In this seven-step tutorial, I will teach you how to draw a Templar Knight. This step by step tutorial will not just guide you through the whole process of drawing a Templar Knight, you will also learn about the Knight’s weapon and other armor pieces. The better acquainted you are with these pieces, the more realistic your drawing will appear. We will start by drawing a dummy that will serve as a base over which we will draw our final sketch.
So, how to draw a Templar Knight?
If you want to draw a Templar Knight, you should use the following simple 7 steps:
• Step 1: Drawing the torso and the hips
• Step 2: Drawing the legs
• Step 3: Drawing the arms
• Step 4: Drawing the head
• Step 5: Drawing the weapons
• Step 6: Drawing the final line art on top of the dummy
• Step 7: Adding the final details to your drawing
Step 1: Drawing the torso and the hips
As shown in the image above, the torso of our character will be divided into two parts by a vertical line. This line will help you to better understand the positioning of the torso and it will also make drawing the rest of the body easier. The Knight will be drawn from a 3/4 view so naturally, one side will be bigger than the other. In this case, the Knight’s side is nearer to the viewer’s perspective than the left so it will be bigger. A curve line will divide the torso into two parts, the upper torso will represent the rib cage area while the lower part will represent the abdominal muscles.
I will also draw another curved line on the left-hand side of the drawing with an ellipse beside it to indicate where the arm of the Knight will be placed. Remember to put an ellipse on top of the torso to indicate where the head will go. The next step will involve drawing the hips. I like to draw the hips to look as if our character is in a short swimsuit or some type of underwear. The size of the torso will be about 3 heads in height.
Step 2: Drawing the Legs
Our character will be drawn standing. This pose is nothing too spectacular or exaggerated, just a Knight in a relaxed stance. The legs are drawn apart and because of the 3/4 view, we do not get a full-frontal view of both legs.
• The
The thighs of our character will be drawn as huge tubes which gradually decrease in width as they get to the point where the thighs are connected to the knees.
• The calves
We will draw the calves using two curved lines for each calf. The curved line on top, the one connected to the knees will be slightly shorter than the curve line below that connects the calf to the ankle.
• The Shins
We will draw the shins as one concave line extending from the knees the feet.
• The
The knees caps will be drawn as ellipses. Our Knight will be geared in a full Templar Knight armor so the ellipses will indicate where we will draw the knee pads.
• The feet
The two feet of our character will be drawn in a slight 3/4 angle because of the Knight’s stance.
Step 3: Drawing the Arms
Next, we will draw the arms of our Templar Knight. Our Knight is standing in a relaxed pose so the arms are just casually placed on the side of the body. Due to the 3/4 view, the right arm which is further from the viewer is slightly hidden behind the body while the left arm remains in full view. We will not need to draw the shoulders of our Knight because of the angle of the pose. I took time to clearly defined the different parts of the arms, separating the biceps and triceps from the forearms and the forearms from the wrist so you can get a better understanding of how they are placed.
• The biceps and triceps
I will draw tubes for both arms. The tubes will become progressively thinner at the bottom where it is connected to the elbow. The biceps will be represented by a straight line that ends at the elbow while the triceps will be drawn as a shorter curved line close to the point of connection with the shoulder. Notice that the left arm is slightly bent and the tubes are wider than the right arm which is slightly concealed behind the torso.
• The
We will place the elbow at the same height as the floating ribs, on both sides of the torso. The forearms, just like the upper arms, will be drawn as a tube for each arm. The tubes become thinner on the bottom part where they are connected to the hand at the wrists. More or less, both wrists will be aligned with the crotch on the hips.
• The hands
For the hands, they will be drawn as fists. This pose makes it look like our Templar knight is ready for action. The right hand will be grabbing a Warhammer while the left hand will remain as a clenched fist. Our character will be fully adorned in a complete Templar Knight’s armor which means he will be wearing gauntlets, as such I will draw the hand schematically. For the left hand, I will draw a big irregular square for the back of the hand and small rectangles for the fingers. For the right fist which is sideways, the main body of the hand will be an irregular five-sided figure while the fingers will be drawn from a combination of
Step 4: Drawing the Head
We will draw the head of our Templar Knight as an egg-shaped sphere slightly flattened at the sides and bottom. The head will be drawn at a 3/4 angle meaning the right side of the squared bottom will be slightly shorter as it is farther from the viewer compared to the left side. Next, we will divide the head with two vertical lines, ensuring that neither line passes through the center of the shape. A horizontal curve line will also go across the face, drawn above the center of the head. These lines will help us define where the eyes of our character will be placed.
Step 5: Drawing the Weapons
For the next step, we are going to draw our character’s weapons. The knight is holding a war hammer on the right with a sword strapped to the waist. The war hammer is a medieval weapon of war composed of a handle and a head which looks like a hammer on one end and an ice axe on the other. It is often used by Knights in close combat. The sword is your typical long sword with a hilt.
When it comes to drawing the weapons, it is important to ensure they are drawn in alignment with the hand that is holding it. In the picture above, you can see that the hand holding the Warhammer is in a 3/4 angle while the sword is sheathed away. If you want a more comprehensive tutorial on how to draw a sword, feel free to check out my step by step tutorial.
Step 6: Drawing the final Line Art on Top of the Dummy
Now for the fun part of this tutorial, we get to dress up our character in a full Templar Knight’s armor. We will now draw the final line art on top of the dummy, but before we begin to draw, you will need to make your dummy less visible so that the lines from the underlying structure does not interfere with your final drawing.
In case you are drawing on paper with a pencil, you can make use of kneaded erasers to reduce the visibility of the underlying sketch. If you are working on a digital medium, all you have to do is reduce the layer opacity to 20%. This way, the sketch is still visible enough to help you trace the sketch lines on the dummy without interfering with your drawing.
• The head
For the head, we will draw a sallet over our Knight’s head. The sallet is a type of spherical helmet which covers the head and face with openings where the eyes are supposed to be. We will draw the head from a 3/4 view angle so one side will be slightly bigger than the other. In this case, the left side of the outer character’s face is bigger than the right side which is smaller and farther from the viewer.
• The torso
The torso of our Templar Knight is covered by a tunic which extends over the hips down to the knees. The tunic, which is worn over a chain mail is cinched at the waist with a leather waist belt. Around the neck, we will draw a gorget, a protective steel collar for the throat. The gorget is worn to cover the neck opening of the cuirass, a chest plate hidden underneath the tunic.
• The shoulders and arms
The Knight will wear a pauldron over the shoulder which we will draw as a dome-shaped armor for the shoulder. Below the shoulder pads, we will draw a rerebrace, a protective plate covering the upper arm, the area between the shoulder pads and the elbows. The forearms will be protected underneath a steel bracelet called a vambrace while the hands and fingers are fully covered by gauntlets, a type of protective metallic gloves.
• The legs
We will draw the various armor pieces depending on the position of both legs. The left leg is fully frontal while the right leg will be drawn from a 3/4 angle. Around the knees, we will draw poleyns, articulated plates for the kneecaps. The poleyns are connected to greaves, which cover the shins and the calves. Next, we will draw the sabaton, a metal plate for the feet. The thighs are completely covered by the chain mail and tunic so it will not be necessary to draw any armor for them.
Step 7: Adding the Final Details to Your Drawing
This is the last step of our tutorial. This step is easy, here we will focus on adding the final details to the drawing of our Knight. I will shade the drawing in certain areas to add some shadows to the drawing. Shadows create the illusion of depth and volume and bring a sense of three dimensionality to the drawing. My favorite shading techniques to use when creating shadows are hatching and cross-hatching.
As you can see in the drawing, I shaded some parts of the feet and arms. Beyond creating depth and volume, adding shapes also helps to create a hierarchy of relevance in drawings. The darker parts are left in the shadows while the unshaded parts are brought forward. Feel free to check my tutorial on “How to shade with a pencil” if you are not familiar with my shading styles. The tutorial will provide an in-depth review of shading techniques you can use when drawing with pencil.
Conclusion
That brings us to the end of our tutorial on how to draw a Templar knight. Now you can go ahead and practice your drawings on your own. Try to follow the steps as closely as possible if you want to achieve results similar to mine. You are free to try out different armors and poses, you will find lots of historical references online if you need inspiration for other types of medieval armors. I hope this tutorial was useful to you.
If you are interested in developing your drawing skills you should check my video course:
Writer: Eseandre Andrews
Drawings: Toni Justamante Jacobs. Toni is the creator and owner of improveyourdrawings.com. if you are interested in knowing more about him and his work, feel free to check the “About This Blog” section.
