1. Gesture

Gesture describes movement

1. Curves go from hip to knee to ankle to toes. It’s not about the contour, but how the legs flow.

2. It's about the connection between parts, what’s the leg doing here.

3. Art is idea, drawing is like language, before making anything fancy, make it clear what you’re trying to tell

2. Structure

Simplify the forms

1. Thigh = Thicc cylinder, lower leg = longer cylinder, knee = a box, foot = box with an arch

2. Use center line to clarify which sides we are looking at

3. Draw across forms for volume

3. Color

1. Define the shadow areas based on the form

2. Smooth transition of color when the surface is gradually turning away from the light source

3. Shaper edges for corners

Knee: the left and front sides don't receive as much light so it’s darker.

Lower leg: round calf + sharp prominent shinbone.

Ankle: small ball

4. You can use multiply layers for shadow, screen or overlay for light and for highlight, I usually use add(glow) or just normal layers.

5. This is the brush I use for painting. You can mix color while painting.

6. I prefer a more vibrant touch so I usually don't reduce the value too much, but instead, I make the flesh color more reddish

Summary

This 3-step approach to drawing legs can be applied to anything. Drawing good gesture and structure is most significant. I recommend Glenn Vilppu and Steve Huston on Youtube. For anatomy, Proko did a wonderful job at providing both 3d models and sketches on all necessary body parts for art study. Try to keep the principles in mind while practicing and I’ll see you next time, bye bye