First Week
© 2026 Lysolperson
Top left photo is the 30-second practices. Top right photo is the 1-minute practices. Bottom left photo is the 5-minute practices. Bottom right photo is the 10-minute practice.
GCross Art
Try building off placing the rib cage and pelvic bones first. Knowing where the top of the sternum is can really help you place the head. I can see you’re working off eyeballing landmarks. If you start with the larger forms it will make it easier to find and place others. Nice work!
Jannah
Hi!
You train a lot and the proportions of your characters are there!
The main problem I see but which can be solved very easily is that you trace small lines by small lines, which slightly removes the curves and movement of the bodies and makes the bodies a bit rigid.
Try to work with longer strokes, more assertive, don’t be afraid of getting the proportions wrong, you can always come back to it afterwards. I also propose a little exercise that my live model teacher made me do: try to trace without lifting the pencil the lines from the nape to the foot of one leg but by making sure that the curves of the muscles are visible.
I wish you good luck and I am sure that in a little while you will be a pro at it! You already master the proportions, which I find is the most complicated!!
You train a lot and the proportions of your characters are there!
The main problem I see but which can be solved very easily is that you trace small lines by small lines, which slightly removes the curves and movement of the bodies and makes the bodies a bit rigid.
Try to work with longer strokes, more assertive, don’t be afraid of getting the proportions wrong, you can always come back to it afterwards. I also propose a little exercise that my live model teacher made me do: try to trace without lifting the pencil the lines from the nape to the foot of one leg but by making sure that the curves of the muscles are visible.
I wish you good luck and I am sure that in a little while you will be a pro at it! You already master the proportions, which I find is the most complicated!!
Jcmlfineart
Lysolperson,
Have you ever used the kidneybean method? I remember being at the same stage you are now, and it was such a game-changer.
It's really simple. But very hard to achieve as a beginner.
Tada! You've drawn a bean and the basic shape of the figure.
Forget everything else you see when drawing the figure. Just draw beans, beans, beans. When you can do this with confidence and without thinking much about it, try moving on to more complex things, like drawing mass and more interesting parts that make up the figure, like limbs.
While you are doing the bean thing, concentrate your drawing sessions on the basic shapes flash cards here on the website. Yeah, they are BOOOORRRING. But the basic shapes are the building blocks to draw anything from the human figure, to portraits to the most interesting landscape. It all starts here. With the boring shapes.
There is a great book that covers everything from the base shape to building up the figure by Robert Hale. It's been 'The' drawing book of the figure for probably the last 30-ish years.
Keep going, it takes time, but I am excited to see you grow!
All of the best,
JCML Fine Art
Have you ever used the kidneybean method? I remember being at the same stage you are now, and it was such a game-changer.
It's really simple. But very hard to achieve as a beginner.
- Draw a circle in one stroke. This represents the hip cage.
- Draw another circle in one stroke. This represents the rib cage.
- Draw a line between the two. This is the spine and very often also the line of action.
Tada! You've drawn a bean and the basic shape of the figure.
Forget everything else you see when drawing the figure. Just draw beans, beans, beans. When you can do this with confidence and without thinking much about it, try moving on to more complex things, like drawing mass and more interesting parts that make up the figure, like limbs.
While you are doing the bean thing, concentrate your drawing sessions on the basic shapes flash cards here on the website. Yeah, they are BOOOORRRING. But the basic shapes are the building blocks to draw anything from the human figure, to portraits to the most interesting landscape. It all starts here. With the boring shapes.
There is a great book that covers everything from the base shape to building up the figure by Robert Hale. It's been 'The' drawing book of the figure for probably the last 30-ish years.
Keep going, it takes time, but I am excited to see you grow!
All of the best,
JCML Fine Art
10 min study is missing some strategic lines that would convey form and tridimensionality of the figure. Ideally some basic shading would also help convey this idea.
Highlight the pelvis mass and the chest and show the front and sides of your figure.
I made a horrible correction using MS paint but I think you get the idea.
https://imgur.com/a/yBy34L3