Tips for the inexperienced?

[Joker Zed]

So I recently got a new tablet which should be great for drawing. Would anyone be able to give some nice friendly tips on drawing people? Typically I end up having a proportion problem, typically head and body. Though when I start sketching it looks good in size, then when I start to finish and put the solid lines in, it looks like the head is too small for the body.

That or I am just being too hard on myself... But either, anyone got tips and such they might care to share?

[SailorVera]

A couple of things I use to help measure out the body is that the arm span is roughly as long as the body is tall and the shoulder frame is as wide as the femur (thigh bone) is long. Measuring against those as you go helps keep the body from look too stretched or too short.

That aside, figure and gesture drawing in 30second to 5 minute intervals will help immensely with getting familiar with the basic lines that create form Maybe spend 5 minutes doing 30 second warm ups that will be very quick and basic and then move into 15 minutes with 1 minute drawings and then finally skip into a full 5 minute figure. That's a warm up. When you've loosened up a bit take a figure (one with classical lightning on it, I'd suggest) and do a 20-30 minute drawing of it.

It will help a lot, even with the head issue.

[Joker Zed]

Thanks

[Itchy the Hatter]

There's some anatomy books listed in my profile, they should be able to help you.

[GlitchyMochi]

Joker_Z

So I recently got a new tablet which should be great for drawing. Would anyone be able to give some nice friendly tips on drawing people? Typically I end up having a proportion problem, typically head and body. Though when I start sketching it looks good in size, then when I start to finish and put the solid lines in, it looks like the head is too small for the body.

That or I am just being too hard on myself... But either, anyone got tips and such they might care to share?

Make sure you zoom out often so that you cn look at your picture as a whole. If you stay zoomed in too long it's easy to distort something and think it looks fine, but then you zoom out and suddenly it looks terrible. I tilt my head back and forth a lot when I draw, even on the computer. It's a little easier than rotating the entire image and it helps me see where I may have goofed my proportions.

[RapGameSentry]

Joker_Z

So I recently got a new tablet which should be great for drawing. Would anyone be able to give some nice friendly tips on drawing people? Typically I end up having a proportion problem, typically head and body. Though when I start sketching it looks good in size, then when I start to finish and put the solid lines in, it looks like the head is too small for the body.

That or I am just being too hard on myself... But either, anyone got tips and such they might care to share?

don't forget perspective...or everything looks wrong...

and this how to poses

[Serethielle]

and not related to drawing people, but try putting a piece of paper (printer, sketch, whatever you usually draw on) on the active area. It'll protect it from scratches and it'll make drawing feel less slippery and more natural.

related: I usually do a sketch and map out landmark features on a bottom layer, then use the layer as guidelines by turning down the opacity. sometimes I use my hands and fingers to measure out proportions and make sure it looks okay.
Shoulders are usually two heads in width, and I find that once I get that down the rest can be easy to eyeball.