Female Body Drawing References from A Cartoonist’s Perspective
Human female body references are invaluable in character design as there are certain elements of feminine-style anatomy can be hard to capture without careful reference. There is no uniform look to what makes up a feminine body shape as body shapes vary as much as people. There is a spectrum of masculine to feminine in real life, just as there can be when creating character designs. This is important to consider while making your character design sheets.
Take, for example, these wonderfully different body types from the anime Dorohedoro, based on the manga by Q Hayashida. Noi (left) and Nikaido (right) are women whose shapes differ quite a bit.
As we can see, the range of body types of female characters in animation and comics can vary wildly. There is no lack of female body drawing references you can pull from the pages of comic books and animated series. Consider some of the following examples from anime and cartoons.
With that said, however, there are specific elements that can be used in cartooning to make a character feel more feminine. As we’ve mentioned time and again in the blog, shape language is key, especially in the art of cartooning. Applying key shape language to character design and recognizing certain shapes in female body references can be extraordinarily helpful.
The Shapes of Female Bodies
Shape language is a theory we’ve mined pretty consistently across our posts here because it helps so much in understanding character design, and can be applied to the character design process to improve the overall impression characters make.
Certain shapes in characters may carry inherent meaning or attitudes about them, sometimes to the degree where certain body shapes become tropes associated with characterization.
But, the human body is complex, even in cartoons. When working with female anatomy drawings or breaking down models into shapes, it is important to recognize the interrelation of key shapes that recur across depictions of female characters.
These shapes are not guaranteed to be present in all female character designs, but are often recurring and can be a great place to start. These are triangles, circles, and the hourglass.
Just as the torso was a major element in coding a character design as masculine, the same applies to feminine designs. The torso in this case often emphasizes the hips and waist. Traditional depictions of femininity revolve around imagery of a pinched-in waist and wider hips, even down to ancient depictions. That does not mean every female character design needs to be shaped like Nami from One Piece, but these design tropes exist and can quickly tell us something about whether a character presents as masculine or feminine. Much of it also comes down to an artist’s personal preference, so don’t be afraid to emphasize what you feel speaks feminine to you.
Of course, shape language extends far beyond the simple shapes we’ve mentioned. There are a whole host of articles we have that cover the same topics, such as drawing feet, legs, arms, hands, and mouths. Each of these features of character design has its common shape language. Plus, the variance of line weight and emphasis on curves and straight lines can add a lot to how feminine a design appears.
Further, when looking at references for drawing, we can rely on shapes to help understand the body structure. When you’re working with female body references, it doesn’t hurt to sketch them out quickly, emphasizing overlapping shapes to construct their form.
Tips for Working with Female Body References
Referencing the actual bodies of feminine figures is your best tool for learning how to draw feminine character designs. We’ll present some examples for you a bit later, but for now, consider some of these helpful tips when working with female anatomy drawing references.
- As a rule of thumb, feminine designs tend to emphasize curves more, whereas square shapes and angles tend to read as more masculine. With this in mind, feminine designs tend to benefit from looser, faster sketching to handle curving forms. Sketch with a lot of overlapping shapes.
- Gimmicks can mean a lot to a good character design, so do not hesitate to work those elements in if they help differentiate your feminine characters.
- Because the feminine form can vary so much, don’t hesitate to look outside of the types of references you normally work from. People are diverse and their bodies can vary highly. You may favor drawing certain body types, but pushing yourself to draw new ones can mean a lot to your development as an artist.
Drawing References: Female Characters
Tracking down reference photos isn’t all that difficult, but getting started can sometimes be tough. Many stock sites exist and are within the reach of a simple search, resulting in a lot of resources for things like body drawing references. Sites like Unsplash and Pexels have a great array of royalty-free images from which to work.
Sites like Reddit, Pinterest, and DeviantArt are also great sources for female anatomical reference work. Just be careful not to redistribute them without permission. Further, be sure to credit images that you heavily reference. It is the right thing to do.
A recurring tool we’ve mentioned in a few posts is POSEMANIACS, a site that provides 3D models depicting the muscle anatomy of different body types in various poses. The emphasis here is on muscle structure and it is a recurring tool we reference for that very reason.
Build Your Own Darn Library
One of the most essential elements of female drawing references is to collect your own. You know what you need, and sometimes it isn’t as easy to find that material on the internet. Thankfully, there is a lot of media out there you can reference and screenshots are easy to collect on a hard drive. Whether it is live-action references based on actresses, CGI, or traditional animation, there is a ton of material you can gather yourself for your purposes.
You can get many references from image galleries and websites that collect such material, but you unlock a lot more potential by creating a library of your own. Next time you are watching a favorite series and something catches your eye, take a screenshot and throw it in your references folder. You never know when it may be helpful.
CharacterHub - Even More Drawing References
CharacterHub is an active community of character designers and storytellers who share their work, and you can pick up a lot of fun techniques and tips by checking out what is posted on the site. You’re bound to find some fantastic character designs to reference, such as different, awesome hairstyles for OCs.
If you have not registered for CharacterHub, you really should. You can take advantage of interesting social features, participate in events, and build detailed character profiles that can track the growth of your character.
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David Davis
David Davis is a cartoonist with around twenty years of experience in comics, including independent work and established IPs such as SpongeBob Squarepants. He also works as a college composition instructor and records weekly podcasts. Find out more about him at his website!
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