learning to draw/sketch people

It seems to me that a painting of an urban scene must have a people or two.

just like a rural scene might need a cow/goat/sheep - some life!

the problem is they must be credible, they must be drawn and painted well - if not ... well ... lets not go there!

so how to start?

start by drawing, get lots of photos of people walking/standing and drill them down to basic shapes - geometry!

I can't tell you how many pages of people drawings I have done - page after page after page, then I do more pages and pages and pages. In other words you can't draw them too much.

think of these three basic shapes U W O 
U - turn upside down, it becomes a torso
W - legs
O - head

once you've done lots of practice getting the ratios right (length of leg to body, size of head etc) you will naturally start to loosen up, let them merge, make a crowd etc. relax your hand and let your hand/eye coordination work for you. Keep your pencil marks light, fluid, gestural and lyrical (only use sharpened "B" pencils). avoid erasing pencil marks

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