How to Draw Superman

The first thing I do when I start drawing any figure is draw a plumb line. It's just a straight line to help keep me from slanting the image as I go along. I'm using a non-photo blue pencil to reduce pencil lines in the final black and white scan, but mostly it's just a nod to my old animation idols.

Since a straight on schematic type drawing isn't very interesting or dynamic, I'm adding a few perspective lines so Superman won't end up facing straight forward.

 

I now start blocking in the basic figure using heads for measurement, so the proportions will look right. I plan to do a little twist in the torso with the right shoulder and right hip drawing toward each other. Hopefully this will help give the appearance of movement in flight to the body.

 

Next I start laying in the basic muscle groups mainly using circles, and then use that as a guide as I darken in the final muscular structures. You may notice that I've decided to make his arms and legs go off the page. This is because I suck at drawing hands and feet, so I'm not gonna'. If you use this avoidance method make sure the drawing goes off the page on at least 3 sides.

  

 I'm still just adding circles to lay in the muscle structure for the legs. I decided to raise the right knee to give it more of a flying pose. Sadly I didn't quite nail it, and it looks like a chubby babies leg. Since 75% of comic book drawing is foreshortening it's really important that I get this right, so I'm starting over.

 

Okay, this foreshortening solution seems to be working a little better. I added a few more details like the cape and the "S" emblem on the chest. For a great tutorial on drawing Superman's emblem check out this site. I also added in the cape and started drawing the head.  The Head's not what I want. It's too big for one thing, and doesn't really look like superman. Maybe I'll try having him look up and to the side more, so he can see where he's flying.

 

Alright, that's a little better. It still doesn't quite look like superman and it won't win me any awards, but it will work for the purposes of this tutorial. After looking over the blue-lines, I think it's about time to start inking.

  

I'm using a #0 squirrel hair brush and Higgins Black Magic ink.

  

I'm just tracing over the blue lines taking advantage of the line variation in line weight that the ink brush method provides.

 

I'm going from the top to the bottom, so my hand doesn't accidentally brush over wet ink and smear the drawing.

I've finished inking the main body and now I let it dry for a few minutes before moving on to inking the cape.

 I look over the drawing to make sure there aren't any major problems. It looks okay, so now I use a scanner to scan it into the computer.

 

I use the black and white setting on the scanner which gets rid of most of the blue lines. I then pull that drawing into photoshop and add two more layers. I call these layers "Flats" and "Shading". I'll use the shading layer for both my highlights and my shadows. I set the layer with the Inked artwork to a 'multiply' transparency and lock it.

 

I start with the flats layer and, using the paintbrush, I lay in flat areas of color. It all goes in underneath the drawing layer because on multiply the white background won't show up.

 

With the flats laid in, I add the highlights and shadows to give it some depth... And Superman is done!

Now that you've got a nifty Superman drawing, you can draw a city scene in the background for our hero to be flying over and maybe add the Superman logo in the background for good measure.

Posted by Jonathan D Lisonbee