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How to Draw a Girl

ByStepan Ayvazyan
Finished girl drawing with detailed facial features, clothing, and hatched shadows.

This guide is very important because here we will show the basics of drawing the female body. Here, we will show you how to draw a girl step by step.

Here, using the basics of visual art and the main principles of drawing people, we will show you how to construct a female figure, explain its basic proportions and features, and demonstrate how to convey them correctly and create volume.

How to draw a girl step by step

Step 1: Sketch the girl’s basic guidelines

In order to draw a girl correctly, you first need to outline her skeleton as the basis for the whole figure. First, sketch the girl’s head in the form of an oval tapering downward. Next, draw the spine and place the chest and pelvis along it. For the figure to look feminine, the shoulders can be visually narrow and the pelvis relatively wide. Using simple lines, draw the girl’s arms and legs, and mark the location of all the joints with small circles.

Sketching the girl’s head, torso, limbs, and joints with simple construction lines.

Step 2: Draw the torso and guidelines

In order to correctly draw the details of the girl’s face, you must first mark the lines of symmetry. These two lines should intersect in the center of the face, in the area of the bridge of the nose. Next, sketch the neck in the form of a cylinder. Using very smooth lines, draw the girl’s torso, which should taper at the waist and slightly expand at the hips.

Adding facial guidelines, neck, and tapered torso to the girl’s figure.

Step 3: Add volume to the limbs

Finish adding volume to the sketch of a girl. Sketch the girl’s arms in the form of narrow cylinders and the joints as ordinary circles. Using rough lines, sketch the hands. Next, sketch the legs with slightly modified cylinders. Please note that the legs should widen at the hips and taper toward the knees.

Building the girl’s arms and legs with simple cylindrical forms.

Step 4: Sketch the girl’s basic details

Now we need to draw the most basic details using fairly rough lines. Let’s start by sketching the girl’s face and mark the eyes. Then sketch the neat nose and plump lips using the intersecting lines from step two. Next, add the eyebrows and hair, whose shape you can change if you want. Using very smooth lines, sketch the clothes and draw the fingers.

Sketching the girl’s facial features, hair, clothes, fingers, and shoes.

Step 5: Refine the face and hair

The basis of the girl drawing is ready, and now it’s time to carefully draw the details while gradually removing unnecessary guidelines. Start with the head and refine the facial features. Draw the girl’s eyes in detail, then add the dark eyelashes and pupils. Next, trace and refine the nose and plump lips. Using long lines, draw the texture of the hair. Erase the guidelines from your sketch

Refining the girl’s face and hair with clean, darker lines.

Step 6: Draw the torso and clothes

Using very smooth lines, gently trace the contours of the torso. We drew the girl in a loose top, but you can draw any other type of clothing. Draw folds in the areas where the fabric compresses and stretches, and remove all unnecessary guidelines from the torso.

Refining the girl’s torso, clothing contours, and fabric folds.

Step 7: Refine the arms and hands

Use flowing lines to trace the arms. They should taper slightly at the elbows and wrists. Next, draw the hands, carefully outlining the fingers and marking the nails and knuckles. The arms and hands should not have excessive musculature or texture.

Drawing the girl’s arms, hands, fingers, nails, and knuckles in detail.

Step 8: Draw the legs and pants

Using very smooth lines, draw the legs and take into account all the curves we discussed above. Next, draw the feet and toes if you draw the girl in open-toed shoes. Draw the details of the pants, such as the pockets, zipper, and button. Do not forget to add some folds. Refine the feet, drawing the toes and toenails in detail. Erase all the construction lines from the girl sketch.

Refining the girl’s legs, feet, pants, pockets, zipper, and folds.

Step 9: Add shadows to the girl

In order for the girl drawing to look natural and complete, add simple shadows. First, outline the shadow areas with very light lines, then fill them with dense and uniform hatching. To make individual areas even darker, simply add another layer of hatching.

Adding shadows to the girl’s figure with dense, even hatching.

So, the tutorial about how to draw a girl is complete, but we want to give you some more important tips. To improve your skills in drawing the female body, try to draw a girl several times using our drawing guide.

Next, try to draw another girl using the knowledge you gained from this article. Try to depict a girl in different poses and from different angles in order to better understand the principles of drawing a female figure.

Three different girl drawings shown side by side with varied clothing and hairstyles.

Above, we placed the girl we drew in this tutorial next to two other female figures. As you can see, they are different, but at the same time they have a number of similarities.

The basic principles of drawing a person are about the same regardless of who we draw; the differences are mainly in the details. Try to study all these details and repeat on paper what you see before your eyes.

When you draw a human figure, it is very important to be able to draw the body and clothes. These are two important components of a complete drawing. Try to repeat the drawings below using the steps that you saw above.

Three full-body girl drawings showing different poses, clothes, and hairstyles.

And in order to learn how to draw even better, visit our other step by step guides. For example, you can draw a man or draw a person.

Stepan Ayvazyan

Professional artist, photographer and sculptor. Co-founder and co-owner of Drawing For All. Has been drawing and studying art since childhood, and is an expert in the field of fine arts. Has been teaching drawing since 2013.

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87 Comments

      1. I tried to do it but I couldn’t
        I like it and love it well. I’ll see if I can do it
        next time bye.

        Reply

        1. I tried to get this right but I couldn’t
          But I love it very much ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

          Reply

    4. So cool I am going to draw it and add an iron fist onto it for it to be a super hero princess.

      Reply

      1. Love 💕💕💕💕
        Mi💕💕💕💕💕🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰😍😍😍😍

        Reply

      1. I love art and this reminds me to believe in my self as others try to stop me form doing art!
        This is amazing!

        Reply

      4. if it look like her or him and you know why say something about i mean you are talking to your self bec your name is eww lolo YOU DID NOT EAT THAT THE COOKIE IS STILL ON YOUR PLATE😁

        Reply

      1. I tried to draw the one in skirt and ps ur drawing ae fire 🔥🔥🔥

        Reply

  12. This was very helpful! I like how you put details like the shadows. Everything is great except the face. Maybe next time you can put more effort and detail on the face. Thank you for making this! 😁

    Reply

  17. For the people who left the mean or not nice remarks: The tutorial was great. The face was great too. There are different styles of drawing. Just because it isn’t “realistic” doesn’t mean it is ugly. It could be more of a cartoon kind of picture. You wanna know something, art isn’t about perfection. That is the whole fun of it. Creating something you want. It could be abstract; it could be nice clean and realistic. So stop dissing people’s art skills because art is art, not perfection. Saying stuff like “Ewww ugly face I don’t think u r a professional” Umm, you never know what someone is going through. WHat if this person was in a dark place and that little comment pushed them over the edge? Saying stff like, “weird face i ment it is discussing” and then responding with, “then it must look like you”? It shouldn’t be that easy to ‘roast’ someone or make them feelbad. Be the person who stands of for what it right. Thank you, that’s all I wanna say. (Btw i am 14 and I know what is right. For the grown people who commented, you should know whats right too. Maybe it was just kids idk. But be nicer, spread love. You only live once.) <3

    Reply

    1. Thank you.
      In fact, it’s hard to please everyone. In this drawing lesson, we tried to make a fairly realistic girl drawing, but not make the drawing process difficult. As you can see, the physique is realistic and the shadows are moderately realistic. If in this drawing lesson we were trying to make everything too realistic, to achieve perfect shadows and details, then most of the comments under this article would say that “this is too difficult”.
      Of course, we can draw pictures that do not differ from photographs. For example, you can see our more complex illustrations in our articles on composition and light and shadow. And in the future, we will create such complex drawing lessons. But for now, we would like to create drawing lessons for those who still do not know how to draw such complex things.
      As I said above, it’s hard to please everyone. If you learn to walk on water, then a person will appear who will say that “he can’t even swim.”

      Reply

  22. This was great! I struggled with the legs, but only because I am a beginner. A++

    Reply

    1. The fingers were hard to draw and the lips and eyes and nose but great drawing!!

      Reply

  25. you help me so much! you are helper drawer for me and everyone! thanks! 😊👍❤️ and i love it!

    Reply

  26. i loooooooooooooove it I put my spin on things it was by far the best drawing I’ve ever made lol i have over lOO pesis

    Reply

  33. facts if you don’t know the person don”t talk about them that”s also for the people who made the dumb comments i don”t care what yall say that called bullying i am 25 and yall better know whats right bec this is aint the play plus half of yall cant bust a grape with football shoes on so mind your biz stay out of stuff be a kind person and leave people alone please and thank you. have a wonderfull day everyone AND STOP HATEN

    Reply

  37. actually i dont understand how to folllow mine ended up horrible. step 1 made it mess up for me.

    Reply

  40. that is mean and just because you think that doesn’t mean it’s right to say it or type it.

    Reply

  42. do one with a girl and boy but it has to be a white tallboy with curls of hair and a black girl with a ponytail

    Reply

  43. you are the best artist to me. This is a good way to start as a beginner. Mean repliers, can you do better.

    Reply

  44. i mean you didnt have to make a drawing tutorial but you did i mean thats nice too me

    Reply

  45. I think the same thing, the face is really creepy but it really helped with drawing people. Stop sending rude comments peeps.

    Reply

  48. I also love that art🤑🤑🤑😻🙂
    It can cost a lot of money,🤑🤑🤑

    Reply

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