Japanese Twitter goes ga-ga over artist showing off how to easily draw the perfect pair of legs

Scott Wilson

Dec 20, 2016

Just four steps to be able to step around in some well-drawn legs.

We’ve seen before how many drawings can be simplified down to easier shapes, such as drawing a foot only by using an 8, some 6s, and an 11. And now Japanese Twitter artist @krikri_ume has taken it a step further so we can draw what those feet are attached to: the legs.

Here’s the original tweet (translation below).

1. Draw a circle.
2. Draw a circle inside so it looks like eyes.
3. Extend lines out from the smaller circles.
4. Now you have a pair of sitting legs.

“Now wait a minute,” you might be thinking, “how the heck did they go from step 3 to step 4?!” Luckily @krikri_ume answered that question by tweeting this:

▼ “I got a lot of comments on what to do between steps 3 and 4, and I don’t really know how to explain, but maybe this will help….”

Hey, all right, that doesn’t seem so hard. I usually stick with blobs or stick figures whenever I attempt to draw people, but I can try my hand at drawing a couple of circles and see what happens!

▼ Okay, step one, circles done. Bring it on, legs!

▼ Step two’s eyeball circles… complete.

▼ All right, now just extending down the circles like in the picture.
Hey, it is starting to look like a pair of legs!

▼ Now we can add some of that step 3.5 magic! Hey, not bad.
You know this is really inspiring me to finish the whole picture…

▼ Wow, thanks @krikri_ume!
I couldn’t have drawn this photo-realistic picture without you.

All jokes aside, this is some really solid advice for artists. Drawing people can be one of the hardest things to do, but starting out with those basic shapes is one way to break it down into something simpler.

And for those who are looking for something more advanced, @krikri_ume added in some bonus explanations:

▼ Knees crossed, pointed together, and spread apart.

▼ Drawing the circles inside a trapezoid can help make other positions easier to draw.

For those who are looking to draw a companion for their skirt-clad sitting person, check out these drawing video tips from a professional manga artist. And when it comes time to draw them going on an ice-cream date, be sure to draw their snacks in a way so that it doesn’t look like they’re licking poop emoji.