Remember those stick figures you drew at age three? Okay, I get that not everyone can recall that far back, but let’s take those stick figure drawings as a granted thing. Well, guess what we’re doing today. That’s right… Stick figures!
If you’ve stumbled onto this post by accident head back over and start here – Learn to Draw in Just 10 Minutes a Day
Exercise Three – People Doodles, Drawing People – Positioning & Posture
Now, back to the junk mail pile. Yes, again! Flip through the catalogues and choose portrait photos that interest you. We are going to draw over the people with a series of circles and connecting lines (much like a skeleton).
This exercise will develop your understanding of body positioning. Keep doing this and you will start to notice things like: when a person leans forward their arms may appear disproportionately longer than their legs; or that an angled hip will twist the spine and make one shoulder sit higher.
Did you know that many pro artists, like comic and concept artists, begin their drawings with basic stick figures to work out both positioning and posture?
Exercise Four – I See Shapes
Another fun way to break down objects and people in images is to draw all the shapes that you see, as though those things were made of building blocks.
This exercise is a step up from Exercise Three, and you will be drawing over your junk mail stick figures using simple shapes. Such as circles, squares, triangles, trapezoid, etc.
Adding these shapes to the stick figure drawn photos will teach you how to further build up the shapes of people and objects.
Incorporate what you’ve learnt from these bonus exercises into your daily drawing routine. Revisit some familiar subjects and apply some of these new techniques. Are you approaching your drawing differently this time?
Want to Learn to Draw? Start here – Learn to Draw in Just 10 Minutes a Day
The Daily Drawing Project Bonus Exercises:
Melissa is a multi-passionate artist, with an interest in pop culture and culture in general.
