Hello everyone and welcome to my tutorial where we'll discuss the differences between people of different ages. Drawing characters from different generations can be tricky but once you learn the basics it becomes a lot simpler. We'll discuss 4 different stages of life: Infancy, childhood, Adulthood and Elderly. My primary focus will be anatomy and I'll provide studies for each part. Enjoy!

 

Infancy👽

When curled up, the average newborn is slightly taller than two lengths of its head. Babies' arms and legs are so short that their elbows and knees barely touch and because of their fat, they have folds all over. It's also worth noting that there is no noticeable difference between genders in babies so if you want you can use accessories and colors to indicate it.

Compared to adults, babies have large foreheads. Their brows start at the middle of their face. Due to their large drooping cheeks, babies' faces are shaped like pears. And because the nasal bones have not yet developed, they have noses with flat bridges that curl upwards. As time passes, the nose develops its distinct shape. Some other distinctive features include small ears, lack of hair and a slight bulge at the back of the head.

 

When divided into four equal parts

The second line is where the hairline starts

The third line is where brows are

In the middle of the third part are eyes

The fourth line stops at the end of the nose

And in the middle of the fourth and fifth line is lips

Babies' eyes are further apart than an adults. The distance between the eyes is slightly larger than one eye size. The eyes are large, with large irises. Fewer hairs cover the brows.

Babies have big lips. Using circles helps shape the lip easily. Because the lip curves forward, it's important to apply more shadows on the sides of the circles.

You can see here as well the shadows on the circles make the lip appear more forward and large.

As the baby grows the eyes and brows move upwards, the iris stays small in relation to the eye and the space between the eyes shrinks.

Babies have short, thick fingers with noticeable bumps. Using cylindrical shapes will help us draw the fingers easily.

A one-year-old baby is four times the length of its head, and a four-year-old is five times the length of its head. Babies have a lot of fat, therefore their skin has a lot of folds, and regions like the neck, ankles, and wrists are almost non-existent.

When the body is divided into four equal parts where the first section is the head, the second part starts with the neck and ends with the belly and wrists. The third part ends with knees and the fourth part includes the lower leg.

To conclude here are some studies I made. When sketching out the body, use circles for the head and the hip. The tummy sticks out and the back is arched.

Childhood 👧 🧒

When children grow up most of the facial features like eyes, brows and lips move upwards.

In children, there is little difference between the genders; girls have a smaller chin and a wider forehead.

Hair is an important factor in distinguishing the genders.

Children's fingers develop longer and thinner as they age. The fingers are still short in comparison to an adult's.

The length of a typical ten-year-old is six times that of its head. Girls enter puberty earlier than boys do, thus they will grow more than boys do in the early years of childhood. Later in adulthood, men are around 13 cm taller than women.

Girls have more of a curved waist whilst boys have broader shoulders. It's important to note the changes are still minor and exaggerations of them may make the character appear more older than intended.

Drawing greatly benefits from understanding the body's proportions. When drawing children, keep the legs three heads tall and the torso two heads tall.

Adulthood 👩 🧑

Children develop clear, distinctive qualities as they become older and become adults. The eyes have now moved up to the center of the face and the iris remains small compared to the eye. The lips and nose are more defined and there is only an eye-sized distance between the eyes.

Gender differences are now more obvious. Female chins are more rounded and pointed. The brows are more curved and far apart. Women also have longer eyelashes and fuller, darker lips.

Males have a more square-shaped jaw and chin. The brows are more falt and full.

The height of the longest finger is equal to the height of the palm. Finger joints usually follow concentric circles.

Women typically stand 7 to 8 heads tall. The waist curves inward. The neck and shoulders are both narrow.

Always start with a general idea of where everything should begin. Add details at the very end.

Men usually are 8 to 9 heads tall. The neck and shoulders are broad. The torso is 3 heads tall and the legs are little more than 4 heads tall.

For a seven head tall person, keep the torso two heads tall and the lower body four heads tall. When increasing the height increase the height of the torso and legs.

Elderly👵👴

Human skin naturally becomes less elastic and more delicate as it ages. The fat that it previously had gradually disappears, leaving it loose and droopy. The thin layer of skin makes the shape of the skull more visible so understanding it will make it easier to determine the creases and folds.

Lost fat results in sunken cheeks causing cheekbones to stand out. Facial features get exaggerated ears and nose appear bigger. Eyebags are now more prominent.

A person seems older due to their wrinkles and facial structure. Forehead furrows, lip furrows, nose and burrow furrows are important creases to pay attention to. The laugh line, which creates a wrinkle on the cheek, is the most noticeable one of all. Weak muscles on the eyelid cause it to drop making the eyes look smaller than they are.

With age, most people experience hair loss and men are more likely to have it. With the loss of melanin on hair follicles, the hair also starts turning white.

Old people have a lot of wrinkles and marks on their hands. When drawing hands focus on drawing scratches all over. Elderly have big hands with thick fingers.

Let's talk a bit about wrinkles

1. Texture is very important, use a brush with grains and stroke the surface in a parallel way.

2. Decide where the creases will be and use a darker color to draw them.

3. Use a mid-tone to blend it in.

4. Highlight the gaps between the shadows with a bright color.

5. Most of the texture was lost in the process so use the textured brush to add it back in.

After the age of 40, the average person loses 1 centimeter every 10 years. With age, old people also develop humpbacks.

When drawing the elderly it's important to draw wrinkles all over the body. Especially the neck area will have a lot of vertical lines of wrinkles. Caused by the humpback, the back starts at a higher point making the neck look shorter.

The differences between the male and female bodies are still the same but the changes are now more subtle. The torso loses its curve making it look more square.

Here is an elderly couple. You can see that most of the curves from adulthood are gone and the neck is much shorter and less visible.

Thank You!

Once you keep in mind some basic knowledge it's easy to draw people from different generations. So I hope I was able to provide you with that info. Thank you for reading and take care!