Chapter 1 | THE HUMAN FIGURE AS A 3D SHAPE
In this chapter you will learn a few ways to give a drawn human figure more 3D-volume.
TORNADO FIGURES / ‘TWISTERS’
Drawing tornado figures (I call them ‘Twisters’) is an excellent and fun exercise to learn how to draw the human figure more like a 3D shape. All body parts consist of helixes (see The versatile Oval, chapter 1 and 2, level 2). You can draw helixes smoothly in a continuous movement, if possible without letting go of the paper. It doesn’t have to be tight at all! Due to the way of drawing Twisters seem made of iron wire or whirlwinds like in a tornado. Twisters are very flexible, so you can easily come up with all kinds of poses with them.
Exercise 1: Draw some Twisters in different poses.
The next model human figure is not transparent. The lines across his body show the volume and curves of the arms, legs and torso. They also show whether an arm or leg is moving towards or away from us. Watch out: his left arm and right upper leg move towards us. His left leg and right arm are moving away from us.
Exercise 2: Try to redraw this example or come up with a different posture if you like.
THE USE OF SHADOW
You can enhance the volume of a human figure even more with shadow. In this example, sidelight from the right has been chosen. The shadow lines/hatches follow the curves of the body.
Exercise 3:
Trace your copied example so that you can save the original (for tracing see Handy drawing tips part 1, chapter 5, level 1). Draw the shadows in your copy. For the direction of the hatching (shadow lines) follow the curves of the lines that were already there. In this way, the hatching also contributes to the 3D effect. On the light side, make the lines a little lighter with an eraser. Finally, a little drop shadow ensures that the figure appears to touch the ground.
Exercise 4:
Make /trace a new copy of your original from exercise 2 and now try adding shadow with side light from the left.
Finally you might like to try out a shade with a Twister, but of course this figure is in fact transparent. In any case, don’t draw tight outlines for a Twister because they don’t fit a figure that consists of whirlwinds. In this last example, the side light comes from the left.
