There are a lot of good artists on this site and I was wondering if you had any tips for drawing people.

I usually watch a lot of anime, or read a lot of manga to get concept art, then I practice. 

Try looking at the picture while practicing.

It helps to drawing fan art using other artists work, then gradually get your own style  and way of drawing people.

Even if you think you don't need base guide lines where it's all cylinders, you do.  I feel it really helps get more natural motion instead of going straight into a drawing with all the details to have it look like their necks too long or their legs disproportionate

 

Look at other people.  Don't go straight from your head and use references or a dummy model.  

 

Practice, practice, practice.  Really no tips gonna turn anyone into Picasso but doing it over and over will help.  Even if you don't feel like coming up with a whole idea you could get templates of body poses and draw a body over it to work on shading an positioning.  Keep your fails.  If you think something is trashworthy you should still keep it to compare and see how much you've progressed.  Not really a tip on drawing people but better for motivation.

 

If you're drawing small (a lot of less experienced people tend to go for small pages, but it's better for getting details in easier to use a larger canvas) use a magnifying glass... It sounds silly, but I used a magnifying lens I had on a card (for reading fine print, given out for free at college) and was abe to draw hands on full body poses a lot easier.  

Step 1 is observation, watch how people move and figure out structure and motion through your observations.

 

Step 2 is structure, this is organising your observations in your head and turning them into templates and bone structures.

 

these steps are rigourous and take forever but its more than you'll ever learn from some book or someones advice, observation and analization is the key.

If this works, I'm gonna start drawing Kairi....

If you're really serious about art, you gotta draw from life.  For the love of god, don't make the mistake I and thousands of others made by drawing anime from the get-go.  Anime and other cartoons are stylizations.  You gotta know the rules before you can break them.  It's harder and may not be what you want to do, but it's going to make all the difference.  Good anime/cartoon artists are good because they understand what they're doing.  It's what separates good anime/cartoons from amateur anime/cartoons.  And if you're trying to draw realistically in general, well, it's a given.  Look at anatomy books (there should be a bunch in the art section of your local bookstore), look at magazines for models and draw them.

 

If you want to see good art, I suggest deviantArt instead of here, tbh.

Don't be afraid to use other people's art as reference. There's billions of tutorials out there from facial expressions to wrinkles in clothing. 

Example:

 

 

Here's a tutorial for drawing legs. If you search long enough, you can find all sorts of things like this, and along with learning the basic shapes you also learn different perspectives.

Draw from real life to get a good grasp on human anatomy.

You can try this site out. http://www.posemaniacs.com/archives/879

First up. Observation. Look at shapes and objects aroundyou and try to copy them. This will help you with dimensions and shapes, even in humans.

Then. Anatomy. Men and women are not the same, as well fat or slim or tall and short. A lot of practice would make the magic

And. expresions. Sadness, anger, happiness, each emotion has a set of moves. Observation is key for espress these emotions in paper. 

Finally. Style. Each one has a unique nature to draw, for me is animated, i can´t draw a realistic face (trust me) however this is my style and I´m happy with it. You need to find a style of your own and keep practicing.

 

Note: Remember each one of us started with round balls and sticks. It´s a long way to make an eye. But this is the funny part of it so keep the practice and you will be a pro in no time. 

Note 2: Tutorials also help so don´t be dissapointed if you need to use one. Remember, knowledge is the key. 

hope this helps you.

Look up pictures of people you like. Maybe an actor or musician. Draw them over and over, trace it even just to practice your hand strokes. I figure if you like looking at them you wont get bored of drawing them and you will want it to look right. It just takes time not really any skill. It will come natural soon. Remember with drawing you can't mess up! Just keep drawing.

Get lots of reference pictures. All kinds and of ALL types of people. One of the biggest mistakes most artists make is same facing everyone and having a default face. Study and observe people of every race, every size, every demeanor, etc. When doing fullbodies, use naked references. Study clothes seperately and then bring them together. Study every feature pf a person seperately too and practice on those before bringing them all together. Master shading to add depth. And NEVER USE CARTOONS OR ANIME FOR YOUR REFERENCES.

These are great tips for illustrator artists :)