How to draw a torso

If you are struggling with drawing the torso, I am willing to bet big on the fact that your torso drawings will improve as soon as you are done with this illustrated guide!

Welcome to this drawing tutorial! Make sure to grab the free worksheets below and take time to practice. Drawing is a skill that requires hands-on practice so make sure you spend more time making art than consuming tutorials. There are two major steps to understanding the torso. The first step is made up of two boxes for the ribcage and hips.

How to draw a torso

Now, I know most artists may say the back view is harder but I would argue that it only appears that way, from lack of exposure. Considering that characters need to face the viewer more often, the front of the torso is more important to understand as a comic artist. The torso is a difficult task to break down because of the many puzzle pieces aka muscle groups that have to be wedged together in order to construct a cohesive whole. Just like the hands, the torso can contort and bend in various ways that can make the process of learning even more toilsome. But as always, fear not because this tutorial aims to make this process of learning a painless one and hopefully even an enjoyable one. For every task that is arduous, it is equally as rewarding when milestones of understanding have been reached. As always, the skeleton informs the foundation of all anatomy. For the torso, which is the biggest mass of the body, there are three main skeletal structures to remember. First, the rib cage and collarbone, which I group together as the chest bones. Second is the pelvis and the last is the spine, which connects the chest bones and the pelvis together. The spine is arguably the most important and is drawn in an S curve somewhat resembling a question mark. You can draw these forms with simple shapes like cylinders and ovals but I think the most simplified forms are tilted cubes.

Also note, there are three muscles on the diagram above that are covered in previous posts, so I do not go over them here. Just in case you are wondering about how to draw the arms, see my tutorial here.

This area can be tricky but hopefully by the end of these lessons you will be on your way to drawing the torso or trunk of the body like a pro! Take the time to gain a basic understanding of the regions of the spine. Notice that the Thoracic bends towards the upper back and the Lumbar and Cervical areas bends toward the front of the body. This can be very helpful when drawing the torso in a way that looks natural and organic. Notice in the illustration that we will be drawing the spine as a long cylindrical tube.

If you are struggling with drawing the torso, I am willing to bet big on the fact that your torso drawings will improve as soon as you are done with this illustrated guide! This is because I also strangled with it, and below I provide exactly the steps I took to improve. To draw the human torso, understand the shape of the torso, and learn the major muscle groups, their origin and insertion points, then practice as much as possible from reference to reinforce what you learned. In this tutorial on drawing the torso then, we will do just that, we will first look at the overall shape of the torso, we will then look at the bones and muscles that comprise it, and finally, we will discuss best ways to practice learning to draw. The shape of the torso is always simplified in artistic instructions. You can view the simplified version as boxes, or spheres, or a bean, or a box and a ball. It is a long list of various shape simplifications. However, simplifying helps get the base elements right, and then the shape can be corrected and built up to your liking. Another benefit of simplifying a complex shape, is that you can chose whatever building blocks you like that work for you. For now, I like simplifying with the drawing of the torso with boxy shapes.

How to draw a torso

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And number two, the abdominal center line is not flat and needs to contour with the bumps of the muscle. To be notified, click here to join my newsletter — you will get lots of free stuff to learn to draw just by joining. Front delts originate at lateral third of the clavicle outer portion of it. Second is the pelvis and the last is the spine, which connects the chest bones and the pelvis together. Step 6: Add Rendering. Those are my main techniques for drawing the male and female torsos for my characters. Simple Forms There are two major steps to understanding the torso. Learn how to draw hands with this 21 page workbook that will walk you through the 4 stages of understanding how to draw hands from imagination. Learn the shape of the torso, then learn all the visible muscle groups important to it, and finally study by drawing from reference. This is because I also strangled with it, and below I provide exactly the steps I took to improve. These muscle groups have the ability to bend with the spine and twist in opposite directions. This drama may use ordinary characters so the figures will look more natural in proportion, as they have to reflect more ordinary people.

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Teres major and latissimus dorsi are covered in my back drawing tutorial here , and coracobrachialis is covered in the arms drawing tutorial here. The second version is using a much harsher light and from the same direction. Now, I know most artists may say the back view is harder but I would argue that it only appears that way, from lack of exposure. Make sure to grab the free worksheets below and take time to practice. Note that there are many more muscles underneath that we will not discuss. I recommend you find their resources and continue studying from them. You can do this with tonal value or cross hatching. Front delts originate at lateral third of the clavicle outer portion of it. I did a review video of it when I first got Read more…. The traps stretch from the back view and wrap over to the collarbone in the front view. Again, do your best to imagine the spine flowing through the forms.