Creating Your Own Drawings of Elves!

Wouldn't you like to create your own drawings of elves? As a popular topic, elves are species that live with nature and have magical powers. The skills that you will learn from this elven warrior drawing will let you do just that!

While there are numerous different versions of elves depending on their backgrounds, they usually share one physical trait in common: pointy ears and a tall, slim figure.

Their architecture will usually include bits of nature incorporated into the dwellings. Just knowing this will help you visualize the type of surroundings elves will have.

Your drawings of elves will include what you have learned about the human form and alter it a bit. You will be also doing a bit of armor design to give your character a decorated look.

1. Gesture drawing and form

The start of any drawings of elves should begin with a gesture sketch to get the form down. Think about the pose of the character first. Then, think about the form underneath the clothing.

Start filling in the pose and the proportions using your digital brush on a separate layer. The whole purpose is to create an artistic mannequin for you to use.

drawings of elves

I added an extra element to my art by introducing a sword as I wanted an elven warrior type character.

You may wish to do the same or add any other props that may help with your overall idea of what an elf should look like.

Don't worry. There are tips to help you get this done right without spoiling the details on your character.

2. Adding details to your drawings of elves

Here is where you refine your drawings of elves by by adding a few more details. To make sure that everything is in the correct proportions, start with the head.

That way, you can use the head to measure all the other parts of the body. Don't forget to focus on important elements that make an elf like the ears and the slim figure.

A lot of the elements here are sketched very roughly to show everything underneath. For example, the sword still shows the character underneath.

The armor that I have added on still shows a bit of the character's form. This would also be a great time to decide the general shape of the metal plate bits.

drawings of elves

When you are done with adding a few more rough details, you need to decide how you want to organize your characters.

For me, the sword would be the top layer as I want the sword to cover up the character since it is in the front. This will pose a problem for the hands as it underneath the sword layer. However, this can be solved very easily in the next step.

3. Smudging and repainting

Begin to smudge your elf drawing with your digital smudge tool. You may want to switch to the brush tool to pain additional black gesture lines to be smudged later.

With all the blackened bits from smudging, you can easily start working on the armor details. This is where you need to start to think about design elements.

For elves, you want lines that exhibit curvature. This creates a sense of nobility, femininity, and beauty as we attribute curves to the feminine form.

Use your brush tool and begin to paint random bits of light to create the curved designs. You will be surprised by the type of designs that can happen based on the smudging directions done on your character.

The next layer is the sword. There is a trick to this. You can either hold onto shift, click one spot, and then another spot to create a nice straight line.

drawings of elves

The second method is better, though. What you do is hold on the shift key and just draw straight down, up, left, or right. In doing so, you will create perfect 90 degree lines.

Then, when you're done with the sword, rotate it to fit your character's pose. As for the part of the hands, you can either erase the bits where the hands are or you can use a layer mask.

Erasing the layer mask will not damage your sword as you are not working on the sword layer. You can also unlink the layer mask, move the sword to where you want, and still have the erased bits of the hands.

4. Final details

As you have kept your layers, separate, this process is relatively easy. First, clean up your characters and any particular props like the sword.

Then, fill up any 'holes' in your character to make it a complete solid shape. This means that any painting underneath the character layer can't be seen through the actual body of the character.

The same can be said for the sword and any other top layers; make sure it is as solid as possible.

You will have a choice here depending on your digital art program. While working on the same layers, the normal method will just need you to glaze over your character with a light color or dark color to signify lighting and shadowing effects.

The second method requires you to build a clipping mask for the shadows.

What this does is that it puts a layer on top of a designated layer. Anything that you paint on the clipping mask will not go outside the boundaries of the layer underneath!

drawings of elves

And since a clipping mask is a full layer, you can change the opacity of it or make any additional effects. For example, you can adjust the amount of shadow on your character without damaging the unique designs on the armor that you worked so hard on!

With all you have learned, finish off your drawing by creating extra layers for where the light source is and then glazing the edges of your characters with it.

Make sure all shadowing flows with the curvature of the body!

Refine any bits that seem out of place. You can even add additional elements, like a background, simply by creating paintable layers underneath.

I hope you enjoy this lesson on creating your own drawings of elves. As I look forward to your elf drawing, don't forget to submit it in the gallery that is build just for you!