Drawing people well only happens after practicing. Drawing figures in motion will increase your skill for drawing people quickly. Basketball players are always in motion and are great subjects to practice drawing.
In this step by step drawing demonstration, we’ll take a look at drawing basketball players. Be loose with your marks early in the drawing and slowly make your lines more deliberate. You may choose to finish your drawing with ink or color.
For more on drawing people, be sure to visit the how to draw people page.
Step 1
Begin your drawing by drawing a diagonal line for where your figure will be. This will ensure that you fit the entire figure on the paper and that you will get the relative proportions correct. It’s okay for this line to bend a bit. If your figure bends, then your line should too. Also draw a diagonal line for the shoulders and a diagonal line for the waist.
Step 2
Next, draw a stick figure to represent the position that your basketball player is in. Draw these lines lightly, since we will be drawing over them in later steps. You can draw a couple of simple shapes for the head, hands, and feet.
Step 3
Now you can thicken up the stick figure drawing that you drew in the last stage by drawing shapes over the lines. You can also add the basketball shape. I went ahead and drew a line for where the eyes, nose, and mouth would be so that when I’m ready to add them, I know where to draw them.
Step 4
In this stage of the drawing, you can begin to add some of the details. I added the facial features and an outline for the hair. You can also draw lines for the fingers and begin to define some of the clothing.
Step 5
Now you have enough information to finish the drawing of the basketball player. You may choose to draw over your loose lines with ink to make the drawing have more contrast. Be sure to draw with a variety of lines to make your drawing more realistic. You may want to color in some areas to create some contrast and add some shadows to make the drawing look more life-like.
