When we try to draw a person, we typically confront various challenges: The proportions need to be correct, the attitude must be clear and vivid, and the face should show resemblance and be expressive. Doing this takes courage.

Yet with a little practice and training, you can quickly learn to draw figures in a wide variety of styles with just a few key characteristic strokes. Figure Drawing Methods for Artists shows both beginners and experienced artists to do just that.

The various sketching methods are divided into 12 general approaches, including:

• Shrink--quickly draw miniature figures to develop a sense for proportions and an eye for posture
• Outline--create simple, concise figures from three-dimensional entities
• Join together--consider the limbs on a figure as reduced singular shapes that are combined into many variations
• Fill in--use common geometric shapes to serve as outside shapes into which a figure is fit
• Bandage--using circular, swinging movements, wrap lines around a body to show its shape