For this tutorial, we would be stepping into the world of Mignola´s Hellboy universe to draw its amazing protagonist, Hellboy himself. One thing we love about Hellboy apart from his badass look is his Giant arm. Now, we would be drawing Hellboy in all his glory and we would be doing this in 9 easy steps. We would create a dummy that would serve as base for our final drawing. Also, you should follow the steps of each tutorial carefully in order to get the best results. That said, let’s get drawing!.
STEP 1: DRAWING THE RIB CAGE
Our character rib cage would be drawn using the 3/4 drawing scale. This simply means that the left side facing the viewers would be bigger than the right side of the torso. Also, you should note that our character is a well-built superhero. So, using the above image as a guide, he should be drawn with broad shoulders and chest and a small waistline. Going on, Hellboy´s rib cage should be divided into 2 horizontal curved lines. The first should connect from shoulder to shoulder and the second should run directly beneath his chest.
Next, you should draw 2 vertical arches connecting the sides of the top line with the correspondent side right below. Once the main shape of the rib cage is drawn you should draw some lines inside to divide the different planes. The first curve line will be the one separating the front chest from the side of the rib cage. The next one will be the one dividing the chest, separating the two pectoral muscles.
STEP 2: DRAWING THE HIPS
For the abdomen, you should draw two pretty short vertical lines that extend down from the rib cage. Then an outwardly curved horizontal line should connect those vertical lines. For the hips, you should draw them to take the form of a man’s underwear as depicted in the image. This is where the legs of our character would emerge.
STEP 3: DRAWING THE LEGS
Our Hellboy would be drawn on his feet with his legs slightly apart. Also, remember to use the 3/4 drawing scale. That said, from the base created for the legs, start off each leg as though drawing a big tube. The leg should reduce gradually as you get to the knee region. From there, extend them out again and gradually reduce their size as they get to the ankles. Then draw the feet as seen in the image. Lastly, refer to the picture and outline the knees by drawing two horizontal lines on the knee region of each leg. In the middle of the lines, draw a circle to depict the knee caps.
STEP 4: DRAWING THE ARMS
The arms would be drawn using the 3/4 drawing scale. This means that the right arm would be way more visible than the left arm. Emerging from the shoulder, the arm on the right would take the form of a tube and it should gradually reduce as it gets to the dividing line between the upper arm and the lower arm( the elbow). The should then extend out again and gradually get slimmer as they get to the wrist. The right arm is foded upwards so the hand will be drawn align with the shoulders. You can then draw the hands and fingers as seen in the above image.
The left-arm appears almost fully hidden. The shoulder is just a small curved line connecting with the triceps which extends until the elbow( align to the lower ribs area). The biceps is barely visible from this point of view. The forearm and the hand are powerfull and oversized. Both are partially hidden from the viewer, but due to their mere size, we can see way more of them compared to the shoulder and the biceps area.
STEP 5: DRAWING THE HEAD
From the base created for the head, two short vertical lines should be drawn. This should serve as Hellboy´s neck. Having drawn that, our characters head will be drawn in the form of a medium sized oval that sits on the neck and would be drawn using the 3/4 drawing scale. The head should then be divided by a vertical line and a horizontal line that intersects in the middle( forming a cross). These lines would be used for filling in the facial details later.
STEP 6: DRAWING THE CLOTHES
Hellboy´s costume is composed of a long jacket. Under the jacket, Hellboy will be shirtless. The short pants Hell boy is wearing are very tight and the high boots will come up close to the knees. Around his waist, the cossack will be wearing some belts with some packs hagging, including the gun´s holster across his waist.
STEP 7: DRAWING THE gun
On the right of the image, we can see Hellboy carrying a double-barrel type gun. This gun is more similar to a double short barrell shotgun similar to the one on the image bellow.
STEP 8: DRAWING THE FINAL LINEART
Now, we are about to start off our final sketch, so the unnecessary lines of the dummy we have drawn this far would be faded out. Next up, the outfit and facial details we have sketched out in the previous step would be made bolder.
Using traces lefts of the original manikin´s sketch, you would then go on to draw the final lines. It should comprise of well-detailed features, a well-drawn face, clothing, and weapons.
Regarding the facial features, you gotta draw a beard with no mustache. The nose will be placed along the vertical line. Along the horizontal line, you should draw the eyes. The eyes should be small and old looking.
The hair will be shaved on the top and long on the sides, tied in a small ponytail similar to a Samurai´s haircut style.
But the most noticeable of Hellboy´s facial features are the serrated horns on his forehead.
Also, another important detail is to draw wrinkles and foldings coming from tension areas, like the interior part of the pants and the jacket’s armpits. and the bottom of the boots where the fabric is being pulled, stretched or folded.
STEP 8: ADDING VOLUME
After the lineart is completed, you should then throw in some shading effects to your drawing. Shading has an easy of making drawings appear so real and flawless. So go on and make the strokes of your drawing darker. You can then shade places like our characters belt, underarms and his neck region. If you are interested in knowing more about how to shade with a pencil, you can check my free tutorial clicking here.
CONCLUSION
We have successfully put together a commendable Hellboy´s drawing and you should feel proud. However, don’t put away your tools just yet. Go over the tutorial a couple of times more and soon you will be able to draw any character without needing a tutorial.
For more tutorials click on the Drawing Tutorials section on the menu bar on top.
Tutorial by Toni Justamante Jacobs
