step by step Archives - Page 2 of 3

How to Draw a Drop Fold: One Way

Hey friends!

In this drawing lesson I’ll teach you how to draw a drop fold.

The drop fold is created when a cloth hangs freely from an anchor point or an anchor area.

Here is an example.

This is a simple example of a towel hanging in the air. The only forces affecting it are gravity and the clothespin holding it in place.

Remember this rule: folds radiate from the anchor point and outwards. In this example they radiate downwards.

This fold is basic and challenging at the same time. The concept of a piece of cloth hanging loosely from an anchor point is relatively simple to grasp. There is, however, a large variety of shapes that can be created.

Here is another example of a drop fold.

This example shows a drop fold created in cloth supported by an anchor area. The cloth is leaning against a ledge of some sort. Notice the different, hook-like shapes created in this example.

Now let’s make some order in the mess.

Drop folds, like all other folds, conform to the principles we learned earlier.

Let’s focus on two key principles:

1. The power of gravity is always present.
2. Folds radiate outwards from the anchor point or anchor area.

The most prominent characteristic of the drop fold is the direction of the fold, radiating downwards.

When supported by an anchor point, these folds tend to receive the shape of a cone. This happens because the cloth is held by the anchor point while being bunched up. As all the folds radiate downwards the cloth becomes wider and wider, taking the shape of a cone.

Here is a good example of this.

There is literally an infinite amount of drop folds, and the only way to study them is… you guessed it, using reference! (looking for them in the real world)

For this, take a towel and hold it in your hand, close to one of the edges. Hold it in the air and take a look at the folds created.

Now repeat this a few times, and notice how every time the folds look slightly different. This is the wonder of the drop fold – Basic, yet challenging.

And finally – watch my step by step video:

Keep looking for this fold in as many places possible, and slowly but surely you will be able to draw it yourself.

If you want more useful info on drawing folds in clothes, check out my book: How to Draw Folds and Clothes.

Also, be sure to SUBSCRIBE to my blog (ON THE LEFT), or via my Get Awesome Stuff page! You’ll get my eBook for free + great tips and advice on drawing! (=

And until next time – take care!

– Liron

How to Draw an Arm: Male Figure

Hey friends!

In today’s drawing lesson I’ll teach you how to draw an arm of a male figure.

We’ll do this step by step, so you understand exactly how to draw the arm’s shape, including the muscles and the hand.

Check out the full video tutorial, or read on if you prefer text instructions (=

1. The Setup

I have a square that is 5.2 inches long on each side.

I divided it into 4 relatively equal parts, using two lines: horizontal and vertical.

In addition, there is another vertical line dividing the left half into a third and 2 thirds.

2. Beginning to Draw the Arm

Begin drawing the shoulder muscle, as well as the muscle “hidden” behind it.

The arm is facing towards us (while the hand is turned downwards). In this angle – these are the muscles we get to see.

3. Another Muscle

Add another long, oval-shaped muscle that begins below the shoulder muscle, and ends in the center of the square.

4. Lower Part of the Arm

Next it’s time to add the lower part of the arm.

I will mention how I am, as always, using reference for this. I still can’t draw these things entirely from imagination.

Actually, drawing this from memory is quite an amazing feat, that not many possess.

5. The Hand!

Hands are a well-known landmine for artists – but fear not! By using reference you are already somewhat immune.

In this angle, the hand is pointing downwards. We also see its inner part, and so the thumb is pointed towards us. There is some foreshortening going on too.

I begin with the area of the thumb.

Notice how the entire hand is going to be contained within that left-most third.

Next, I start drawing the fingers one by one. Make sure to have them pointing at slight different angles. This creates a natural look.

Notice how I made the pinky point in a very different direction than that of the other fingers. That’s a nice little effect that helps convey looseness, and the absence of tension in the hand.

By the way, I believe I made the hand a tiny bit too small, but I’m still pleased with the result.

6. Let’s Add Some Shading

This is what’s going to really give the muscles their shape and volume.

And this is it! Here is the final scanned result:

I hope you enjoyed this lesson, and learned how to draw an arm. Feel free to leave a comment or ask a question below (=

And as always, Be sure to SUBSCRIBE HERE to get my eBook for free + great tips and advice on drawing, delivered straight to you! (=

And I’ll talk to you soon,

– Liron

How to Draw a Female Figure: Laying on Floor Pose

Hey Friends!

In this drawing lesson we’ll briefly talk about how to draw a female figure, in a laying down pose.

#1 – Skeleton Guidelines

The first step I took in order to draw the female figure, was using simple “stick figure” guidelines.

This step is fairly simple technically, BUT a lot of anatomy knowledge needs to support it in order for it to be correct.

Try and understand the proportions of length of each part.

Notice how I have yet to indicate the hands and feet.

#2 – Giving the Skeleton Volume

In this step we will turn the skeleton into basic three-dimensional shapes.

Note how she is leaning on a mini sofa. This is something we’ll have to take into account in later steps.

Our main shapes here are balls / circles, and cylinders. These represent the basic structure of the limbs and the core of the body.

Notice how they still DON’T convey the accurate shape of anything.

Also, I just wanted to note how the left hand (that’s leaning on the sofa) is foreshortened, as it is pointing towards us. This will become even more obvious in the next steps.

#3 – Drawing the Human Figure

In this step we’ll actually begin turning this simple three-dimensional representation into an actual female figure.

This step requires actual knowledge of the shape of each limb or body part. This is the real challenge.

This step takes into account the structure in terms of muscles and fat too.

Notice how the left are sort of “sinks” into the sofa. This is a useful way to express the softness of the sofa, and her weight being applied on it.

Now we can move onto the final step.

#4 – Shading

In this step we’ll shade the figure, giving it some more volume.

I worked too fast, and the shading is a bit grainy and uneven. Be sure to work slowly, and perhaps use gentle circular motions with the pencil.

Check out the full video tutorial:

And that’s it!

As always, Be sure to SUBSCRIBE HERE to get my eBook for free + great tips and advice on drawing, delivered straight to you! (=

And I’ll talk to you soon,

– Liron

How to Draw a Lion: Step by Step

Hey Friends!

In this drawing lesson you’ll learn how to draw a LION! We’ll go at it step by step, so that you can understand everything.

How to Draw a Lion – step by step

Step 1 – The head and the mane

You can see I drew the head, together with two guide lines that will later tell us where the center of the lion’s face is.

Notice how the lion is turned to our left.

I also drew a mane. This is really simplistic, because the details will be added later with a black pen. It is important, however, that you get these shapes correctly, so the drawing looks cool eventually!

Step 2 – The second mane:

Here you can see I added a second mane. I notice after studying the way lions look, that they have what appears to be two manes. One is around their head, and the other one is bigger, usually darker, and reaches more to the back of their bodies.

Step 3 – Adding the body:

Here I added the body. Just like the head, it is turned to our left.

Also, some foreshortening is occurring here.

Step 4 – The legs and paws:

Here I added the legs, and lightly indicated the paws with square-ish forms, that will later be turned into rounder forms with the inking. This was the most challenging part for me, and it also challenges me in drawing the human body.

The best advice I can give you is to study further how lion’s / other big cat’s limbs look.

Step 5 – Details, details, details….

Here I added the details to the head and feet, as well as drawing a tail. This step, especially the face, will help us later on to ink this beast in a cool and correct manner.

Steps 6-8 – Inking

This is the inked lion. The body didn’t change much, but look at the face, manes and paws.

First, I added the details of the face. The nose sits in the dead center we marked earlier, and from there you get to the rest of the face.

The manes now look like manes! And the paws have been rounded up, and had nails added to them. This is basically all the details necessary.

And after erasing the red pencil…

Voila!

Your big, bad, brave and cool lion!

That’s it for this drawing lesson.

Please remember to SUBSCRIBE HERE to get my eBook for free + great tips and advice on drawing, delivered straight to you! (=

And I’ll talk to you soon,

– Liron

How to Draw Jeans

Hey friends!

In this short drawing lesson we’ll learn how to draw Jeans.

Here are a few key pointers:

1. Learn how to draw folds in clothes.

2. Understand where folds are created in pants and jeans.

3. Learn how to shade your drawing properly.

In Jeans, this is where most folds are created:

Around the waist

This area is usually stretched, and also has the zipper. This causes straight horizontal folds to be created.

Around the knees

This is an area that is bended often (with each step you take!), and so there will be many folds and wrinkles there.

They will usually be zigzag folds.

Here is what common zigzag folds look like:

For more information on drawing folds and clothes, check out my course on drawing folds and clothes, or my book on Amazon (=

Right above the shoes

This is where a lot of pants are folder, or just tend to bunch up into simple zigzag / horizontal folds.

And that’s mostly it!

Watch the video for the full steps (=

Please remember to SUBSCRIBE HERE to get my eBook for free + great tips and advice on drawing, delivered straight to you! (=

And I’ll talk to you soon,

– Liron