest muscles and ribcage.
Shape the hips and the legs of your characters according to the suggestions given in previous posts on “drawing outline of human body”.

Final Words for this post

The above exercises cannot be accomplished well without first learning how to master drawing advanced stick figures in “Drawing outline of human body part 3“.

This is because the stick figures will give foundation and backbone to your drawings. It is like building a house; without a good foundation, the house will crash.

Likewise, learn to draw advanced stick figures, for different gender, and in different poses. Once it looks right and you have a hang of it, proceed to add muscles and flesh.

In future posts I will show you why mastering advanced stick figures is necessary, by showing you some of the mistakes I made.

Anyway, that’s all for today’s posts, stay tuned for more updates!

Share and Enjoy: