CHARACTER DESIGN TIP | Draw the Body first

To draw an attractive character design (male or female) with clothes, the outfit has its importance. You draw the body first. Then we will draw the fashion clothing style.
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I'm Chou-Tac, I'm a Product Designer from France.
To get started in design sketching with confidence, I created the Designer Starter Kit for you to download: www.thedesignsketchbook.com/s...
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1. Find a cozy cafe
Let’s go to chill in a cafe to sketch!
This is the “Ngot cafe” in Ho Chi Minh City.
I find good concentration in such places.
And you, where do you like drawing the most?
2. Look for inspiration
I found a very interesting poster displaying tribes outfits all over the world.
And one attracts my attention.
I was thinking:
How about drawing something new from this woman from the Asian tribe?
If you look at video games, animation, movies, the designers behind often take inspiration in history books.
Then, they twist the originals as their wish to make them innovative and even more interesting.
3. Find a comfortable seat
The seat and the table height gives me a proper posture for drawing. (Some cafe have a too low or too high chair that handicap the drawing practice)
4. Learn from the past to create something new
If your ego is telling you: don’t copy.
Then, you will hardly get a high designer level.
History is a tremendous treasure where your imagination has now an unlimited access to it!
Imagine if mankind was reinventing the wheel every time a new human born. It wouldn’t make sense. (I’m curious to see what the world would look like though)
Learn how to copy and absorb information to mix them, cook them in your brain to innovate! That is how brainstorming creative method is so efficient.
5. Interprete with your own style
The original drawing has its own gravure old style.
However, I want to absorb the data to redraw them my own way.
Think of your mind as an idea shaker to generate new ideas!
That’s the magic power designers and artists learn to master every day by sketching daily.
6. Start with a vertical axis
This simple line has its importance.
You will use it as a main guide for your drawing.
7. Draw the body following the axis
The pose is static.
So you need to follow the body parts all along this axis.
8. Draw the arm visualizing the bones
To draw the pose, it is much easier to start with the skeleton.
To simplify, we draw the arms drawing sticks representing the bones.
9. Draw the outfit
Only when you have a good picture of the body, you can start drawing the outfit.
Even if in this drawing, the hat attracted me first, I didn’t start sketching it.
But the body and the head.
10. Draw the body first
It is the same process as learning how to draw a body for fashion designing or concept art, or animation…
To draw clothes, you need to draw the body first.
To draw a shoe, you need to draw a standard foot first (called Shoe last)
Draw the base drawing first.
And your mind will be relieved of the proportion and posing information.
This is the only way you can draw activating your full creativity.
how to draw a feminine body - character design sketching - full focus of creativity
11. I draw hatching for shadows and color blocking
When you feel pretty satisfied with your accomplishment, add shadows, prints, color/material blocking.
I use hatching to make it fast and easy.
12. Think in 3 dimensions (not flat)
Many fashion illustrations are flat. I recommend you to learn how to draw like animators, comics and manga artists. They can build up the body model in 3d in any position drawing from imagination!
13. Tip to draw a hand easy
Hands are crazy difficult to draw for a beginner.
To simplify the hand, group the 3 last fingers.
It’s now so much faster to draw hands with success!
You don’t have to leave the hand space blank or hide them in the pocket or in the back. I know this trick too, I did it when I was younger.
14. Create fashion poses
When you know how to draw body anatomy in 3 dimensions, with the bones as sticks, you can create your own fashion poses. It elevates the fun and freedom of creativity!
I am now drawing the side view with more fluidity and body curves.
A body is organic and is full of curves.
The bones use sticks while the muscles use curves.
(I draw with what I call the S-curves)
I want to draw as if the body were like in the “dancing movement“.
15. Check your gravity line
A beginner's mistake is to draw an unstable body posture.
16. Tada!!
It’s a pleasure to draw from reference picture as you outsource a part of your inspiration. It is so much fun!
Take inspiration from real life!
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What the Designer Starter Kit book will teach you.
The Book includes 4 simple guides I made for True-beginner designers.

[@woof_iiiu]

Thank you soo much for the tip! You are helping lots of people!

[@khumbeloramuthaga4440]

Thanks for the tips✌️

[@oldhorseshoe1776]

Yes, this is a fundamental approach to making pictures - start with general shapes/forms first and then do the details. Thanks for this video.

[@erwanjouan8322]

Super cool! I love really a tiny detail which is the floating cloth/belt on the side view, brings little touch of life, well done!

[@allwin6969]

Thank you for bringing some different content :)

[@Thedesignsketchbook]

I like to draw in a cafe.

[@barbenishay650]

Really helpful information

[@averagekoolaidenjoyer]

First!!!!!