Sketching the Human Form in Photoshop
basix

Sketching the Human Form in Photoshop

on Aug 17th 2011 with 46 comments
Tutorial Details
  • Program: Adobe Photoshop
  • Difficulty: Beginner
  • Estimated Completion Time: 18 Minutes

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

This entry is part 5 of 25 in the Digital Art for Beginners Session
« PreviousNext »

Photoshop is an excellent tool for manipulating photographs but it can also be used as a means to create stunning digital art. This tutorial is part of a 25-part video tutorial series demonstrating everything you will need to know to start producing digital art in Photoshop. Digital Art for Beginners, by Adobe Certified Expert and Instructor, Martin Perhiniak will begin by teaching you how to draw in Photoshop. At the conclusion of this series you will know all you need to produce your own concept art and matte paintings in Photoshop.

NSFW: Please note that this video tutorial contains nude images of the human body. It may not be suitable for all work settings.

Today’s tutorial Part 5: Sketching the Human Form in Photoshop will demonstrate how to create your sketches digitally in Photoshop with a focus on how to draw the human form (with or without a reference). We will also point out some resources that you can use to help you out along the way. Let’s get started! Editor’s note: This tutorial includes some nudity meant to help you draw human forms.

 
Enjoyed this Post?

Subscribe to our RSS Feed, Follow us on Twitter or simply recommend us to friends and colleagues!

By

Rollover to read this author's bio or click through to see a full list of posts by this author.

Martin is a Hungarian graphic designer, digital artist and an Adobe Certified Expert and Instructor (Design Master). He is currently teaching and working in London but usually travels around the UK and share his love for Adobe products and graphic design. You can follow him on his blog or on Twitter.  

Plus Premium
 
 
  • Trevor

    Very good as usual Martin, Thanks very much

  • http://www.themescompany.com Themescompany

    we find this post really creative for this reason we tweet it..keep going.!!

  • http://bodyfitworldwide.com John

    Simply amazing and inspirational, too! I have wanted to learn how to get started on this path for years. My gratitude goes to everyone that made this happen. Please keep developing this track of tutorials/resources.

  • Alin

    Martin, thank you alot for your tutorial. This really motivated me purchasing a tablet and start drawing with photoshop. So far i used just the pencil, but now i am confident about the fact that, if i start drawing in photoshop, there is somebody who can help me. And that is you. Thank you alot this one probably captured my attention more than any others you made before. Thank you sir!
    P.S. Sorry for my bad english, i am Romanian, so we are country neibours :D

  • zen8

    Awesome !! thanks a lot Martin !!
    You make the best tutarials keep em coming

  • http://www.rezidenca-celigo.com Andrea

    I love your tuts!

  • http://www.pixel77.com/ Doink

    You can also draw the joints over the image, then you won’t have any problems overlapping the drawing repeatedly. Using a table dummy is even more effective. Also I noticed in the first nude you corrected the pose to be more precise, like in the picture. The first one was good too, exaggerating the pose a bit will make it more dynamic.

    Overall, thanks for taking the time to do this, I found it useful! :D

    • http://www.yesimadesigner.com Martin Perhiniak
      Author

      Hi Doink,

      Thanks a lot for your useful comment. I completely agree with you on exaggerating the pose will make it more dynamic. I think first everyone should learn to follow the real proportions and later on trying to exaggerate it once they are more accustomed to drawing the human form.

      Table dummies are great, or even better: a girlfriend :)

      Cheers

  • Rene

    How you make the PSD Tut Plus Watermark ??

    • http://www.yesimadesigner.com Martin Perhiniak
      Author

      Hi Rene,

      In the first part of the Digital Art series I talk about how to make custom panels for Photoshop. Check that tutorial out and you will see how I did it.

      Cheers

  • dj

    Martin… You know that there is only one other “Screencaster” on the whole Envato network who comes even close to the quality of tutorials you make seem so “effortless.” (And we almost never see him any more) It is obvious to anyone who has done educational video production how much planning, preparation, rehearsal and technical setup you put into each “episode” before you even hit “record.” You have proven that you have developed graphic art/photoshop skills to the “instructor” level; but, you also have developed significant instructional-video production skills as well. WELL done! And to think that we have twenty more in this series to look forward to!

    • http://www.yesimadesigner.com Martin Perhiniak
      Author

      Hi dj,

      Thanks a lot for your comment, I really appreciate it!

      • http://www.youtube.com/user/ghap4a?feature=mhee Judy

        Hi Martin, do you have any tutorial about perspective? If you have done one please let me know, I will look for it.

        Thanks in advance ;D

  • flyingfox

    Nice one.

    For sketching i prefer Autodesk Sketchbook Pro. It is much more intuitive and you have a real smooth workflow without a keyboard. This is great for sketching on tablets.

    For the detail work and finishing i go back to Photoshop, of course.

  • Goofenhoff

    OR instead of the trial and error of dragging the sketch back and forth over the source image, you could just lightly TRACE your source outline and save like 20 minutes of back and forth nonsense! :) Well explained though.

    • http://www.yesimadesigner.com Martin Perhiniak
      Author

      Hi Goofenhoff,

      Thanks for your comment. Tracing is obviously a great way to quickly capture the proportions and movement and definitely the fastest way too. The reason why I prefer to use the side by side sketching is the fact that it helps you to develop an eye for proportions. I highly recommend this for everyone who wants to improve their drawing skills. I’m not against tracing at all but I think it is less helpful if you want to improve yourself.

      I’m glad you liked the tutorial :)
      Cheers

  • stralle92

    Is anyone struggling to find reference photos with clean backgrounds like these? I searched Pinterest and Behance and found just a few. Its also hard to find anatomy photos with similar poses. Any help :D ?

    • vvalentine

      stralle92, this guy has the best reference photos I’ve ever found, he’s my favorite. He also has a lot of dynamic poses, those are hard to find. Enjoy!
      http://mjranum-stock.deviantart.com/

  • http://www.plonki.com cheatenator

    Great tutorial. Thanks!

  • it0

    Hi Martin! thanks for the tutorial, it’s great.

    Unfortunately I have a problem when I crop the image to create the space for the sketching, it’s croping all the layers and I don’t know how to resolve it. Can you give me a hand? thanks a lot

  • Slystylish

    I’m really enjoying this tutorial set. You’ve done a great job!

    Will you be going into digital painting and air-brushing?

    Thanks!

  • it0

    Hi again :) Nevermind, i got it…Thanks a lot

  • http://design.creffart.com zsolt

    Love to learn to draw like you, but it needs a lot of practice and time….
    Are you using mouse for drawing?

  • http://www.creativesparkmedia.co.uk Gary knight

    This tutorial is incredible! I have always preferred the natural sketch effect as illustrations so have done things by hand then scanned them in. This gives me a new option that looks original and also stops the original drawing getting tatty or fading over time. Brilliant stuff. Keep it coming!

  • Judy

    Since the first time I watched your tutorial I can’t never wait for the next one. I just love them!!!! :)

  • Alex Kent

    Martin youve helped me so much with these basix tutorials and im happy for that. Im planning on getting a Tablet….which on would you suggest?

  • saurabh

    martin yoour tuts are awesome great i watched the whole basix series and learnt a lot
    can you please tell me hoe you make the watermark of psd tuts +
    a video will be much appreciated

    tnx

  • Adrian

    man, your 15 minutes video has inspired me more than what my lecturer gave me in one year (honestly). I’d love to search some more of your tuts!

  • http://twitter.com/drale2k Drazen Mokic

    Highest Tutorial Quality of all tutorials, thanks.

  • http://sarcjohn.yolasite.com johnsarc

    Your teaching is very interested and very usefull to me

  • Thedude

    Hey! I just have a little questien: Is it a must to have a tablet for drawing things in photoshop or can you just use a normal mouse? I dont have a tablet and i dont know if it would be worth buying one. (i am only 13 years old so i am not using photoshop that much, i just think it is very interesting)

  • http://graphic-plus.zxq.net/index.php Mohammed

    Thank you for this tutorial, this is what i am looking for, i have a difficulty in sketching the anotomy of humain body, and with this tutorial i got the hole idea how i fix and learn to improve my ketching skills, unfortunatly i dont have much time too practice.
    thank you for this gift
    sorry for my bad english, i was in a hurry :)

  • mafer fresh

    Very nice, but I still prefer to hand-draw and go digital later, is something about feeling “free” that I like.

  • Fabio

    Very useful! Thanks Martin!

  • http://www.designoris.com Ori Shilo

    Thank you for great demonstration

  • mariam

    hello …
    Thanks 4 this video …. vry Good really
    but i want ask about how i can setting the brush 2 be able drawing like pencil…. (the effect i meaning )

  • Daniel Katranov

    Dear Martin Perhiniak,

    Could you please tell me, where do you get these photos from?
    Please send your reply on my email.
    :)

  • Asad

    It is even harder drawing lines on a laptop :/ can you help me with it ?

  • http://comicfuse.com Adam J

    This tutorial needs to be labeled NSFW! Thanks for the tutorial but I don’t feel the Envato network should have inappropriate images/videos posted to their site because a lot of people do browse this site while at work or in a proper public setting.

    • David

      You are an Artist! There is no such thing as NSFW for an artist!

  • http://www.facebook/com Nico

    Hi Martins!

    What the brush u use

    i was try to do like u and my brush not suport

    please answer

    Thanks

  • http://twitter.com/ThomassinDaniel Daniel Thomassin

    Merci beaucoup!

  • nahid saleem

    sir. why use porn pictures. I was seeing this with my students. DAMM!

  • Ramon Blanquer

    Thanks!

  • erakos

    great tutorial series