21-Draw-Illustrators-Guidebook-vol-2-ebook-(2021)

SIMPLIFIED SKELETON TECHNIQUE
I start by analyzing the reference to make sure I
understand the direction certain body parts are
pointing. Next I paint a very rough silhouette
using a bold brush in dark grey to capture the
basic pose and shape. Don’t worry if the pose
isn’t right the first time—you can easily adjust
the silhouette shape by erasing parts or using the
Liquify filter.
1. Photo reference
LINE OF
ACTION
2. Silhouette 3. Simple skeleton 4. Clean up
Once I’m happy with the silhouette, I reduce
the opacity and create a new layer on top
of it. I use a red pencil to draw a simplified
skeleton for the different body parts using
cylindrical shapes. The red lines stand out
well over the grey background. This first
draft of the body shapes can be very simple.
For the next step, I create a new layer above
the red—here I usually change to a bluecolored
pencil that will stand out from the
red. I turn off the silhouette layer and reduce
the opacity of the red sketch underneath my
new layer. Using the blue pencil I draw with
more precise shapes to clean up the lines of
my drawing.
For the final outline step, I reduce the
opacity of blue lines, create another new
layer for drawing my final outlines in
black. At this point I go ahead and add all
the details needed. You can also see this
technique used during development of my
character for this lesson on the next page.
58 21DRAW