Step One: When I am drawing a female character, the first thing I usually do is establish a pose. To establish a pose, I use a large circle for the placement of the head. Then I use stick lines to draw a simple sketch of where this characters "bones" would be. The loose circles in the character's body are used to signify where rounded joints like elbows and knees may lie. Using the circles will help you to create a more natural bend in the arms and legs.

When drawing a woman, there are four lines that become very pertinant to her shape and will differ her greatly from a male sketch. I have shown these in color at the side, and they are the shoulder line, the bust line, the waist line and the hip line. Defining where you want these features to lay, will help you when it comes to "Bulking out" in the next step. As a general rule...a woman's shoulders should be about 1.5 times wider than her head, her bust about the width of her head, her waist a bit smaller than the width of her head, and her hips about twice the width of her head. Naturally, these are just guidlines and are no way set in stone. Variations on these measurements will allow for different looking characters. In this sketch, the character's a young woman, so I made her shoulders and hips roughly the same width, with her bust and waist narrower.

Step Two: Now this is where all those "bones" and "joints" come in handy. I start roughly sketching the woman's form over them. (Notice how they remain underneath?) Keep in mind that a female's body is nothing more than a bunch of rounded shapes and smooth lines. At first it was much easier to draw the curvy lines of girls, over the square and angular lines of boys. Please notice the joints...just as they were round and stuck out from the "bones" in step one...that transfers over to this step. Elbows and knees stick out. They are not flush with your body. Also, don't forget the tiny little ankle bones. ^_^ This is also the step where I add basic facial features and hair.

*Note* Some people might find this perverted, but I don't care. I draw ALL of my figures nude first. (Not necessarily in great anatomical detail) but basically...without clothes. I find that it is much easier to draw the unclothed figure in it's pose...seeing how the muscles and body moves...THEN put the clothes on top (You will see this in next step) For ME, not everyone, this is easier. For ME, not everyone, this CAN help with correct clothing placement.

Step Three: I sharpen up my finished figure lines and erase the guideline "bones" and "joints". Then I decide what type of clothes the character is going to wear...and then dress them. ^_^

I decided to put her in a cute "school girl" outfit. Now because I drew her first THEN placed the clothing on top of her, I naturally knew that there should be creased in the shirt by the armpits and elbows...that the sweater vest should puff up on her hips a bit given their width, and that given her stance, perhaps one side of the skirt should be a bit more billowy than the other.

This sketch will be colored in the future in my "Coloring A Female Figure" tutorial. ^_^