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Drawing the Aged and Overweight

When drawing an overweight person, remember that fat is not evenly distributed throughout the body. Men generally carry it around the middle, below the chin, and in the buttocks. Women tend to carry it in their breasts, chin, stomach, thighs, and pelvis, however the areas that are most exaggerated are the width of the hips and buttocks. For both men and women, folds develop around the joints, and facial features swell, particularly in the cheeks and chin. Fat can easily add 5-10 inches in girth to an overweight person

Drawing the Aged

Depending on the age of the person, the following characteristics are common:

  • Forehead appears larger as a result of hair loss.
  • Additional skin build-up under the eyes (¨bags¨)
  • Creases form at the corner of the eyes (¨crowsfeet¨)
  • Bones appear closer to the surface because skin has lost some elasticity.
  • Less muscle mass is apparent
  • Nose and ears can be disproportionately large since they are the only body parts that do not stop growing.

Below is a drawing of an aged person who is somewhat overweight. 

Note: You cannot accurately depict the aging process by simply drawing lines on the face of a person. You must work with a combination of lines, shading and blending to depict texture and other qualities of the skin. To draw the aged, follow the steps outlined below.

Step 1: Lightly block in the general outline of the head.

Step 2: Draw the facial guidelines to assist you in lining up the eyes, nose and mouth.

Step 3: Establish a preliminary map of wrinkles and skin folds with faintly drawn curved lines.

Step 4: Shade with a combination of hatching and cross-hatching to create effect of depth within the folds of the skin and to render the lighter and darker tones surrounding wrinkles.

Step 5: Emphasize important facial features such as the jaw and cheek bones with bold lines.
 



Other pages of interest

Drawing the aged and overweight
Drawing babies, infants and adolescents
Drawing portraits
Portrait drawing 2
Facial features

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