How to Draw the Body Step by Step

This tutorial shows how to draw the female body with step-by-step illustrated examples and easy-to-follow instructions.

The tutorial goes from a simplified structure drawing to a detailed outline of the body.

The reasons for the structure drawing are several. One is that it allows you to quickly establish the body’s major proportions. Another is that a less detailed drawing makes it easier to spot mistakes as there is less information for you to process. Finally, it also allows for quick corrections and adjustments.

It’s recommended that you do the tutorial in pencil and start with light, easy-to-erase lines. You can darken them once you have all parts of the drawing outlined.

Supplies Needed for This Body Drawing

Regular graphite pencil (HB)
Drawing paper
Eraser

Step 1 – Draw the Head

Begin by making a straight vertical line to act as a guide that can help you see if the drawing is symmetrical. The line should be as tall as (or slightly taller than) the entire body. Its goal is to act as a guide and help ensure the drawing does not become skewed.

Towards the upper end of the guide line, add the simplified shape of the head. First, draw a circle for its upper part. From this circle, project a pair of lines that are slightly angled towards the middle of the head, followed by a second pair of lines that are angled even more inwards. You can then join the two sides with a horizontal line to define the bottom of the head.

The head can be used to measure the height of the body as shown in the example above. While this relation can vary depending on the height of the person, the body is generally about eight heads tall.

You may also notice that in the example, the feet go slightly past the measuring line. The reason for this is that you want to measure the height from around the heel to the top of the head and not from the toes.

Step 2 – Draw the Body

Going down from the head, add the neck and shoulders, followed by the sides and bottom of the body. Make the neck slightly thinner than the head.

Draw a female body with an hourglass-like shape where it’s thinner around the waist and gets wider as it goes up and down. As shown in the example, the waist should generally be just a little bit higher than three heads down from the top of the body.

The height of the head and the upper body combined should be about four heads tall, slightly more than half the height of the entire body (with the legs).

Make the upper part of the chest roughly two heads wide as shown in the example.

Step 3 – Draw the Upper Parts of the Legs

Going down from the body, add the upper parts of the legs. The upper parts of the legs should be about two heads tall. Draw each leg thicker near the top and thinner as it goes down.

Step 4 – Draw the Lower Parts of the Legs

Draw the lower parts of the legs so they get thicker going down to the calves and then thinner toward the ankles. The knee-to-calf sections should be significantly shorter than the calf-to-ankle.

Step 5 – Draw the Feet

Similar to the upper part of the legs, the feet combined with the lower parts of the legs should be two heads tall (up to the bottoms of the knees).

Step 6 – Draw the Upper Parts of the Arms

In this example, the arms are held just slightly out (a little bit away from the body). Begin by drawing their upper parts down to (roughly) the elbows. You can make these areas the same width throughout their entire length.

Step 7 – Draw the Lower Parts of the Arms

Draw the lower arms getting thicker from the elbows to the forearm areas and thinner from those to the wrists. Make the elbow-to-forearm areas much shorter than the forearm-to-wrist parts.

The wrists should be roughly four heads down from the top of the head (half the length of the entire body).

Step 8 – Draw the Hands

Going down from the writs add the hands.

You can draw the hand from the side view (in its relaxed, natural state) as follows:

The Palm: Make the palm narrower as it goes down and angle it slightly outwards (away from the body).
The Thumb: Draw the thumb first running outwards, away from the wrist. Down from its second joint it should point almost directly downwards and then slightly inwards towards the palm.
The Index Finger: Define the index finger as being bent inwards from the knuckles to the first joint. It should also bend inwards from the second joint. However, draw the last joint unbent (or just barely so).

You don’t need to add any of the other fingers until a later step.

Step 9 – Make a More Detailed Outline of the Body

Once you have everything in place, round off the corners of the structure drawing where needed to create an organic outline of the body (as shown in the example).

You can also add some of the smaller details, like the bumps created by the bones around the wrists and above the heels, as well as the shoulder muscles.

You can see how to draw the details of the hand in the step-by-step example above. First, round off the rough edges of the structure drawing, same as the body. Afterwards, draw the middle finger coming out from behind the index finger. Partially show its knuckle on one side and a bit of its bottom end on the other.

As the focus of this tutorial is on the major proportions of the body, it’s not necessary to add the other fingers (they can potentially be hidden behind the first two).

For more on drawing hands, see:

How to Draw a Hand Step by Step

Once you are happy with how things look, clean up the construction lines. However, leave the central guide line in place.

Step 10 – Draw the Details of the Body & Head

Add the smaller parts and details of the body as follows:

Drawing the Details of the Body, Arms, and Legs

Collarbones: Draw the collarbones going down from the shoulders towards the bottom of the neck.
Breasts: Draw the breasts curving along each side of the chest.
Ribs: Simply hint at the ribs on each side of the body between the chest and the stomach.
Belly Button: Draw the belly button about three heads down from the top of the head.
Arm Creases: Hint at the arm creases by drawing small pairs of lines between the lower and upper parts of each arm.
Knees: Hint at the knees with a pair of curves between the upper and lower parts of the legs.

Drawing the Details of the Hands

Creases: Draw the creases around the joints. You can create hints of these with some simple curved lines.
Fingernails: Erase small sections of the outlines for the thumb and fingers, then add in the fingernails.

If the size of your drawing is very small, you can leave out the above details.

Drawing the Details of the Feet

Toes: Draw the outline of each toe inside the outline of the feet from the previous step.
Toenails: Draw the outline of each toenail.

Again, depending on the size of your drawing, you can leave out the toenails and even keep the outlines of the feet as one combined shape, without the toes.

Positioning the Facial Features & Drawing the Hair

As the focus of the tutorial is on the body, drawing the facial features and hair is optional. If you do wish to draw them, you can do it as shown in the example above.

Drawing the Eyebrows, Ears, and Mouth

To position the ears, eyebrows, and nose, divide the face into three even sections starting from the hairline and going down to the bottom of the head. You can then place them as follows:

Eyebrows: Draw the eyebrows so that they touch the top of the middle section.
Ears: Outline the ears between the top and bottom of the middle section.
Nose: Define the nose with its tip at the bottom of the middle section.

Drawing the Eyes

Place the eyes at the halfway point between the top and bottom of the head. Space the eyes so that there is roughly the width of one eye between them.

For more on drawing eyes, see:

How to Draw an Eye Step by Step

Drawing the Mouth

Place the mouth with its bottom lip starting at the halfway point between the bottom of the nose and the bottom of the head.

Drawing the Hair

Outline the main shape of the hair over the top of the outline of the head, and erase the parts that it covers afterwards. You can then add the smaller details to create the appearance of hair strands, as shown above.

For more on drawing hair, see:

How to Draw Hair Step by Step Tutorial

As already mentioned, the focus of this tutorial is on the proportions of the body, so it only covers the basics of drawing the facial features and hair. You can, however, check the following tutorial for a much more in-depth guide:

How to Draw a Female Face Step by Step Tutorial

Drawing the Clothes

You can optionally add some clothes. In this example, it’s just a simple bikini/swimsuit.

Generally, even if you are going to draw more complex/baggy clothes, it’s a good idea to create a basic outline of the body and then add them right on top of it (as was shown with the hair). This can help you avoid mistakes and make it easier to see where folds are likely to form.

Conclusion

This tutorial explains how to structure and proportion the different parts of the female body. It also suggests what order you should draw them in. As was mentioned at the start of the tutorial, a good way to measure the body is by using the head. You want to start your drawing with that and then add the larger and more important parts of the body, followed by the smaller details. For example, it’s easier to place the facial features once you have an outline of the head than to first draw the face and then to try to outline the head around it.

Starting with the larger and more important elements is a good way to manage the drawing process, and it can help you avoid mistakes that lead to a lot of backtracking.

For more advice on good drawing practices, you can also see the following:

Beginner Guide to Learning to Draw

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