Drawing tutorial 1
By William Li (lothlorien@fenyx.com), Gallery 6.
Copyright 2001 William Li.
http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/farp/index.html

1st page: Introduction and Pose - 2nd page: Body Language - 3rd page: Balance - 4th page: Motion and Action + Construction (The Skeleton) - 5th page: Body Building + Solid Masses - 6th page: Variations

	1. Introduction This method is a tool to help you draw the human form. It is by no means the best way or even a fast way. Instead, this method is aimed at thinking and setting up the human form in a three dimensional space. Classical animation (most notably Disney) uses a similar way of working out their characters. In these kind of animations a good understanding of the character in a three dimensional space is important to achieve a convincing motion in time. Using this method will help you form your thoughts on the human body posing on paper rather than in your mind. It will also help you avoid that frustrating 'running out of paper phenomenon'.
	2. Pose Basic anatomy Stick figures - Wait, don't go away yet! Stick figures may seem simple...but when was the last time you did a good one, eh? ;) Don't underestimate the power of stick figures and what they can do for you. So how can stick figures be useful, you ask? First of all, they represent a very important basic element of any subject you draw: length pro-portions. Anyone knows proportions define almost everything in a drawing. A leg too short or a nose too big can ruin any grand piece of art. So, have some respect for the stick figures! ;) Let's take a look at stick figures. They vary in detail, usually depending on how accurate you want to compose the body. We'll get to pose later. First we look at proportions of a standing figure.
	Stick figure 1This is the basic stick figure. You can see the head, torso, arms and legs. You can't do much with this one, except practicing the proportions of these body parts.
	Stick figure 2With this version you can do something more. You get to decide the proportions of the arm- and leg-parts.
	Stick figure 3Now this must be the most advanced stick figure there is: I bet you never saw any kid draw it this way! Added are the width of shoulders and pelvis. In the next paragraph the importance of mastering this stick figure will show.
	Lesson Try to draw these standing stick figures and see if you master their proportions. This is a fast and easy way to see how your knowledge of the basic human proportion is. You can judge the results yourself quite well without being distracted by 'cool' armour, hair, etc. Using stick figures is also a very fast way to determine how big you may draw your humans on your paper. So you need not to be afraid to run out of paper anymore, because now you can see beforehand where that foot or hand will end up.

Next lesson: Body language