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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Happy drawing!
I Draw Fashion
Hello,
The templates can not be used in books for sale. You are allowed to use them only in personal projects.
For artwork with commercial rights, please email me.
Teya
E
Thx for this. am i okay to use this for a character sketch for my book? im struggling to draw a figure to start
Précieux Chase
I just sketched my first-ever design in Men’s fashion… look: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1362613480482588&set=pcb.1362627443814525&type=3&theater. Thank you so much! God bless you!
I Draw Fashion
Oh, thank you for sharing that, Kim :)
It makes me feel so happy to know my work helps young talents.
I wish you all the best!
Love,
Teya
Kim
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.
chand alam
i like it,
dev
like your web-site any chance to receive children illustration steps in toddler to teens for tutorial purpose
chakravarthy
Thanq sir
rashmi
Sir can you also teach child model design sketch?
Heather
Thank-you for teaching this.
koalaintransit
Thank you very much for the tutorial! It’s so helpful!
I Draw Fashion
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
Manik Gonzalez
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.
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.
Horny Goat Weed
Wow, this article is fastidious, my younger sister is analyzing these things, so I am going to tell her.
I Draw Fashion
[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!
Tamy
Wow! This is so helpful! :-*
griffin