Many architects and designers are terrified to draw people. You have probably seen numerous renderings of buildings with minimal entourage and not a person in sight. The reason is that many designers have a perception that if the figures aren’t illustrated perfectly, they shouldn’t be in the drawing at all. Here are three simple tips for drawing people and putting the needed character, humanity and scale into drawings.
Draw Small People. As a rule, size all of the people in your drawings no taller than 1.5 inches. Many background people can be half that height and quickly drawn as simple animated shapes. Detail is minimal, faces are probably not illustrated and clothing is kept simple.
Trace From Other Sources. If you cannot draw a figure from imagination, trace it from a photograph, recycle a figure from a previous drawing or incorporate a computer generated figure. I have a collection of figures from SketchUp that I commonly use to trace from. Take digital photos of people in a shopping mall or a retail street and begin your own collection of people images to trace from.
Populate Your Drawing. Don’t be afraid to add groups of people to your drawing. As a rule, I tend to populate my drawings with no less than ten people. I will double that count for drawings of street scenes with shopping activities. Now take a second look at all of the above drawings and imagine what they would look like if all of the people were removed from them - quite a different scene!
If you would like to learn more about how to draw people, visit my website www.drawingshortcuts.com and pick up my new book Drawing Shortcuts Second Edition.
Like all exercise of practical skills is the key. Whether you are tuning your vehicle and the Council of Ministers or to learn how to draw, it’s exercise that will take you to your goal.
http://www.sketchheroes.com/videos/id_22/title_How-to-draw-Son-Goku-Dragon-ball/
Posted by: daisymae | 06/15/2011 at 02:53 PM