I’m working diligently on How to Draw Fantastic Humans. As with all things worth doing, it’s taking some time to get it right. Here’s how things stand right now.

I’m working diligently on How to Draw Fantastic Humans. As with all things worth doing, it’s taking some time to get it right. Here’s how things stand right now.

A collection of hand illustrations in process from simple shapes through the line illustration.

The Concept

In short, I would like to do a series of books about drawing. Specifically, I would like to create the go-to series for folks who play TTRPGs and would like to draw their own characters, or the creatures that their characters face off against.

But that’s kinda a big ask.

So I’m eating this particular elephant one bite at a time, and I’m starting with the humans. It’s the logical starting point for a number of reasons, but here are some of the big ones:

  • I’m going to give it away for free. Yup. A quality book, which takes time and effort, and I’m not going to ask anything for it. I want people to get it into their hands and get the benefit of the things I’ve learned. So… free.
  • There are a lot of ‘how to draw people’ books. They run the gamut from Amazing to Wouldn’t Use it for Kitty Litter. I want to try to shift that curve. I want to make something that people can relate to instantly while being extremely useful.
  • It’s a testing ground. I want feedback. I want to know what works for people and what doesn’t. So using a topic that is more universal seems sensible.

Balancing Thorough with Efficient

This is a tricky one for me. At times I want to put ALL THE THINGS into this. Go through everything from anatomy to architecture to diet into the book. All from a visual perspective, of course. But that’s too much and honestly, would make it into the sort of project that would never see the light of day.

So I have to pull back and keep the content to things that people will be able to use. Preferably what they can use right now, today.

And of course, I find myself thinking of that old adage from Mark Twain: “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”

Quality – not quantity.

Support

Want to help me keep the ball rolling? Well here are the things that will most definitely do that!

  • Ask me about it! (Comment below – ask whatever you would like to know!) This might be the very best way. It shows me that there’s interest in it, and keeps me motivated.
  • Share this post! This helps for much the same reasons, and it potentially gets others involved.
  • Check out my Patreon! You don’t have to pay anything for this either. You can ‘follow’ me and keep up to date (though I’ll also post here on dragonbones when I can.) Like with the others, it shows folks are interested, and while I’ll take suggestions anywhere, patron suggestions will weigh a little more.

Detailed Updates

I’ll post both at my Patreon page and here as things progress.

So far, I’ve been bouncing back and forth from the writing and editing to the drawing side of things. It’s a process that works for me and my ADHD brain.

Depending on which version you’re looking at, I’m currently at about 15-20 pages of almost entirely text, and I have a number of pages of illustrations. Those two will get cut up and commingled, but I think we’re looking at 20-25 pages so far, and it’s likely to get significantly larger before I edit it down.

Point is, that it’s coming along nicely so far, and grows as I have time.

This post is part of a series on my forthcoming book titled How to Draw Fantastic Humans. I will create a ‘main page’ to gather info on the topic soon, but for now, this is it. 🙂