I like to draw men because I am attracted to men. Pretty, young men with long, flowing hair and names like James and Raphael. Maybe you want to draw men because you want to create your own stable of two-dimensional hotties to ogle, or maybe it's because you have a new project (hopefully a paying one!) and you want to make your men look less like deformed women (a common difficulty for those who draw in a manga-inspired style). Men can be harder to draw than women. They are more angular and, if you are accustomed to drawing women, their bodies seem unbalanced and incorrectly proportioned. Most figure drawing books focus mainly on the female body, only using the male body for comparison. Finding pictures of men to draw from can be difficult as well, since most nude pose books tend focus more strongly on women. You could peruse an issue of Playgirl for pictures of nude men, but I already tried this and don't recommend it. The poses are blatantly sexual and of little use out of a hentai setting.

I have a solution.

Getting Photos

It is best to work from actual photos of real men, not drawings. Artists tend to bend the figure to their own desires (I plead guilty, heh heh). Where can you find a wealth of free pictures of men to draw? DeviantArt.com's gallery of stock photos of men! Each photographer/model has different rules as to how you can use his work, but usually it is okay to use the photographs for reference when you're brushing up on your male figure drawing and not using them as models for great works of art that you plan to make oodles of dollars from. Please respect the artist's wishes. Don't upset them. They're pretty, and they're sharing with you. Oh, and browse at your own risk! Although DeviantArt.com has gotten very strict about their content, there is still a chance that you'll stumble across some full nudity and/or erotica. But, is that such a bad thing?

A few of my favorite stock accounts are:
binarystock Nice stocker He let me use his picture to make this tutorial!
zerothirtythreestock Posts some partial nudity. Excellent for figure drawing.

Drawing the Body

To quickly get a feel for the male body, its shape, bulk, and proportions, you should start by tracing. This is the fastest way you can learn how a man's body is built. Drawing from your eyes is only effective if you already have a good grasp of male anatomy.  This way, you get a solid feel for the masses and proportions of a man's body without the long, slow process of trial and error. Just don't try to pass off your end result as an original. You did copy. Watch how I do it.

Step 1

Get a base photo and some tracing paper. I'm using this lovely picture of binarystock (aka Marius). Note the curve of his spine, the way he holds himself, and the position of his arms and hands.

You can download this picture here! You can also visit Marius's personal gallery at binaryvision.

Step 2

Lay the tracing paper over the picture. Sketch in the basic masses. Draw a triangle for his chest, a box for his hips, and circles for joints. Draw lines to suggest the bones and contours of his body.

Step 3

Remove the tracing paper, and transfer the lines to a better quality piece of paper. (Tip: Rub your pencil lead lightly on the back of the tracing paper. Flip it over, right side up, onto your new sheet of paper and go over the lines with a pencil. The pressure of the pencil will leave a faint outline for you to work from on the new sheet of paper.) Now you can finish the piece. Use your eyes this time. Where are the folds in the cloth? How does his hair lay? Look, he has rings! Ooooh.

I removed his glasses and shrunk his head a little because it looked too large for his body. Also gave him a more... soft expression. This is no longer a picture of Marius, but a picture of Marius's body with a new head.

Step 4

There really isn't a step four. I just wanted to color this picture and make it look nice.

Further Reading

Tracing is just the start. Once you've learned the lay of the male body, you'll need to work on the finer details. I highly recommend the book, How to Draw Manga: Male Characters. It is the only book that I have ever found that deals exclusively with the male body. All artists, even non-manga artists, should have this book on their shelf. It starts with the basics, and covers more advanced things like facial features and aging. The male body is not easy to draw, but Hikaru Hayashi takes the mystery out of it.

Tutorial provided by and copyright  Rachel "the Great" Nabors