What a drawing base is, the proportions to use, and a 6-step way to build your own body base from a real pose photo instead of tracing someone else's.
A drawing base is a simple mannequin of the body, drawn before any detail: a head, a rib cage, a pelvis and plain cylinders for the limbs. Artists use a body base to fix the pose and proportions first, then draw the character on top. We recommend building your own base from a real pose photo.
A drawing base is a construction layer: simple forms that set the pose before any detail goes on. Tracing is copying an image by drawing over its lines, usually through a transparent overlay. Building a base from a photo means reading the pose and redrawing it as simple forms, so the result is a new drawing of your own.
Wikipedia's entry on tracing ) says tracing can help a person learn anatomy and that many art circles frown on it.
Make a body base 7.5 to 8 heads tall. An average person is about 7.5 heads tall including the head, and Classical Greek and Renaissance artists set the figure at 8. The halfway point sits at the hips, just above the pubic arch. Legs run 3.5 to 4 heads long and arms about 3.
Those figures come from Wikipedia's body proportions article . Our body proportions guide maps every head unit.
Draw a body base from a pose photo in six steps: pick a clear full-body photo, draw the line of action, place the head, rib cage and pelvis, add the limbs as cylinders, mark the joints, hands and feet, then hide the photo and redraw the base from memory. Work beside the photo, never on top of it.
Pick a full-body pose photo where you can see both feet. The free pose tool gives you one in a click.
Draw one curve from the head to the weight-bearing foot. Our line of action guide covers this stroke.
Place an egg for the head, a box for the rib cage and a box for the pelvis. Tilt each one as the photo does.
Add cylinders for the upper and lower arms and legs, and check their lengths in head units.
Mark shoulders, elbows, knees and ankles, and block the hands and feet as wedges.
Hide the photo and redraw the base from memory, then compare the two.
Start with five poses: a neutral standing pose, a standing pose with the weight on one leg, a seated pose, a walk or run, and one action pose. Together they cover standing, sitting and moving, which is most of what a character sheet asks for.
Our guides to character poses and sitting and standing poses show what to look for in each.
Published 2026-11-12 on the Refimages blog.