Anime: Human Body Proportions

In order to learn how to depict a human figure, you need to know and remember the relative proportions of the body. Only by learning and understanding how to correctly place the center of the body, how the width of the shoulders correlates with the width of the waist, at what level are the elbows and wrists, you can draw what will really look. Only by mastering all the relative proportions, you can understand which part of the body and how to change to achieve the desired effect in the anime. Let's first look at the proportions of the classic figure, and then, based on it, we will try to determine the most common styles of drawing anime characters.

In order to draw a person, let's put two dots on paper. The top point is for the crown, the bottom point is for the feet. Now let's connect them with lines and divide them into eight equal parts. Why just eight? Because the height of an ideal human figure is eight heads. In general, the head is the most universal unit of measure, if we talk about a person :). Therefore, we will continue to measure everything in our heads.

The width of the figure at its widest point is equal to two whole and one third of the head. Please note that at this stage there is no need to monitor the correctness of the anatomy. The main thing is to remember and keep in mind the ratio of body parts to the established divisions. Looking ahead, it’s worth noting that in anime, and in manga too, anatomy is greatly simplified and I don’t think it’s worth spending a lot of effort on memorizing all the anatomical details. Although it cannot be completely ignored either. The main thing is to remember the main muscle groups.

Now let's look at the figure from three sides - front, side and back. I advise you to make these drawings yourself. Not blindly sketching, namely drawing as you like, the main thing is to take into account the ratio of body parts. Pay special attention to the relative sizes of the shoulders, hips and calves. It is also worth noting that the distance between the nipples is one head. The waist is slightly wider than the head. The wrists fall slightly below the crotch, and the elbows are almost in line with the navel. The bottom of the knees is at a distance of one quarter of the figure from the bottom point. The shoulders are one-sixth from the top of the head.

The female figure is relatively narrower - two heads in its widest part. The nipples fall a little lower than a man's. The width of the waist is equal to one head. The hips are slightly wider in front than the armpits, and narrower in the back. Depending on the situation, the legs below the knees can be lengthened. The wrists are on the same level with the crotch. A height of about 170 cm is considered ideal for a girl in heels, although, of course, in reality, the average girl has much shorter legs and heavier hips. Remember very well that the navel of a woman is below the waistline, and that of a man is either lower or at the same level. Vertically, the distance between the nipples and the navel is equal to one head, but both the nipples and the navel are lower than the division lines. The elbows are above the navel. It is very important to remember the differences between female and male figures.

If you look at drawings of people made using different relative proportions, you can see why real or, in other words, normal proportions do not look very attractive. This is especially important in manga, where distortion is used as the main artistic technique. Most artists draw people above eight heads, and when drawing a variety of heroes and "supermen" it will be very effective to use the "nine head" measure. It is also worth noting that as the figure grows, its center shifts lower and lower. I advise you to draw each of these figures from the side and back, taking into account all the proportions discussed earlier. It is worth paying attention to the moment that if you want to draw a lower or more tall man, then it is necessary not to increase the "number of heads", but to change the value of the measure, i.e. stretching or narrowing the size of the character's head.

All of the above referred to the proportions of the figure of an adult, mature person. Now consider what are the proportions in children different ages. Scale on this figure implies that the child will grow until it becomes a normal, adult man eight heads tall. If, for example, you want to draw a man or woman (about half a head shorter than a man) next to a five-year-old boy, then you can use this diagram as a guide to select the desired proportion. Children under the age of ten are drawn slightly shorter and rounder than ordinary child, for greater effect. The height of children, ten years and older, is slightly elongated for the same reason.

We considered the proportions of the classical or real figure person. But in anime and manga, to create a certain atmosphere and style, individual proportions are often distorted. Let's look at how this is done and how the characters differ. different styles. How exactly you will draw is up to you.

Comedy anime character. He has a big head, hands and feet. Anatomy, joints and articulations are practically not drawn and are indicated rather conditionally. All limbs, in comparison with the head, look small.

A young, pretty girl. Such a character has slim waist and lightly defined body contours. Anatomy and joints are drawn in sufficient detail.

PART ONE

I will start this lesson from the very popular question which I get: "how to draw female breasts" (heh, I never thought that I would write a lesson about this ... ^_^). The most important thing here is to try to draw the breasts as naturally as possible, because you can also draw a pretty girl without silicone implants, as one of my friends does. ^_^

The main problems that people have when drawing breasts are their shape and position. Many artists (both professionals and beginners) draw them as balls that rest against the girl's chin; such breasts are far from natural. If you look in anatomy books, you will see that they look more like halves of a sphere or inverted cups, but not at all like balls.

Next, pay attention to the posture. Imagine a line that runs down the center of the body. The breasts should be at a 45-degree angle from this line, and half below the ribcage (red diagonal lines in the photo). Make sure that the breasts are not too close or too far apart, or too high from the chest; this is the most common mistakes. As you will see in the rest of the drawings in this tutorial, the 45 degree rule applies to almost all poses.

Here is another pose where the torso is visible from the front. Notice how the breasts are still at a 45 degree angle to the center line of the body. Oh, and also pay attention to the shadows. After looking at some examples, I've noticed that shading the breasts in this manner makes them look more natural than if you shaded them as spherical shapes.

Here is one last pose to demonstrate the size and position of the breasts. It's not so clear here, but even here the chest is at a 45 degree angle from the center line (which I didn't draw in this example, sorry ^_^). Note that the left breast is shaped like a hemisphere, not a full sphere. If you want to increase your breast size, it's up to you, but I don't think it's necessary.

Now let's move on to the neck and shoulders. When you draw the shoulders, pay attention to the fact that they fall smoothly, they are not flat. Try not to forget about the structure of the muscles of the neck and shoulders, especially if you are going to create realistic image. They should be similar in shape to hangers, not flat surfaces.

Here are some more examples of drawing shoulders in different poses. Note that they are never flat and shapeless.

Another thing I wanted to talk about in this thread is how to draw a torso with arms raised ^_^. For me personally, this sometimes turns out to be a difficult task, so I decided to touch on this aspect. If you raise your arms up, then the back of the body becomes wider. Although the female torso is not as massive as the male, it still expands. Don't make your upper body too narrow. Notice also how the upper part of the right breast curves inwards (towards the chest); don't forget it's not a full sphere so it attaches to the shoulder muscles.

H Roughly drawing the proportions of the figure, draw the body and limbs. This will help you ovals, which will remind you of the location of the main joints involved in the mechanics of the body. Note:

○ The elbow joint is located at the level of the lower edge of the chest

○ Hand drops to approximately mid-thigh

○ There is a small gap between the femurs where they connect with the thighs themselves

○ The forearm is almost the same length as the foot.

Well, here are my scribbles for review:

P.S. Frog perspective. T point of view from the bottom up - so that the observer's gaze seems to be at the very ground.

Children

Children do not have pronounced muscles. Their skeleton is not yet fully developed, so the shoulders remain rather narrow. They have short, round faces with big eyes. True, already at this age, gender differences appear: in boys, the torso is longer, and the waist is even, in girls, the waist is higher and narrower.

Figure height: 4-5 head lengths

Shoulder width: 2 head widths or less

Torso Length: 2 head lengths

Leg length: 2-3 head length

When drawing a child under the age of 7, remember that the length of his body is three to four "heads". Limbs in children are short and plump ^^

P teens

Although the fullness or thinness of a person somewhat affects the proportions of the figure, in general, the muscles and bone structure in adolescents are more pronounced than in children. This applies to both the face and the body. The boys have shoulders and rib cage wider, which helps to clearly define the waistline. In girls, the hips are slightly wider than in boys, and they begin to develop breasts.

Figure height: 5-6 head lengths

Shoulder width: 2 head widths

Torso Length: 2 head lengths

Leg length: 3 head length

In adults

The skeleton and muscles are well developed. Men have broad shoulders, a well-defined straight section of the waist, passing into narrow hips, which are not much wider than the waist. The woman also has developed athletic shoulders, a full chest, a fairly wide chest, turning into a tapering waist, wide hips, proportional to the width of the shoulders. It is worth noting that a man should have a longer torso, and a woman should have legs.

Figure height: 7-8 head lengths

Shoulder width: 2-3 head width

Torso length: 2-3 head lengths

Leg length: 4 head length

How to draw an anime body?

The body in anime style is drawn according to the same principles as the body on realistic drawings. There is nothing complicated about this, in fact: the human body has complex shape, but it can be conditionally divided into a series geometric shapes.

Wireframe creation

Before you draw an anime body, you need to draw an ordinary vertical line on paper - the axis. This is necessary in order to portray a person standing straight in front or to the side. Apply three short strips on top, bottom and in the center of the axis. Then break each half vertical line into four identical sections: a total of eight equal segments.

Draw a small oval so that its center is on the third strip from the top. Its edges should not go beyond two adjacent lines. Below the oval, create a small circle, resting its ends on the fourth and fifth lines from above - it will become the pelvis.

To learn how to draw an anime body, draw a smaller oval between the topmost line and the second stripe from the top - the head. From the median line passing through the center of the axis, lower down two strips - the legs. They should be parallel to each other, in the area of ​​​​the third line from the bottom there will be knees - for convenience, mark them in small circles. In principle, this is how you can draw an anime female body and a male one.

To draw the hands, draw two straight lines from the navel through the nipples. In the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe imaginary neck, draw a strip perpendicular to the axis: where the lines coming from the navel intersect with it, the points of the collarbones are located. Remember this before drawing an anime human body with a pencil. At the points of the clavicles, the arms are attached to the body. Nipples, by the way, are exactly on the third line from the top of the central axis.

Note that the shoulder part of the arm has a length approximately equal to two sections of the main axis. The elbow together with the brushes is one and a half segments, and the brushes themselves end just below the groin. Lastly, draw the feet - two small triangles. Frame completed.

Drawing detail

To properly draw an anime body, you cannot detail the drawing at the wireframe stage. The lines will serve as the axis for the cylinders, and if you can't draw a cylinder, just draw an elongated oval. Draw circles or spheres at the joints of the bones - it all depends on your skills. Pay attention to the fact that the limbs and the body itself have many irregularities: the legs and arms are somewhat thicker in the middle than at the ends. Your task - with the help of simple geometric shapes give body volume. Before you draw an anime girl's body, pay attention to the fact that women have hips wider than shoulders, while men have the opposite.

So, when you finish drawing the figures, take care of the face: create "anime" eyes, a mouth with a dash or crescent, and a nose in the form of a "corner". Hair tends to be triangular: be careful that the character is not disheveled. Next draw the clothes and other details.

Already drawn +32 I want to draw +32 Thank you + 112

So, here we have disassembled male and female mannequins. female body(Fig. 1). There are few differences between the two genders: guys are usually muscular (I drew a feminine guy >_>), they have a longer torso than women, they have even tougher and rougher skin, and girls have a sinuous spine.


Now, the neck. A few things not to do. The neck starts from the ears (Fig. 2), see dotted lines? Those angles in the head are always parallel. Muscles run from the ears to the fossa in the neck - this always gives a pretty look (Fig. 3).
In figure 3 you can see the collarbone - this gives a sense of realism.
Look at the picture on the right - this is the location of the tonsils in the neck: the guy has a much larger upper part and thus we get an Adam's apple. In girls, the lower part is not quite noticeable (Fig. 4).

I think the front and back views are self-explanatory (Figures 5a and 5b), so draw a straight line down the torso to help you find the center line. The fossa on the neck is the middle of the base. Anterior view: neck fossa, base of ribs and up to umbilicus. Rear view: along the spine, along the spine to the chakra triangle. You need to remember such points: guys are very straight, while girls have a concave torso shape.

To avoid sexual attraction When you draw the chest, think of it as balls filled with water, believe it or not, but they are affected by gravity, and therefore they will move with the body (Fig. 6a, 6b, 6c).


When the arms are raised, the biceps are tense and clearly visible, when the arms are straightened and tense, the triceps are under influence (Fig. 7a). Take a look at own hands and you will see different forms forearms, visible from above and from the side. When the arm is straight, pits appear on each side of the elbow (Fig. 7b)


Put all your attention on your knee as you take a step back. It's all about the kneecap. Do you see 2 lines on the turn of the knee (Fig. 8a, b, c)? This is where the muscles start, which work up and leave this look. Very fun to draw legs.

Here are the disassembled parts of the body (Fig. 9). Break the torso into a ribcage and a pelvis. Use circles for all connections of the torso cavities to the ribcage and to the pelvis with the joints. This is the most easy way to work. Try different poses.




In this part, you learned how to draw a figure. It is not so difficult if you know what follows what and what is needed.