The hardest part about drawing bodies is getting the proportions right. If you use the height of the head as a unit of measurement, the average human is about seven heads tall. The bottom of the torso is general about half way up. Women usually have longer legs and smaller torsos than men (if you compare a man a women with the same length legs the guy will probably be taller). I'm sure I don't need to tell you that longer legs look more feminine.

As with faces, the Japanese animation style body is just an exaggeration of a regular person. The amount you want to exaggerate your figures is up to you and the style you like. Vertically, the main changes are a shorter torso and longer legs. Other than that, you just have to take the features of an idealized woman and make them even more ideal: long and thin arm and legs (some folks like their legs very long, but it isn't necessary), small body and slim waist (yeah, yeah, and a big chest--but that isn't necessary either), usually the hips are pretty slim, and a long thin neck. Make sure to keep the head fairly large--the human head doesn't change in size over a life time as dramatically as the rest of the body (I'm sure you've noticed little kids have big heads), so the smaller you make the body in proportion to the head, the more "little girl" like your character will be.

1. Block it out There are many ways to block out your figure, but I recommend the bubble method (it's the one I use, and I think it's the easiest and most effective). Just scribble in some ovals, keeping it as loose and light as possible. Make sure you get the proportions like you want them before you move on--it's more than a little frustrating to spent a load of time on the details and then realize that those perfect arms you just finished are way too short. If your not sure about something you can use the proportional diagram to check. If you're worried about getting it right you can start by drawing the head a good size (I did these drawings with a 1 inch head unit) and marking where the arms should reach and where the knees should be and all that. You might also want to draw a line right down the middle so its easy to make sure both sides are symmetrical.

2. Contours You might want to do all the details on the head before you move on; getting the face in proportion to the body can be hard and its easier to modify the roughed in body to match a finished face than to try and correct things latter on. Once you have the figure all roughed in you just need to draw the nice smooth contours of a person over the bubbles.

3. Clean up Clean up all the stray marks and you're about finished. You don't need to do too much in the way of details--the belly button is even with the point where the waist stops tapering in and the hips start curving out. Breasts can be just simple partial circles, most defined on the lower outside edges. Don't worry to much about hands or feet--they can take a lot of work, but a lose suggestion will usually be good enough.

Now you have the basics of proportion to work with. When you're trying to draw a complicated pose, or elaborate clothes, it can be really helpful to find a picture in a magazine that's close to what you want, or get a friend to pose for you. That way, you can see where one arm crosses the other, or how a leg would look foreshortened from that angle, or whatever. It also makes figuring out how clothes fold or pull a lot easier. Just remember to keep them simple too: lots of detail on buttons or zippers is cool, but don't worry too much about getting every wrinkle and fold of fabric--a few simple lines is usually enough.

From animeworld.com

As an anime artist, I feel that my input may be useful to those interested in learning.

A generally accepted method that I have seen used (I try to keep free of using methods) is to start with the head, drawing it as a circle (lightly), than extend the sides down to form a chin, aproximatly one quarter of the diameter of the circle down (this will just give you a face on perspective, I personally start with the eyes and determine the angle at which I want the head from there, the eyes are very important to seeing proportions without having to always measure them out). Lightly draw an arc a little below the centre of the circle, it will probably seem low, but this is where the eyes should be located. Generally in anime the nose is a small pointy type thing, look at some anime for reference to the nose. The ears should come in where the sides for the chin are located, add hair as appropriate.

Also one may note that the younger the human usually the "wider" the face, this is simply that the chin is not as low as that of an adult, the two sides thus should intersect higher to give a more childish look.

One thing needed to me adressed for begginers is that the human hand is just a little smaller than the face, and the human foot usually a little longer, hands and feet are also the most difficult things for many beggining artists to draw, I myself have been drawing for a bit over two years at present and still have difficulty. study your favourite anime(s) a bit to figure out the wicked hand.

Studying the art to a deeper extent will often assist one with their drawing.

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