How to draw a man figure

Drawing the man figure and designing menswear can appear challenging at first sight, but once you master the step-by-step technique in this tutorial it will be nothing but fun. You will learn how to draw the basic runway pose (similar to the female runway pose) and how to represent the proportions of the male figure. It’s time to get creative!

Time, Tools and Difficulty:

Time to complete the tutorial: 10 min
Tools you’ll need: drawing paper, a pencil, and an eraser
Difficulty level: 8/10

How to draw a man model in 9 steps:

Step 1: Figure dimensions


Start your fashion sketch my marking how large the figure will be. Leave a little bit from the top and a little bit the bottom of the sheet then pull the Centerline.
Slightly higher than the actual middle of the Centerline is the figure halfway. The head and torso will be drawn above this line while the legs will occupy the lower half.

how to draw man figure in fashion sketches step_01

Step 2: Head and torso guidelines

Divide the upper half of the figure into four equal parts. The head of the model takes up almost the whole uppermost 1/4. Leave a little bit from the 1st and a little bit from the 2nd part for the neck of the figure.
Leave 1 head from the ground up for the feet of the model.

how to draw man figure in fashion sketches step_02

Step 3:Draw the shoulders

Draw an ellipse for the head and then draw the neck in between the dashed lines. Sketch the shoulders, which for a man figure are at least 3 times the width of the head. Notice the relief of the shoulders- there is a slight bulge close to the neck.

The neck of male figures should be drawn shorter and wider compared to the female models.

how to draw man figure in fashion sketches step_03

Step 4: Draw the torso

The uppermost 1/3 of the torso should be drawn narrowing down from the shoulders to the second section. The width of the second section is slightly larger than the width of the head. It consists of two vertical lines. The third section is about the same size as the second one and represents the hips. Since it’s a walking runway pose one of the legs is in front of the other. The side with the front leg is slightly angled as shown in the example. See the “How to draw walking pose” tutorial for more details.

how to draw man figure in fashion sketches step_04

Step 5: Draw the arms and legs lines

Divide the torso’s uppermost side in three and pull the arms centerlines. They are ending at the figure hips section with ellipses marking the size of the hands. Make sure the hands are not too small. To find the right place for the elbows just imagine the middle of the torso (the dashed line).
Draw a straight line for the left leg and an ellipse for the foot. Find the middle of the A-B segment and draw a circle slightly higher to mark the knee of the right leg. Notice the placement of the right foot – close to the Centerline and higher than the left foot.

how to draw man figure in fashion sketches step_05

Step 6: Filling the body skeleton

The arms and legs of the male figure are significantly wider than those of the female models. Start building them around the guidelines marked in the previous step and don’t worry about realism at this stage. Just simple tubes.

how to draw man figure in fashion sketches step_06

Step 7: Add some relief

Men figures are also more muscular than female fashion figures. Start adding muscles around the arms and the legs. Begin from the shoulder and make a slight bulge at the arm’s outside. Draw another bulge representing the biceps at the arm’s inside close to the elbow. Slightly curve the lower half of the arms, the tights, and calves of the model. Notice that the inside curve of the calves is higher and more pronounced than the outside one.
Add the chests which are flat and slightly angular.

how to draw man figure in fashion sketches step_07

Step 8: Details

Erase all the unnecessary lines and start adding the fine details of the figure. Draw the collarbones, the hands, and abs as shown. The abs are starting right below the chests and are most visible above the belly button. The third pack of abs is always ending at the belly button.
Refine the knees and the feet of the model.

how to draw man figure in fashion sketches step_08

Step 9: Finishing touches

Clean up everything, add a face, toes and of course the design you have in mind. In case the figure still looks somehow feminine you might want to check out the “Differences between male and female body” tutorial.

how to draw man figure in fashion sketches step_09
How to draw a man figure for fashion design sketches step by step tutorial on drawing walking runway pose

Hopefully, this step by step tutorial showed you an easy technique of drawing men that will give you the opportunity to create innovative and stylish menswear for your fashion collections.

Did you like this tutorial? Do you want to be able to draw any pose you imagine? Then get my full course on ‘How to Draw Poses‘ and learn how to draw your own gorgeous poses!

How to draw a man figure 2 Fashion Croquis and Drawing Tutorials

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Always give attribution and a link to I Draw Fashion.


18 Comments

  1. Thx for this. am i okay to use this for a character sketch for my book? im struggling to draw a figure to start

  2. I just used your blog in my high school Fashion Design class. All the kids did great on a first sketch because we had your help. thanks.

  3. like your web-site any chance to receive children illustration steps in toddler to teens for tutorial purpose

  4. Thank you for the support! I try to keep the language simple enough so that everybody can understand the steps, even those who don’t speak English as first language.
    And I am also thankful when somebody tells me where to correct the spelling – I know I’m not writing perfectly :)

    There is a new page in the blog to submit ideas for tutorials. I will pull inspiration from there for future posts. Please feel free to submit it to https://www.idrawfashion.com/suggest-tutorial/
    Thank you!

    Love,
    Teya

  5. Just finding your site and so thankful I did. I would love to see a few posts on drawing male figures/clothing if you get a chance. And I like your accent and spelling mistakes. Americans can be so rude! Thanks.

  6. naturally like your web-site however you need to take
    a look at the spelling on several of your posts.

    A number of them are rife with spelling issues and I find it very bothersome to tell the truth however I will definitely come
    back again.

  7. [quote name=”Deer Antler Spray”]naturally like your web-site however you need to take
    a look at the spelling on several of your posts.

    A number of them are rife with spelling issues and I find it very bothersome to tell the truth however I will definitely come
    back again.[/quote]

    Thank you for the feedback. English is not my mother language and I am aware that there are probably many mistakes I am missing. Please feel free to send and email and point me where to correct the post.
    Thanks Tammy!

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