Drawing Arms for 3 Types of Characters Blog
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Learn how to draw arms for three kinds of characters--women, cartoons, and even aliens in the tutorial below.
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Drawing Arms
No matter what kind of person you're creating, it's best to begin with a basic understanding of the anatomy and function of arms. From there, you can modify your drawing to make women's arms as well as cartoon ones, or even arms of aliens. Learn more about the process in the tutorials below.
Drawing Women's Arms
The muscles of the arm create another layer of complexity. It's not easy drawing anatomically accurate muscles Therefore, it's important to find patterns that will aid in remembering how to draw different muscles. You can illustrate the shoulder as an example by drawing a a soft, sideways heart shape. The top of the heart is affixed to the upper arm and divides the bicep as well as the triceps, which reach until the elbow. While the lower arm technically contains a lot of little muscles, you can simplify the arm into two major, elongated shapes that reach across the elbow until the wrist.
Get those arms to work!
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How to Draw Cartoon Arms
If you want to take a more unique approach alternative, try using "rubbery rectangles" for creating cartoon arms. This is pretty much exactly what it's called: using long, thin rectangles to depict arms. They may be straight, slightly curving, or bent at angles (just as a normal arm bends at the elbow). For more dimension, you could even sketch them in 3-dimensional cylinders instead of rectangular rectangles that are flat.
You could also employ traditional cartooning techniques to base your arms around correctly proportioned arms, however you can include some exaggerations. In this case, for instance, your cartoon arms may contain the essential components of elbows, shoulders and wrists. However, they could be wide and long or thin and broad.
However, these approaches aren't the only way to draw cartoon arms. One of the advantages of drawing cartoon arms is the ability to create your own distinctive drawing style. The end result is that your character's arms may look completely different than other cartoons there--and that's a good thing!
How to Draw Alien Arms
You can also try adding human-like elements like fins, tentacles, or claws. Include joints that extend beyond the shoulder and elbow (or joints that can bend in truly impossible directions), or draw arms that sprout from the character's head, not his body. It is possible to add more arms! There really are no limits when it comes to drawing arms for aliens, make sure to be as inventive as you like.
Arme Yourself to Create a Stronger Character The Style
If you create characters, you need to learn how to draw arms. Arms are vital to making characters seem authentic, and also for illustrating them in fun, dynamic poses. With a basic understanding of the anatomy of human arms and arms, you can create small modifications to depict woman, alien, and cartoon arms--and use those arms to provide your character with the ability to move and show personality.
Combine It All Together
Character Design: From First Idea to Final Illustration