After finish watching the video, let's read a tutorial about how to simplify the shape and how to draw stick figures here!
Table of Contents
Why Start with Shape Simplification?
When drawing a complex anime character. Instead of starting with all the tiny details, it's better to begin with simple shapes. These simple forms act as the essential building blocks for your character. This makes it easier to create your anime characters.
My Top Tips to Simplify the Human Body!
When simplifying the human body, remember that it's all about quick sketches. You don't have to aim for perfection; think of these as rough drafts. You can draw it with a light pencil stroke. Let's get started!
Dividing the Human Body to simplify
Let's break down the human body into these key parts: Head, Torso & pelvis, hands, feet
Then, let’s learn to simplify them as followed!:
1) The head: Visualize the head as an imperfect oval that was cut on the side! Add a cross line on the head to guide the face direction.
We'll start simple with a simplified head in front, side, and 45 degree view!
Let's start by making the front of the head simpler. Pay attention to the “center line” and the “horizontal line” on the face. These lines are essential for guiding the direction of the head.
Now, use the same approach to draw the head from the side view. Just shift the jawline to a different position.
Moving on to the 45-degree view of the head. Take a look at the green line in the image below! Sketching a line like this will assist you in imagining the head's shape from this angle.
2) The torso and pelvis: I suggest that you draw the torso and pelvis separately and connect them with the spine or center line. When you draw a dynamic position, you'll feel at ease.
Simply draw this section in two parts: the “Top Triangle” and the “Panty Part”! Remember the “s-curve spine” I mentioned in the video! This caused the top triangle to point up and the panty part to point down.
Let's explore my method for simplifying the body in different views below.
We'll start from the front view, which is the easiest view to draw the body!
Next, the side view of the body. Don't forget to pay attention to the spine curve. Keep in mind that the Top Triangle points up and Panty part points down!
The final one is the simplified body in a 45-degree view. Drawing this angle might require a bit of perspective knowledge, but don't worry – we'll cover perspective in the next chapter!
3) Hand: We'll simplify the hand into three parts: the palm, the thumb, and all the fingers.
4) Foot: Just like with hands, we'll break down the foot into three parts: the toes, the arch, and the heel.
Once you grasp the basic of shape simplification, we’ll move on and draw these parts we learned altogether as a stick figure.
