Welcome to another step by step tutorial. I think we all can agree that when it comes to historical warfare, the Roman Empire produced some of the best generals of the ancient era. One of such historical warrior figures we love is Claudius Julius Caesar. Caesar was a politician and general who became incredibly famous during his time by conquering the arch-enemy of the Romans, the Celtic tribes of the Galia.
So, for this tutorial, we would be stepping into the Senate of Rome and we will draw Claudius Julius Caesar in 8 easy steps. Each of these steps should be followed strictly if you hope to get the best results. Before we get on with it, you should know that we would first sketch out a dummy. This is to serve as a base upon which we would create a flawlessly detailed final sketch. Ready?! Let’s draw ourselves a stunner!.
HOW TO DRAW JULIUS CAESAR
For the purposes of this tutorial, we would be drawing Julius Caesar and we would be doing this in eight easy steps. For each step, I would be providing you with the necessary tips and tricks so you can have the best results. Now that we’ve laid that out, let’s go on to put together a masterpiece.
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 well-built. So, using the above image as a guide, he should be drawn with broad shoulders and chest and a small waistline. Going on, Caesar´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 corresponding 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 underpants as depicted in the image.
STEP 3: DRAWING THE ARMS
The arms would be drawn using the 3/4 drawing scale. This means that the left arm would be way more visible than the right arm. Emerging from the shoulders, the arms 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). They should then extend out again and gradually get slimmer as they get to the wrist. You can then draw the hands and fingers as seen in the above image. The hand will be grabbing an ivory scepter (scipio eburneus), so we gotta draw the hand like it was holding something. Check how the hand on the right is represented sideways, so only the side of the hand, the thumb, and the index finger will be visible. The hand will be resting on top of a stone.
STEP 4: DRAWING THE HEAD
From the base created for the head, two short vertical lines should be drawn. This should serve as Caesar´s neck. Having drawn that, our character’s 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 5: DRAWING THE CLOTHES
In this step, we will proceed to draw the main shapes of our character´s clothes. Basically, the toga will be the main piece of clothing we will draw. Try to draw the wrinkles and folds similar to the way I´m drawing them in the image above. Also, remember not to over detail our character too much because this is not the final art, it is just a dummy. We will draw all the final wrinkles and folds in the last step.
Another piece of clothing will be the laurel crown our dummy will be wearing on top of his head.
Finally remember to draw the scepter on Caesar´s left hand.
STEP 6: DRAWING THE FACIAL FEATURES
Regarding the facial features, 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 drawn short on top and on the sides and brushed forward covering the top part of the forehead.
STEP 7: DRAWING THE 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 scepter.
Also, another important detail is to draw wrinkles and foldings coming from tension areas, like the toga tight around the waist and around the chest.
STEP 8: SHADING THE CHARACTER
With that done, 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 character’s 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.
For the final line art of this drawing, I used charcoal pencils. You can check our recommended art supplies list, where I recommend which charcoals pencils I like to use, clicking here.
CONCLUSION
We have successfully put together a commendable drawing of Julius Caesar 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
